Epic Hike Around Jenny Lake

I awoke earlier than the rest of the crew – earlier even than Asher, which is a rarity – and decided to run. Given the risks of running alone on trails in Grand Teton, Yellowstone or Glacier national parks where bear/human interactions are more common, as an added safety precaution I chose to run along the road. I could have run with the bear spray, but that’d be like carrying a heavy baton. Even along the main road of Highway-89, I felt pretty vulnerable and kept the run to 5k. At 6:00a, there’s not much traffic.

Back in the coach, Asher was awake and hungry, so we had scrambled eggs, fed Timber and hiked another three miles with the dog to wear him out. Once everyone was awake, we decided to do a short hike. It was going to be around 90 degrees and we were at 6,800 feet in altitude, where dehydration would be a real risk even for moderate activity. So we loaded up the Camelbak’s and headed to a turnout near South Jenny Lake Junction. The idea was simple, hike around the southern end of Jenny Lake, and backtrack to the truck. Angela and I figured it to be an easy, level 3-mile trek around a portion of the lake with views up into Cascade Canyon and the surrounding peaks of Grant Teton (13,770ft), Teewinot Mountain (12,325ft) and Mount St. John (11,430ft).

But once we got on the trail, the sheer beauty of it and the draw to “stretch our legs” inspired us to keep going. At the east boat dock, the trail got crowded, but thinned not long past it. Throughout our travels, we have been lured deeper along a path by the opportunity to separate from the masses – to hear no other people, only the sounds of nature.

At about 1.6 miles in (targeted ~3 mile round trip), the boys were done and ready to head back. It was hot and we hadn’t properly fueled up – Ronan had skipped breakfast. We grabbed a minor spur off the main loop called Moose Pond Trail; the path led up a small rise and then dropped into a wetland area that looked great for moose traffic. Instead, it was a mosquito haven. To keep the boys entertained and distracted from their fatigue, we asked them to keep an eye out for the Woody-Headed Death Marmot, a completely made up creature that if nothing else, kept the team laughing and trying to come up with other “real-sounding” fake creatures.

As we returned to the main loop, we decided to hike to the West Boat Dock on Jenny Lake where we could pick up a boat that would take us closer to our truck. That would have made a roughly 4.5 mile round trip hike. The boys gained and lost steam as we trudged along the roots of the mountains. Grand Teton National Park is pure vertical ruggedness and Lake Jenny was created by the glaciers that blanketed the range, so we were at the base of a 7,000 ft rise.

As we neared the boat dock, we saw lots of amateurs lined up for the boat back. That’s not intended in a judgmental way, just that there were lots of folks wearing flip-flops or walking small dogs (illegal in a national park) on a trail that had 20-foot drops along its edge. Even with well-marked, mapped and maintained trails, the Tetons require attention and preparation. Otherwise a simple hike can turn tragic. (The trails leading into Cascade Canyon were closed due to such a tragedy – a hiker who went out ill-prepared fell to his death just the night before.)

After a brief rest near the boat dock, all of us chose to finish the Jenny Lake loop. Although the entire hike was spectacular, it was the Northeast segment that will stick with us. There were burned out spires of pine trees, low brush and shoulder-high wildflowers with the jagged mountain peaks above us. We were so close to the mountains that we had to look straight up to see them.

We rounded the northern end of the lake and crossed the bridge near String Lake, and realized all at once just how tired we all were. For thirty minutes, we sat … on an old stump … in the shade of a juniper tree … and debated whether to finish together or for one of us (Angela or me) to hike back to the truck and pick up everyone else. But we aren’t quitters and the boys mustered the energy to finish what would end up being an 8.2 mile hike (with the Moose Pond spur) at 6,783 feet in altitude on a 90-degree, glaringly sunny day. We estimated that Asher took around 22,000 steps – not bad work for a nine-year-old.