The Tetons are wonderful to wander by both foot and kayak, even an inflatable. We saw a notice posted at the Colter visitor center about a ranger-led kayak tour of Jenny Lake, which we had heard was a beautiful setting. Reservations were required and, as always, our [epithet deleted] Sprint service was nonexistent. The ever-helpful ranger offered to call for us and we got a slot. Only downside is that Jenny is at least 35 minutes away, we had to meet the ranger at 8:00 in the water, and we couldn’t launch our inflatable at the meeting point, but rather at a spot about a half mile from there. Add to that we had to actually inflate the darn thing after not having done it in over a year, and it meant another early up and out. The upside was that the view on the way with the early morning light was great.
We kept an eagle eye for any wildlife, but saw only the butt end of an elk disappearing into the brush. As for idiots, the early hour was no deterrent. Some foreign-driver-whose-ethnicity-shall-remain-unstated was making an excruciating 28-point u-turn smack in the middle of the road. What was he thinking? Or not? The turnoff road to our launch point went from rough pavement to gravel and dirt, and required crossing a small wooden bridge before ending at a dirt parking lot. Hmmm. We weigh about 6.5 tons and this didn’t look all that sturdy. I got out and looked underneath to check it out. Ah, no sweat, the wood on top hid the steel girders underneath. Nonetheless, I accelerated over it as if speed alone would ensure it did not have time to collapse under us. Over we went and got to the cove. We got the kayak out of the bag and set to work.
It was about 45 degrees out and my fingers were cold. I couldn’t turn the valves to open. I never seem to remember just how the valves work, and they’re not particularly intuitive, so my vocabulary gets a good workout. Loni patiently endured. Maybe my swearing heated the air a bit, as I finally got brain and hand working and got the things open. Much pumping and both kayak and seats were filled. Loni was fitting the paddles together and one didn’t want to click. No time to analyze, just pound the sucker on the ground and force it! Uh oh. There’s supposed to be an A, B, C, and D part for each paddle. We had just joined two B’s, apparently permanently as they wouldn’t separate. More mighty swearing. Fortunately, this only means we can’t offset the blades, but have to have them parallel. No problem, as that’s how we like it anyway. We got launched without mishap and headed up the lake to find the group. We passed a dock with no one around and kept going. Eventually, we found the commercial marina (where they rent kayaks and why we couldn’t launch ours there) and a few other folks who were taking the tour. But the dockman said that the meeting point was . . . yep . . . that dock that we passed about a 1/4 mile back. We were getting our day’s workout and we hadn’t even started.
The paddle was a lot of fun, even though the inflatable is directionally challenged, and it was a constant struggle to keep on course.
The paddle was scheduled for 3 1/2 hours. About two hours in, well, I had to pee. But there’s just no way. I must have looked like a St. Vitus’ dance victim for the next 1 1/2 hours. Willpower. Sheer willpower. Finally, we were finished – literally. The others went back to the marina and we headed for our cove, and boy did I run for the rig. Then, deflation, drying off, repacking, stowing, and some lunch. Woof. However, being dead game sports, as the Tennessee Shad would say, we decided to take the hike to Hidden Falls, a trail that wound around the lake and back up the hills, about 5 miles round trip. The Tetons are ever present.
Along the way we encountered a couple staring through binoculars at a small pond about 100 yards away. “Moose,” they whispered. I reached for our binocs and grabbed air. Uh oh. The one time we forgot to sling them along. The nice folks let us use theirs, and sure enough, a huge cow moose was standing shoulder deep in the pond, dipping underwater to grab a munch of tender greens. Now, my nifty new camera (Canon S95) has many neat features, but an adequate zoom lens ain’t one of them. It’s only 3.8x. Trust me. There’s a moose hidden in this shot! If you look at the squarish white rock at the center of the shoreline, the longish dark object in front of it is the mostly submerged moose, with its nose to the right and body left. Honest.
Fortunately, this is a well traveled trail. Why fortunate? Because there are some 400 black bears and 70 grizzlies in the park, and there have been two people killed this summer by bears, the most recent just a week ago. No isolated hiking for us. The rangers say there has never been an attack when hiking with four or more people. We tried to stay close to other groups on the way. And, by the way, bear bells are bogus. The rangers say that the frequency of the bells sounds like running water to bears, and is ineffective to warn them off. They all preach the effectiveness of bear spray, so it’s a good thing to have. Costs $44 in the visitor center stores.
We made the hike without getting eaten, and the falls were quite pretty, albeit with a large crowd of people milling about. We managed to get our pic taken with only one extraneous body in the frame.
A ranger said the flows this year were the best in recent memory. Guess that’s the case all over the west. I would have loved to have been in Yosemite this year. That was it for this day. We stumbled back down the trail and rumbled off. On the way, we detoured to see the Jenny Lake Lodge. Well, it sure isn’t on the lake; in fact, it’s nowhere near it, and not very impressive. Car tourists, avoid. We also dropped in on the Jackson Lake Lodge, which was much bigger and more modern. Big central lobby for lounging, with distant views of the lake. It looked like it took pretty good coin to stay here. Not us. $7.50 a night at Colter with the geezer pass. On our way in to our site we came upon the neatest RV we’ve seen in a while. I like their style.
Chicken stir-fry with couscous tonight. And a beer. Boddington’s is your friend.
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