Our first big hike of the trip was through Cascade Canyon to Lake Solitude, on day 5 of our cross-country road trip. (In case you’ve missed the others, here’s Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4!)
The trailhead begins at the far shore of Jenny Lake. You can either take a boat across the lake or hike two miles around – we opted for the boat! We also knew we needed to finish the hike (15 miles roundtrip) by 7pm in order to catch the last boat back; otherwise we’d have to hike the extra two miles back to our car.
The first stop was Hidden Falls, a very impressive 200 foot waterfall about a half mile down the trail.
From there it was a steep climb up to Inspiration Point, a little over a half mile further. We had a beautiful view over Jenny Lake!
From there we headed into Cascade Canyon, where the trail had a more gradual incline. We had an unbelieveably gorgeous day, and I took about a million pictures because I couldn’t get over the vibrant colors.
After about 5 miles we reached the Forks of Cascade Canyon, where the trail splits. We debated whether we wanted to continue on and try to make it to the lake and back, or if we should just head back from there. We were already pretty exhausted, and we were worried a little about making it all the way back by 7 to catch the boat, but honestly it was so gorgeous that we we couldn’t stop! We continued on to the lake and crossed through more gorgeous meadows. There were even a few patches of snow still on the trail, which was interesting to cross!
We finally made it to the lake mid-afternoon and stopped to have some lunch. We didn’t have much time to rest before needing to head back to catch the 7pm boat.
After finishing the hike, we drove to Dornan’s, a restaurant I’d seen recommended for great pizza. We were both completely exhausted and ready for some food, and it did not disappoint! Make sure you stop here when you’re visiting the Tetons! Great beer, great food, great view 🙂
On the way back to our campsite, we saw our first moose!
It was a long and exhausting day, so we fell asleep before it was even dark outside! Check back later for Day 6 highlights 🙂
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