A Great Day

The recovery from my surgery is going great. On Saturday I felt well enough to hike. We got up at 3:30 a.m. and drove to Teton Park to catch the 7:00 a.m. hikers shuttle across Jenny Lake.

When we got to the Jenny Lake parking lot and started to walk to the shuttle, Melissa saw something moving in the water a hundred yards or so to our left. She wasn't sure what it was, but the telltale hump told me immediately what it was.....a GRIZZLY BEAR!! Happily that was the only bear that we saw that day. He was headed in the opposite direction from us and only caused us a few seconds of excitement.

Cascade Canyon is a gorgeous area. The first 1.2 miles is pretty steep, but after that it is a mild incline with about an 1,100 foot overall elevation gain to the fork in the trail that we hiked to.

Here we are at Hidden Falls which is near the beginning of the hike.



You go up a steep area to end up above Hidden Falls. Then you come out into this beautiful U-Shaped valley with steep peaks rising up about a mile on either side of you. It is glorious. Cascade Creek flows all along the hike with intermittent ponds formed by the creek along the way. This is our third trip into the canyon and we've seen moose in the ponds each time.

Here are a few scenes from along the trail.

There are deep dark forested areas that are very peaceful and beautiful.



The ponds are gorgeous with clear water and pretty reflections.


The boulder fields are very dramatic and beautiful as well with lots of green colored moss growing on the rocks.


4.5 miles from where we started you come to a fork in the trail. How I wish I were young and in good shape so I could go further. Maybe someday I'll be able to make it to Lake Solitude. I hear that it is gorgeous. But, it may take an overnight backpacking trip for me to be able to make it that far and back.




Instead we decided to enjoy our lunch on a rock overlooking a beautiful cascading waterfall. I wish I could put the sound of the water here for you to enjoy.....


After lunch we turned around to go the 4.5 miles back to the west boat ramp. I sure am glad they have the ferry to cut 2 miles off the hike each way.




On our way back a little chipmunk found some of the trail mix that Melissa accidently dropped. Obviously, he is very used to humans.



On the way home we discovered a very dangerous thing.....the location of the Hagan Daz ice cream store in Jackson Hole.

If you ever want to take this hike....give us a call....we would love to be tour guides for a day!!