Weather: Light drizzle at first and overcast. Clouds clearing mid morning, then sunny until late afternoon. Evening rain.
58 miles
I arose around 8.00, and purchased a breakfast of orange juice and a Danish pastry from the gas station up the road. The weather at this time was somewhat disappointing, with light drizzle and relatively low cloud, not ideal for seeing the Teton range at its best. The forecast on the ``Weather Channel'' suggested it might improve slightly later in the day, although I was not too hopeful. I headed back into Grand Teton anyway, and stopped at the visitor centre at the small village of Moose for an introduction to the park.
Grand Teton National Park consists of two main natural features: the Teton mountain range along its western side, and the wide expanse of Jackson Hole to the east. (The name ``Teton'', incidentally, was given by early French-speaking visitors to the region, and given its translation suggests they had been away from their womenfolk a little too long.) The mountain range is young compared to most of the Rockies, beginning to form around nine million years ago through the geological process of ``faulting and uplifting''. A crack in the Earth's crust formed along what is now the line of the eastern edge of the Teton range. The adjacent blocks moved vertically with respect to one another, the eastern block sinking deeply while the western block arose. The total vertical movement is estimated to be around six miles (nearly 10000 metres), mostly in the sinking of the eastern part.
The result today is a range of mountains with steeply-rising eastern flanks, with much more gentle gradients on the western (Idaho) side. To the east, natural forces have deposited material in what would otherwise be a very deep depression, forming a wide, relatively flat expanse, known as Jackson Hole. The Snake River gently wends its way across these plains, flowing out of Jackson Lake, a large natural lake enlarged slightly by the construction of a dam at its southern point, raising its level by up to 39ft (12m).
I spent some time in the visitor centre, watching a video and looking at the exhibits, including a stuffed grizzly bear, a large and fearsome-looking beast. On emerging I was surprised to find the mountains now in bright sunshine, although the land to their east still lay under a blanket of cloud. I continued up the road to the visitor centre on the southeast shore of Jenny Lake, and had a quick look around before starting out on a walk along the shore of the lake.
Jenny Lake is a modest alpine lake towards the southern end of the Teton range, a little under two miles across at its widest point. It was named by an early settler in the area for his Native American wife; further upstream he named Leigh Lake for himself.
I took the path along the eastern shore of the lake, passing through pleasant woods, with the lake shore never far from my side and the towering Tetons beyond. I reached the top end of the lake after around ninety minutes, and took a slight detour away from String Lake, which connects Leigh and Jenny lakes, in search of somewhere to eat at Jenny Lake Lodge.
This proved to be a rather up-market place, and I soon found myself sitting in a posh dining room full of people who had walked rather shorter distances to reach it. I had an excellent, if filling, smoked salmon club sandwich, and then continued on my way to the western shore of Jenny Lake.
I turned away from the shore around halfway around the western shore, near where Cascade Creek flows into the lake, and where a shuttle boat from the visitor centre area reaches the opposite shore. The path followed close to Cascade Creek and led me up to Hidden Falls, in the woods of a deep canyon between two of the Teton peaks. From there I could follow the trail far into the canyon, or else follow a short trail up to Inspiration Point for a view of the lake. I chose the latter option, and made my way up to a rocky promontory at an altitude of 7300ft (2225m), from which I could see almost the whole of the lake, and much of the plains of Jackson Hole beyond.
I returned to the trail around the lake, considerably busier than that around the eastern shore. I took a slight detour off to one side at one point to find myself looking at a small lake from which a large bull moose was drinking. I spent a few minutes watching it before continuing back to the visitor centre area for a much-needed cold drink.
After a while I was ready to head off. I drove up the road in search of the turning for Signal Mountain Road, but found it poorly signed and ended up at Jackson Lake Dam. I stopped briefly to look at the lake, with a view to returning to see more of it the next day if the weather held. I then turned back and found the turning I wanted, onto a narrow winding road leading up to the summit of Signal Mountain, a low peak by the standards of the Tetons but offering excellent views over the flat Jackson Hole area. Signs described its various features and how many of them result from glacial action at the end of the last Ice Age.
I returned to Jackson and to the motel, and rested for a while before heading out for dinner. By now it was raining quite heavily, and I decided to go for the nearby bistro rather than go any further afield. This turned out to be an excellent choice, serving me a roasted half chicken, followed by a dessert of profiteroles and coconut ice cream. I returned to the motel afterwards, and turned again to the Weather Channel. The forecast for the next day was not at all promising. I had been keen to stay in Jackson an extra night and see more of Grand Teton (making up for time lost the previous day), as I reckoned I could spare the time before having to head back towards Denver. However with inclement weather likely, I was not going to commit myself to this, and started considering alternative plans, perhaps heading down to Salt Lake City instead. I went to bed just before midnight, leaving a final decision until the next morning.