Working on our Endurance

We have a few hikes planned in Canada that are many more miles than we are accustomed to, so we are trying to go on increasingly longer hikes now. Today we packed up our camelbacks and headed to Jenny Lake after attending a morning ranger talk at Jackson Lake Lodge. The talk was more of a Q&A session, so we wandered up a nearby hill to get a greater look at Willow Flats. I have a memory of seeing a mother moose and young here 20 years ago, so I was interested in repeating that experience for the kids. We didn’t spot any moose, but we did have two male mule deer come bounding over the hill within 30 feet of us.

We have heard from both other guests and rangers that Jenny Lake is especially crazy right now. Chris and I think it might be because Jackson Lake is at a record low level, so low that the marina in our campground is not open for the season because there is barely any water in our bay. In the early 1900s when a new dam was needed for Jackson Lake, the state of Idaho assisted in paying for it. The agreement for this was that they “own” the top 35 feet of water in the reservoir. Last year was a record drought for Idaho and for the first time in history they requested all 35 feet of water. The neat thing about this low lake level is that it is almost as low as it would be if there was no dam, so we get to see that side of it.

We arrived at Jenny Lake mid morning and as we were warned, there was no parking to be had anywhere! After completing a full loop of all the parking area, we headed further down the road and decided to try the next trail. As luck would have it, the next parking area was for Lupine Meadows. This turned out to be a short trail that ended at the trail for Jenny Lake, so we did our planned hike plus a little bit.

A half mile into the trail a family asked if we were looking for the moose. They proceeded to tell us, that we just needed to turn down this off-shoot trail to appropriately named Moose Lake and there was a large bull moose munching away in the lake. Yes, please!

After observing the moose for at least 20 minutes, we continued on the trail to see Secret Falls and Inspiration Point. At that point, Aleah was inspired to head back to the car.