Grand Teton: Part 3
Hiking to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point
After a lovely lounge day of kayaking, grilling out, and relaxing in the park, we were both feeling higher energy by the next morning and ready to hit the trail again.
Our hike started at String Lake, a narrow lake with shallow aquamarine water and dozens of families splashing and paddle boarding around the lake. String Lake’s shoreline is dotted with rocks, small bays, and swimming shoals, all with majestic up-close views of the Tetons that climb sharply from the other side of the lake.
From String Lake, we walked out and around the shores of Jenny Lake and followed Cascade Creek into Cascade Canyon and up to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point.
The trek to Hidden Falls is one of the most popular hikes in the park, and we understood why, as we followed the short trail into the canyon that separated towering snow-capped peaks and spotted the icy-blue waters racing towards the lake.
It was another unseasonably warm day, so we pulled our camp chairs from our day packs to set up on a large boulder, squarely within the cool mist of the roaring falls. As streams of other hikers continued by, we sat in our small resting place off the trail, taking in the spectacular close-up views of the Teton Range, watching small butterflies dart through the sunlight and mist, and enjoying a picnic lunch.
From Hidden Falls, we made a short scramble up to Inspiration Point and took in the cool breeze and the views out over Jenny Lake.
On our hike back towards String Lake, we saw a lazily sunbathing marmot and heard tell from other hikers of a moose and bear that had both been spotted a few miles in the other direction. We debated trekking that way to try and catch a glimpse, but decided to let nature be nature and continue our hike as planned.
The hike itself had been pretty quiet, passing only a few people on the trail outside of the actual falls area, but at one point, the trail intersected with the ferry landing on Jenny Lake. We estimated there were close to 200 people crammed into the small landing area and overflowing about a quarter-mile up the trail, all waiting for a ferry shuttle that took roughly 30 people at a time and ran every 20 minutes or so.
We understood the draw of the ferry, as the boat ride shaved nearly two miles of hiking from the access route to Hidden Falls, but we were still surprised at the size of the waiting crowds. We learned later that this was a record-setting week for the Grand Tetons, in terms of park visitorship.
Beyond the crowds at the trailhead, lake-side parking lot, and near the ferry landing, we felt lucky for yet another quiet hike spent largely on our own — which had us thinking about this pattern that we’ve experienced over and over on our travels.
A maxim that we’d heard early on our trip has continued to hold true to our experience: most national park visitors never venture more than 1/4 miles from the road or the parking lot. Isn’t that wild?
Once we’ve pushed further into every park that we’ve visited, even by a single mile, we have been able to consistently avoid probably 98% of the crowds. This realization has felt both like a popular park hack and an affirmation of the value of exploring further.
It’s also allowed us to feel comfortable finding isolated spots off the trail at different magnificent locations around the country to build small cairns in honor of our dads.
The impermanence of those cairns is a part of their beauty; we expect them to topple at some point (and have indeed watched a few fall right after we built them). But we have wanted to feel removed from the immediate action of the trail, both during the act of assembling them and as we leave our dads to enjoy the peace of these places.
Thankfully, we have been able to share that experience — with one another and with them — at many points along our travels. And we feel so profoundly lucky for that, as well as for the continued perfect weather, access to phenomenal places, and ability to carry on this adventure together.
The Grand Tetons are such a special place. We went years ago and I still think of it often.
I also love the idea of building cairns for your dads. It’s a beautiful and poignant image.