Jenny Lake

After a late start, we packed a lunch and headed south stopping at several turnouts to view and learn about the incredible mountains we see to the west of us. Nine million years ago, the earth's crust broke into two rectangular blocks along the Teton fault, a forty mile long zone of weakness. Through sporadic movements, the western block hinged skyward to become the Teton Range, while the eastern block tilted downward to form the valley called Jackson Hole. The sandstone remnant atop Mt. Moran, 6,000 feet above the valley, once connected to a layer of the same sandstone now an estimated 24,000 feet below the valley floor, indicating that the valley dropped four times more than the mountains rose.

We stopped to view magnificent Mount Moran which supports five of the dozen glaciers in the park. On the front of the mountain is a long black column that formed long before the rise of the mountains when magma was forced upward through a large crack. Due to erosion on the mountain, this hundred fifty foot dike is now visible. In geologic time, these mountains are energetic teenagers of the Rocky Mountain chain, active, growing yet sculpted by erosion.

Black Dike Continues Down Beyond the Glacier on Mt Moran

The Cathedral of the Teton Group

Jenny Lake and Cascade Pass

We took the partially one-way road to String Lake where we met a couple launching their kayaks. They told us we could follow the narrow arm of the lake, do a short portage and get into Leigh Lake which is completely wilderness. Tomorrow, if the weather is good! We stopped by Jenny Lake to take some photos and then on to the Jenny Lake Visitors Center where we got out permits to kayak. We left the car there and hiked to Hidden Falls which is about a three mile hike. It was a beautiful hike often in site of the shore of Jenny Lake.

Great Stonework at Beginning of Trail

Rentals and Shuttle Boat

View From Trail

Trail along Jenny Lake

Along the way, we saw several groups of these large bags of rocks, some with large rocks, some with small, that must have been air-lifted in. We assume they will be used to upgrade the trails.

Big Bags of Airlifted Rocks

 We also saw an osprey chasing a bald eagle out over the lake. When the eagle came back to shore it lit in a tree almost directly over our heads. The osprey continued to taunt it and when it took off again, I saw it roll three hundred sixty degrees while it was flying straight ahead. That was something new for me. When the people we were watching with told a group coming up behind us what we had seen, he said he had never seen a bald eagle in the wild. That blows my mind as we have seen hundreds.

Bald Eagle

Just before we reached the falls, we found a bench in a clearing and ate a late lunch. There had been reports of bear on the trail earlier that day so we didn't want to stop where there weren't a lot of other people around. The falls were spectacular and worth the wait. 

Hidden Falls

   

Ted opted to do the climb to Inspiration Point. From the falls the trail rises two hundred vertical feet through a series of switchbacks. Part of the trail was cut into the side of the mountain with rough, slippery going on a narrow track. It was not the type of trail I would have been happy on. I sat beside the brook waiting, almost patiently, and saw an ermine run out onto the rocks in the water before turning back and disappearing into the woods.

Trail Up to Inspiration Point

419 Feet Above Jenny Lake

Jenny Lake and Jackson Hole Valley

Trail Down from Inspiration Point

Bridge Where Sheila Waited

Once Ted returned from on high, we took the mile long trail that returned to the boat dock and took the boat back across the lake. The nine dollars apiece was well worth it after not hiking for awhile. We returned to the campground tired but content after a beautiful day outdoor.