June 29, 2013: Hiking the Tetons

June 29, 2013:  Hiking the Tetons

On the agenda for this morning is a hike around Lake Jenny.  It is a popular hike because if you want, you can take a boat shuttle across the lake and shave off 2 1/2 miles of the hike to Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon.  But we elected to take the hike all the way, and the boat shuttle back if so inclined.

Since there are lots of bears in the area, we make lots of noise as we make our way.  They are doing maintenance on the regular trail, so we are rerouted to a longer, more difficult trail.  It is still beautiful as we climb under a pine canopy passing wild columbine, canyons sunflowers and other wildflowers too many to name.  (That is pretty much the same as saying I don't know their names...).  As usual, I am always looking at the rocks.  As a naif rock-hound, I am always on the lookout for something pretty.  I pick up a rock here, another there.  I put a rather large rock in Crew's backpack.  Spouse is complaining about the extra weight he will be towing.  He is calling me LUCY.  For those of you that are not familiar with that reference, the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz movie The Long Trailer has a scene about her collecting rocks.

We come upon a rockslide and before my eyes is sensory overload.  I could have spent all day pawing through the pieces.  I don't know one type of rock from another.  I would not recognize raw rhodenite or raw selenite.  I don't even know how to spell them.  But if I see a rock with lots of color variations, I think they will polish well and I tend to pick them up.  Unfortunately (or fortunately for Spouse), the rocks I want are boulders and they won't be leaving with me!  And I think the Park Service would frown if they saw me with my rock hammer...

 As we near Hidden Falls, we see a beautiful perch and stop to eat some of our lunch.  The couple sitting there just spotted a black bear heading towards the trail, so they were waiting it out on our rock.  While we ate, we were sure the fragrance from our sandwiches was wafting to Yogi.  The couple left and came back two minutes later.  They will wait a bit longer.  So will we.

At this point, we are thinking we are beyond the dock where the boat shuttle is, and I leave a couple of my rocks, thinking I would get them on the return trip.  Shame on me.  We did not go back that way.

When we got to Hidden Falls, so did Yogi, so we could only view the falls from one direction.  At that point,  Spouse said he was done, so I gave him one of my rocks to safeguard (which he left behind), and Crew and I continued the climb to Inspiration Point which was about another 1/2 mile.  From here,  there are sweeping views of Lake Jenny and her surroundings.  Now, Crew is done.  I wanted to go further into Cascade Canyon, but with Yogi on the prowl, they do not recommend hiking alone.  On our return to Hidden Falls, we were able to get over to the viewpoint.  We then hiked down to the docks for the boat ride across.  And Crew had another rock in his backpack...

We made the drive back to Hannah, and I sat in my reclining chair with Rudy 6 Toes on my lap and took a nap.

By the way, last night, we had a fire in the fire pit.  And by some miracle, Spouse did not start a forest fire.