Backpacking - Paintbrush Canyon and Leigh Lake

Hi Blog! On June 17th, we began a backpack trip that would take us around String Lake, and up into Paintbrush Canyon between Rock Chuck Peak and Mt. Woodring. Here is the view as we came around the back side of String Lake.

Here is Paintbrush Creek as it rushes down the canyon on its way to Leigh Lake. There are several designated camping sites inside the Lower Paintbrush camping zone.  They are first come first serve.  We were hoping for a site with easy access to the creek.

The first couple of miles of the trail were in and out of a conifer forest.  We found a great camp site and set up our tent and hung our food bag.  We were soon back on the trail up the canyon to see if we could make it to Holly Lake, a small glacial tarn surrounded by mountain peaks.  The trees soon gave way to beautiful alpine meadows with views of the glaciers high above.

As the glaciers melt, the water just comes rushing down the mountain side taking the path of least resistance (because you know resistance is futile).

The higher we climbed, the closer and closer we got to the snow line.  The wet slushy snow kept us from reaching Holly Lake.  We just didn't want cold wet feet.

However, all was not lost, as the views from the top of the canyon were amazing.  The big lake in the background is Jackson Lake.  The smaller lake in the foreground is Leigh Lake.  We're going to be camping on the far shore of Leigh Lake tomorrow night.  From here, it seems so far away.

We stopped for a snack before heading back to camp.  We met a few mountain climbers after they made their way down the snowy slope.  One guy found some snow-free boulders to climb down.  The other guy skied down in just hiking boots! (We were taking bets with two hikers dudes to see if he would make it down without breaking anything.)  The one woman in the group simply walked through the snow following the switchbacks on the trail. The mountaineers confirmed our suspicions that the snow wasn't at all pleasant to hike through. The two twenty-something hiker dudes were going to try anyway.  We parted company and watched the two hiker dudes struggle up the snowy cliffside, as the mountaineers scampered down the trail ahead of us.

Back at camp, our kitchen area was right next to the creek along the trail.  Shortly after happy hour, the two twenty-something hiker dudes came by and admitted that they never made it to Holly Lake.  The snow was just too deep, wet and slushy.

Just after diner, a family (mom, dad and 9 year old daughter) came down the trail having hiked up Cascade Canyon, crossed over the Upper Paintbrush Divide (which is completely snow covered) and down Paintbrush Canyon (which was also snow covered). Kudos for the 9 year old for backpacking all that way in the snow!  Demerits to the numbskull parents for putting her in that position.  They were so beat that all they did was set up their tent and go to bed.  We were out early the next day, so we never learned how they fared.

The trip back down the canyon was definitely easier than going up.  It wasn't long before we started running into day hikers.  As we approached the trailhead to Leigh Lake, we met one family from France - mom, dad and 30-something daughter.  We kept running into them as we hiked around Leigh Lake.  We'd stop for a photo op and they would pass us.  They would stop and we'd pass them.  We soon found ourselves at our campsite looking back up into Paintbrush Canyon.  The French Family passed again, and we invited them in to sit a spell and enjoy the view from the beach.

We set up the tent, bear boxed the food bag and headed out on a day hike to Bearpaw Lake and Trapper Lake. As we passed Bearpaw, we ran into the French Family again. This time they invited us to join them, and we shared some great Belgian Chocolate stuffed with orange filling - yum!  We continued onto Trapper Lake. The French Family was not far behind.  A small creek feeds into Trapper Lake and there are remnants of old beaver dams. No beavers - trappers got them years ago.

As we headed back to camp, the sky grew ominous and we could hear thunder rumbling in the distance.  We got back in time to hide under our rain tarp as the storm passed. When the French Family came by, we offered them shelter under the tarp, but they were very anxious to get back to their car not knowing how severe the storm would be.  We bid them a fond farewell and bon journee!

It only took about an hour for the scary storm clouds to move on.  The sky turned blue, and we hit the beach for happy hour and dinner.  Luckily, we had just finished our wine when a park ranger came by to check our camping permit.

We ended up building a camp fire, not so much to keep warm, but to ward off those pesky mosquitos.  Once the sun set, they came out in droves.  All this natural beauty has a price to pay.  We went to bed early so we could get up before the sun rose to see the mountains change colors.  We were not disappointed.  We have dozens of photos, each one more spectacular than the next.

At first, we didn't want to leave such a quiet and peaceful lake.  However, the mosquitos woke up shortly after the sun hit our campsite, so it made packing up and leaving quite easy.

