Cascade Canyon, Grand Tetons (Reblogged)

(From August 1, 2012)   Last night I was re-reading my blog from Cascade Canyon above Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons of Wyoming. I was aghast. Where were my photos? Something was amiss.

After re-reading the blog, I went, "Oh, yeah, I remember, we didn't have internet connectivity for any length of time and I posted I would complete the blog and add photos 'in a week or so.' " Well, blogger friends, it is now two months later and this is "the rest of the story."

Please refer to my blog dated August 1, 2012 -- 9.3 Miles, 1,100 ft. Elevation Gain for the segue into this.

We had a wet boat ride across Jenny Lake, luckily we snagged a seat under the cover of the boat. By the time we arrived at the trailhead, the rain had stopped. That was the last of the rain for the day!

This blog is going to be loaded chock-full with pictures. Cascade Canyon is awesome and by far and away the most beautiful hike of all our Grand Teton/Yellowstone hikes.

The first half mile took us uphill to Hidden Falls. Along the way, some novice rock climbers stopped to learn  some basics about getting up smaller rocks. Being that Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point, both on this trail, are the most popular destinations in Grand Tetons, we expected the crowds at the lower elevations of these two destinations. We were able to get uncluttered photos and even had willing photographers to take a photo of us together for a change. I should mention that wildflowers are at their peak in early August. Love!

Our last-minute campground--spent three nights. Mwah! Beautiful.

Early morning overlooking Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons.

Grand Tetons, early morning, shot through the car window.

Click photo to enlarge photo to see rainbow to right of mountain.

Fireweed. Wildflowers in bloom everywhere.

Bob & Susan -- Hidden Falls

Hidden Falls close-up.

My favorite picture of me from today.

Tall Jacob's Ladder and some kind of berry.

An early preview of our scenery on today's hike.

From Hidden Falls, the trail moved steeply upward, across a rock wall, to Inspiration Point. 

This is as far as most people go so it was quite crowded here with the boat people. Once we passed Inspiration Point, the crowds thinned dramatically. The trail also leveled out and was a gradual grade for the next 3.5 miles. What a lovely day. No more threat of rain, although we heard thunder one more time as the storm moved off to the east. At this point, pictures can do the "talking." Just a few captions and notes about what we saw. 

This is Cascade Canyon--words barely do it justice.

Majestic mountains.

[Note to Sparky and Eldy: If you want to see moose, come to Grand Teton National Park in early August and hike the Cascade Canyon trail at 9:00 a.m. This first moose (three photos) was about 10-20 feet from me right next to the trail.]

Ummmm...just when I decided to cross the trail in front of the moose, he decided he wanted to cross the trail. Oops. You eyeballin' me boy? Let me get out of your way!

One gorgeous scene after another.

Bob took this fantastic photo. Great composition!

The following photo was taken to show the scale of the mountains. You can barely see Bob walking in the bottom center of the photo!

Can you find Bob?

This is called Cascade Canyon because of many waterfalls that come down off the cliffs into the canyon.

Reflecting, still pool in the river.

Craggy Grand Teton peaks.

Mountain splendor.

A waterfall coming off a glacier.

Butterflies loved the wildflowers in the area.

Smooth (or showy?) fleabane.

Wyoming paintbrush, leafy aster, yarrow.

Woolly fleabane, smooth fleabane, Wyoming paintbrush, common harebell

Lewis' monkeyflower (named for Meriwether Lewis!)

Lunchtime...good spot to eat our apples and trail mix!

Moose #2: Classic moose pose--standing in the river while eating. (We saw a total of three moose on this hike. The last moose was lying down in the shadows surrounded by six people. I opted not to try for another photo.)

Someone on the trail said: "Go look over the side of that rock." Moose #2!

Riders resting their horses allowed me to photograph them.

Another waterfall...this one on the main river through the canyon.

Our happy feet in comfy boots.

A pack train went by us, made a stop at the cabin; our turn-around point.

It's downhill and gorgeous from here.

Grand Tetons and an area of rockfall.

Bob at Inspiration Point, overlooking Jenny Lake.

As soon as Bob sat down on a rock at Inspiration Point, this little beggar showed up at his boot tip. I thought he was going to climb up Bob's leg. We were going to have trail mix, but decided against it because of this guy. Obviously people have been feeding all these chipmunks and squirrels.

Golden mantle ground squirrel, AKA beggar.

One last look as we made our way back across the lake on the boat.

And a look across to the other side of Jenny Lake.

Setting sun through a canyon.

And that was our fantastic day of hiking 9.3 miles roundtrip in Cascade Canyon! I recommend this hike for everyone. Once you get past Inspiration Point, the trail is a breeze through trees, rockfall and spectacular Grand Teton scenery.

I enjoyed going back and re-living this day from August. 

Currently (early October), weather in Yellowstone has been cold and snowy for the past couple of days. Nighttime temps were in the teens, daytime temps in the 30s at Lake Yellowstone. Remember that elevation is 7,700+ feet.

In the coming days, seeing as I'm housebound until next Tuesday, I'm thinking of re-doing some blogs form our trip to Great Smoky Mountain National Park in February 2011. I noticed last night that because of slow or lack of internet while in Gatlinburg, TN and North Carolina a number of my blogs are missing their photos. Horrors, that's like missing your underpants. The photos have a way of shoring up your text, kind of like undergarments shore up, well, you know. LOL

The requisite cat photo follows:

Oh, so cozy.

Until next time...Travel Bug thinking about what she'll write or update next.