Day 6 - Jenny Lake Hike

The next day of our vacation, we decided that it would be fun to take the shuttle boat across Jenny Lake and hike from there, saving us about two miles of hiking each way. We all enjoyed the boat and feeling the cool water.

It was about a half-mile hike up to Hidden Falls, which wasn't really so hidden as we were hiking with boatloads of people.

An extremely habituated marmot looked for handouts.

So did this ground squirrel. I was a little afraid that the rodents would bite the kids, as they got so close.

We kept hiking higher, and Ed took a break out on a sunny ledge.

Then we got to Inspiration Point. We had passed some rock climbing classes, and Desert Boy decided he just had to do some climbing on the nice granite. He went up without any problems.

The view was great, and we took some time to snack and enjoy our surroundings.

Fun times.

I was surprised how many people did the hike over the rocky, uneven path. Here's a view of the human traffic jam. Many people had no water and some even did the hike in flip flops. Ouch.

While we were waiting for the boat back, the kids asked if they could play around on the rocks next to the water. I said yes, and they had a good time. Then Desert Girl fell in. She took it in stride and continued playing. I figured it was a good way for her to cool off on a warm day. I expected Desert Boy to fall in, too, but he managed to just get slightly damp.

We noticed clouds out to the east. These turned out to be from a huge fire, the Fontanelle Fire, which has burned over 60,000 acres. Although Yellowstone and Grand Teton were definitely wetter than the Great Basin, they were dry, and all sorts of fire restrictions were in place.

This was the end of our Grand Teton experience, so we said good bye to the beautiful mountains and clear, blue lakes and headed south.