Hike Around Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons

On June 15, we were back in the Tetons, and decided to explore the park's second most famous lake, Jenny Lake.  Our outing was about 9 miles.  We hiked around the lake and up to Hidden Falls, then had lunch at Inspiration Point.  Afterward, we completed the circuit of the lake, across the outlet of String Lake, and back to the Jenny Lake Visitor Center.

We are staying in this area during the height of the tourist season, so the traffic during the day is "terrific."  In addition, Grand Teton National Park was conducting major road reconstruction throughout the length of the main north-south road in the park, so there were continual delays in addition to the congestion of traffic.  So we got an early start, leaving camp around 8 am.  We were well rewarded, as we got a spectacular morning view of the Tetons as we approached Jenny Lake:

Arriving lakeside, we got a beautiful morning view of Mount Teewinot to the south of the lake.

Continuing around the south shore, we stumbled on a doe who was more startled to see us than we were her.  Luckily, our camera operated more quickly than her reflexes, and we caught her startled expression:

On the western shore of Jenny Lake, we started climbing up the slopes of the Tetons.  As we climbed, we got a great view of another of the mountains to the south, along with one of the Moose Ponds:

Here's the sort of view we had of the lake as we climbed:

A stranger was kind enough to offer to snap our photo in front of Hidden Falls:

We climbed from Hidden Falls to Inspiration Point, where we enjoyed lunch and a beautiful view of Jenny Lake and the mountains to the east:

We were joined by a curious little rockchuck, who scampered about trying to avoid the humans as he conducted his business.  Part of his business was a cute little cinnamon colored rockchuck (presumably female), who may have been his mate.  They actually hung out in front of their den together conducting some sort of transaction.

That wasn't our only furry encounter of the day.  We had a break and a snack at the falls of a stream draining String Lake into Jenny Lake.  As we sat on the rocks near a couple who had been kayaking, a little brown pine marten stuck its face curiously over the rock to see what we were up to:

Luckily, while we are armed with bear spray for the black bears and grizzly bears that frequent the area, and even had a knife for defense against an unlikely mountain lion, we hadn't really prepared ourselves for all these benign little encounters!

We completed our hike around the Lake, feeling that we had really started to get to know Grand Teton this day.

Knocking About Jackson Lake in the Grand Tetons

On June 16, we decided to take it easier and stroll around the paths on Jackson Lake at the Colter Bay Visitor Center.  We followed up with lunch at the Jackson Lake Lodge.

The eastern shore of the Lake, where Colter Bay is located, offers spectacular views of the Grand Tetons.  Jackson Lake is located north of Jenny Lake, so the mountains we could see here lie to the north of the mountains we gazed upon at Jenny Lake.

Here is a view across the lake, looking toward the south:

...and here directly across the lake from Colter Bay:

...and then a look toward the north, which includes some of the mountains we can see from our campground:

Jackson Lake Lodge is actually situated some distance back from the lake, across a wide green meadow.  Nevertheless, the view from its restaurant window is spectacular:

Lewis Lake Hike in South Yellowstone

Our campground was so conveniently located that we could choose whether to drive north a few miles into south Yellowstone, or drive south a few miles into the Tetons.  On June 14, we decided to take a day hike around Lewis Lake and up the Lewis Channel toward Shoshone Lake a ways.

Here's Kathy at the trailhead as we began the hike on a chilly morning:

The trail wound along the north shore of Lewis Lake, and along a streambed or two.  Here's David examining a stream:

The lake itself offered grand views of some of the Grand Teton Mountains in the distance to the south:

We event spotted an osprey nest, with one mate in the nest on the eggs, and the other just visible in this photo, perched on one of the dead trees to the right of the nest:

After completing the hike, as we drove back to our campground, we stopped at Lewis Falls, took a look at the Lewis River as it wound its way south to join the Snake River ---

--- and hiked in to Lewis Falls itself:

The country is beautiful.  Our nights were cool (down to 32F) and days warm (up to 68F).  We decided to try to put together a backpack to Shoshone Lake, north of Lewis Lake, once we do one in Yellowstone.

Arriving in the Grand Tetons

On June 13, we arrived at Flagg Ranch, situated just north of Grand Teton National Park and just south of the South Entrance to Yellowstone National Park. The mountains are great spirits gazing over the entire valley. They are more dramatic because, due to tectonic forces and glaciers, they rise almost directly out of the valley floor with few foothills to soften the transition.

Here was one of our first views of the Tetons, across Jackson Lake as we drove the main road to our campground.

...and here are two of the mountains closest to our campground, as the afternoon clouds climbed over them our first day:

Those large spirits beckoned to us to come romp and play with them!  We couldn't wait.

Watching Old Faithful from the Historic Old Faithful Inn

The Way We Used to Communicate

With no internet or cell service, people have had to resort to primitive modes of communication. So 20th Century.