We had learned the night before that you can do a 12 hour hike through painbrush canyon through cascade canyon and that it is one of the most stunning and beautiful hikes you can do. Some people do it in two days and spent the night in the mountains. Being with the kids this wasn’t possible, but we realized this was the real more beautiful hike some were here for. We headed over to the visitor centre and they said it was no problem for us to take the ferry across and hike into the cascade canyon with our kids and turn back whenever we wanted. Now the reason for the shuttle made a lot more sense to us (although the majority of the people still only go to hidden falls and inspiration point). It was the same ranger I had spoken to the day before so I was a bit surprised she hadn’t suggested this to us but it seems most people only hike the short distance to those two major stops (and after being asked the same question a million times their answers probably just default to that). Katherine recalled that she had read a statistic that 95% of visitors don’t actually venture more than a mile into the trials while visiting Grand Teton. The kids picked up a Junior Ranger book to complete so they could earn their Junior Ranger badge for Great Teton. For the Badlands they just had to attend a ranger talk but this being a much more popular park they were a bit more strict on following the rules. It was great inspiration for the kids to complete the book during our hike.
We got on the ferry (which we were worried was going to cost us quite a bit being a family of 5 but they had an unadvertised “family rate” which helped), which took us straight across the lake to the ferry terminal. We were all tired from the big hike the day before so this short cut was much appreciated so we could hike into the cascade canyon. We repeated the hike to inspiration point from the day before, but this time at a much faster pace after taking the ferry across. Large clouds blocked the sun periodically which made a big difference as well compared to the day before. We then headed into the cascade canyon, which from inspiration point was pretty level the whole way.
This was one of the most stunning and beautiful hikes I had ever done, and being level and easy for the kids was fantastic. You were sandwiched by towering cliffs and mountains on either side, and always had amazing view wherever you went. It was also less busier compared to the hike we had done the day before. We came upon a crowd of people who were watching two mouse with large antlers on the side of the hill.
We met several people hiking out after completing the paintbrush to cascade canyon loop and they said it was absolutely amazing. After a couple of hours and halfway to the end the kids were starting to get tired so we turned around. I would have loved to keep going but it wasn’t going to happen. Something we would have to save and come back to do one day.
The canyon is a great place to see bears, but we didn’t end up seeing any on our hike. We did see more Pikas however. We eventually got back to the boat, where we had to wait for the third boat to pick us up because of the line up, but it was probably only a 15 min or so wait. Mia diligently worked away on her ranger book while the boys just hung out. We took the ferry back, to the visitor centre, where Mia went over her book and took the ranger oath ad earned her badge. The boys appeared to not be interested but days later said they realized they should have actually put some effort into it once they realized you can’t earn the Great Teton badge anywhere else. Mia on the other hand was very proud of herself for good reason. We got got back to our camp site where the kids worked on their homework during which time deer and a fox came by our site. We had dinner in the beautiful weather, and walked a very short path to the lake front for a quick dip in the glacial lake for a rinse. We had no idea our campsite was literally meters away from a beautiful secluded beach with a tremendous views of the Tetons. We then quickly headed over for another ranger talk outdoors at the visitor centre, which was about the Pronghorn. They have survived since the last ice age, can run at 50 miles/hr, and migrate every year hundreds of miles. These ranger programs were absolutely fantastic and we felt the American National Parks do a great job and were a level above our Canadian counterparts.
After the program we finally were able to have a campfire which the kids had been asking for. They roasted their marshmallows and made smores. We extinguished the fire and went to bed.
Trip Around The World 
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