The Lee Family: Summer Vacation Day 6: Jenny Lake

We had big plans to get up early and drive into Teton National Park so we could hike around Jenny Lake and make our way to the hidden waterfall, however that didn't exactly happen. I woke up at 7am and snuck out of our room, grabbed a cup of coffee and headed to the courtyard to write in my journal. I'm not normally a journal writer, but I love to write every day when we travel. It was in the 50s and actually a bit chilly - it felt amazing! I enjoyed sitting outside until 8:30am when I returned to our room to get everyone up! The girls enjoyed blueberry muffins that we actually picked up from the store yesterday and then we loaded up for Jenny Lake, a 40-minute drive even though it's only about 20 miles. We ended up taking Moose Road, which we soon learned is basically the back road into Teton National Park. There was only one other car on the road and it felt like we were out there totally on our own. It's such gorgeous landscape and we actually saw a bear! It was small and looked young, but it walked across the street and into the trees as if we weren't even there. It was pretty cool!

We arrived at Jenny Lake and it was crazy crowded already! We ended up parking on the street pretty far away from the overly full parking lot and walked in to the entrance. It sort of felt like we were going to an amusement park. There were so many people there, many of whom did not exactly look like hiking was something they were interested or capable of doing. Originally we planned to hike the 3 miles around Jenny Lake and make our way to see the waterfall, but before we left Teton Village the girls make a horseback riding appointment for 3pm, so we were on limited time. Since we got such a late start, we decided to take the ferry across the lake and hike the mile to the waterfall and then walk back to the entrance, about 3 additional miles. We waited briefly for the ferry and we couldn't believe how clear the lake water and how perfect the weather was! It was a perfectly sunny and clear day that was equally comfortable while wearing a short sleeve shirt or long sleeve! The ferry trop across the lake was spectacular and so amazingly beautiful it doesn't even feel real. It would really be incredible if we'd arrived at Jenny Lake first thing in the morning so we'd be around a lot less people.

We got off the ferry and walked up the very-clearly marked path toward the waterfall. From the beginning the path and view was beautiful and also a very easy walk. It was very crowded as we got closer to the waterfall and about half of the hikers wore masks. We took a few pictures by the river and then we made it to the waterfall which was really an amazing amount of water and just so powerful and incredible. It was impressive! We took a few pictures and enjoyed the view and then started to he'd back to the trailhead that led to Inspiration Point. As we headed that way, the girls found a huge rock avalanche area and just started to climb. CK and I sat at the bottom with the sound of the waterfall and just enjoyed watching the girls climb and have fun. They ended up making it about 3/4 of the way up and we could hardly even see them! The best part was that it was totally free of other people, although other kids did see them climbing and wanted to join in. They soon realized coming down is much harder than it is to go up, but they made their way down. They said the views were incredible and they were actually overlooking Inspiration Point. We wished one of us would have send a phone with them so they could take pictures, but we didn't realize that they would make it so far up. What a fun and totally unique experience.

Once they returned to the bottom, we asked what they wanted to do - head up to Inspiration Point or head back to the ferry and go back to get ready for the trail ride. They decided that we should head back to the ferry to take it back over to the main entrance so we wouldn't be late for our ride. The hike down to the ferry point was equally amazing and we had the entire trail to ourselves somehow. We ran across an adorable chipmunk that Olivia named "Marisa" because it was such a showboat and literally posed for us. It was so cute! We took approximately 20 pictures of our cute little "Marisa" chipmunk. We loaded onto the ferry and headed back over to the entrance. Once we arrived it was unbelievable how many people were there waiting to get on the ferry! It literally felt like we were at Disneyland! We headed to our car and headed back to our hotel. The cars were literally parked for miles beyond even where we were! It was crazy and apparently there are less people visiting this summer than in years past. I can't even imagine how busy it could potentially be in a regular year! It's so amazingly beautiful and incredible. It honestly doesn't feel real because it's so stunning. Such a fun morning!

Sitting outside reading and enjoying the amazing weather and view.