This morning started with Ken waking me saying, “It’s 7:10 a.m.!” We had set an alarm for 6:30 a.m. on my iPad, which evidently didn’t work. We sprang into action, dressed, ate, packed up, and jumped in the truck to head to Jenny Lake for a ranger led hike to Inspiration Point. The hike was limited to 25 participants, first come, first served. We planned to leave at 7:30 a.m. and be there by 8:00 a.m., hoping to pick up our tokens to participate.
We actually left at 7:38 a.m., and that turned out to be plenty early. In fact, the hike didn’t quite fill. We had an eclectic group, including some folks from Russia and a family with two younger boys. After a brief introduction, our ranger, Neil Stillman, led us to the boat dock, where we paid for shuttle service to the opposite side of the lake.
The hike up alternated between hurrying to keep up with the rather fast pace and stopping briefly to take in the view and listen to Neil’s presentations on the forces that shaped the geology of the park. Ken didn’t really have much time to take photos, so we figured we’d do that on the way back down.
At one stop by a large boulder field, we saw a little pika on the rocks. It darted out of sight for a moment, but then popped back up, to the delight of photographers and kids.
When we got to Inspiration Point and Neil concluded his presentation, he suggested that we might want to continue on into Cascade Canyon, at least a way. We decided to do that and were very glad we had. In the canyon, the mountain walls rose up on both sides of us very impressively.
We might have hiked further, but we hadn’t brought our lunch with us, so we turned back and hiked down the trail, stopping to take some more photos on the way. It was breezy, and that probably helped clear the air a bit in the morning, so we could actually see the peaks (even though they weren’t as crystal clear as usual). As the day wore on, the haze thickened. We were glad we’d been out early enough to appreciate the magnificent vistas.
[more photos later]
Back at the Jenny Lake parking lot, we got our lunch out and ate at a picnic table by the Jenny Lake Store. Then we walked through part of the Jenny Lake Campground before deciding to walk along the lakeshore a bit. We took our blankets and books and found a nice bit of beach to rest on. Ken read, but I mainly napped and listened to the waves lapping on the shore.
About 4:00 p.m. we headed home, tired and happy.
My phone has been behaving rather oddly. The battery seems worse than ever. It drains quickly and charges slowly. It shuts itself down and goes into a loop that involves showing the htc symbol (a circle with two small red circles to the right) and saying “Droid.” I have to remove the battery and restart it to get it back to normal. This is very frustrating. I thought I had powered it down last night, but during the night it said “Droid” at intervals. Annoying.
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