7/31/13 Day 4 was 10 miles and 3,000' of downhill starting with a beautiful morning on Holly Lake, then down Paintbrush Canyon, past Leigh and String lakes, ending at Jenny Lake, and including a detour to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls.
1 More great forest trail on the way out of the lake basin.
2 Crystal clear water. Occasionally, you could see a fish swimming by.
3 Sunrise on Holly Lake. The start of Day 4, and it's a beautiful morning. The howling wind from the night before is gone, and the lake is smooth as glass.
4 The backpacking family in the other campsite left early, and I now have the lake entirely to myself. I spent all morning just sitting on the lake.
5 If Holly Lake isn't my #1 all-time favorite outdoor spot, it's very close to it. Partially because of the scenery, but also partially because of the serenity of having the lake to myself.
6 Definitely the warmest morning of the trip. The sun is bright, and the colors are eye-popping.
7 I could probably come here a dozen times and not find the same perfect weather and solitude again.
8 Did I mention that I really like this place?
9 My medidation spot on the edge of the pennisula on Holly Lake. I really, really didn't want to leave.
10 In the wind the night before, I hadn't noticed the sound of the small cascade that feeds Holly Lake. Here's a close-up view.
11 Trail maintenace camp. The night before, I had come across a couple older guys that were on their way to party with the maintenace crew. The crew was on an eight day shift in the backcountry. The workers are evidently mostly all college aged kids. They work hard all day on the trails and then party all night. They do the heavy maintenance work: digging culverts, building retaining walls, log cutting, etc. No wonder the entire TCT is in immaculate condition. The trail is narrow and natural, but never overgrown, and easily followable the entire way.
12 I finally break myself away and head out. Here's one last parting shot of the lake.
13 A look down Paintbrush Canyon at Jackson Lake.
14 Another long cascades coming down the canyon.
15 Lots of creek crossings.
16 Leigh Lake in the foreground with Jackson Lake further in the distance.
17 This picture looks like nothing, but it's actually the creek narrowing into a steep gorge, and the noise is thunderous.
18 Some more great single track.
19 Almost all the way back down to the valley floor at around 6,500', having dropped 3,000' since Holly Lake. As the elevation drops, the terrain and vegatation is starting to give way to the more typical SoCal style chapparal. I'm aleady missing the backcountry.
20 String Lake, which is fed by Leigh Lake and in turn drains into Jenny Lake.
21 Looking back up String Lake with Mt. Moran in the distance.
22 A wider look at String Lake.
23 String Lake narrows into a small river on its way to Jenny Lake.
24 The river draining into Jenny Lake.
25 For some reason I found this fascinating. I'm not sure I've ever seen where a river empties into a lake like this before. Pretty cool.
26 The trail hugs the lake shore for a while. Here a view of Teewinot and the Grand Teton from the opposite side of my first views three days ago. This is also the only section of the entire TCT that looks to have been affected by a recent fire.
27 On the shore of Jenny Lake.
28 An attempt to capture a panorama view of the entire lake.
29 Lots of great lake views. Another afternoon thunderstorm was coming-in though, and I had to don the rain gear for one last downpour.
30 Made it back to the boat dock! Traditionally, the TCT ends here by taking the 10 minute shuttle boat ride across the lake. I had decided earlier in the day that I would hike the extra two miles instead (to at least partially make-up for taking the tram on Day 1). My decision was made easier by the fact that the shuttle was shutdown for a while during the storm due to fear of lightning strikes on the lake. So the line for the shuttle was almost an hour long. Probably longer than the hike would be! Yet most people still opted for the shuttle.
31 The trail to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point is the most popular trail in the park, and it starts from the shuttle dock. I figured I might as well hike it while I was here. It's probably the equivalent of Vernal Falls in Yosemite Valley. For those small percentage of tourists that do actually get out of their car, this is the trail they hike. It's a complete zoo. There are more people on a hundred yards of this trail than in the last 40 miles of the TCT combined!
32 Cascade Creek roaring down from below Hidden Falls. This is the same creek (though a bit larger now) that I camped alongside two nights ago.
33 Hidden Falls. It's somewhere between a waterfall and a huge cascade, but it's over a 100' high and is pretty impressive.
34 Another view of the falls.
35 Jenny Lake from Inspiration Point. I didn't realize that this detour was going to be quite as long, or quite as steep, as it was. It added almost 2 miles and a fair amount of gain to my day. Though it is a great view here, it's actually far less inspiring than dozens of jaw dropping views elsewhere along the TCT. Unfortunately (or fortunately), this will probably be the only Inspiration Point for the vast majority of the people that visit GTNP.
36 A zoomed-in view of the two shuttle boats that make rounds all day back and forth across the lake.
37 Heading back down now towards the lakeshore. The remaining two miles of trail were frustrating. A portion of the trail was closed, and the detour added some elevation gain I wasn't expecting. And the trail was crowded with day hiking tourists. It was the first time in four days I was actually looking forward to getting off the trail. Otherwise, I felt like I could easily have gone a couple more days in the backcountry.
38 Made it back to the Jenny Lake trailhead. Mission complete! I can now check "4 day solo backpacking tour of the Teton Crest Trail" off of my to-do list. Now it's unfortunately time to return to civilization...