Inspiration Point

There are a lot of trails in the vicinity of Jenny Lake, within Grand Teton National Park. There is even a ferry service across the lake if you want quick access to the far side. One of the popular destinations on the far side is Inspiration Point. There is a waterfall (aptly named Hidden Falls) on the way up, and the views from Inspiration Point are pretty nice. We ended up hiking to the far side, up to the waterfall and Inspiration Point, and then taking the easy boat ride back.

Part of the trail up to Inspiration Point is literally cut into the side of a short rock face. What is weird is that this caused me zero anxiety (unlike the trails that meandered next to the giant canyons of Yellowstone National Park). Tammy, on the other hand, was the exact opposite. She had no problem the meandering canyon-side trails, but the climb up and down from Inspiration Point was not quite as inspirational to her as it was to me.

The first photo here is of a shadowy Hidden Falls. The second is one of the views from Inspiration Point, looking east across Jenny Lake. The third photo is Tammy negotiating the climb back down from Inspiration Point. And the last photo is of the Grand Tetons, taken from the boat as we rode back across Jenny Lake.

Ruffed Grouse

While Tammy and I were in Grand Teton National Park, we hiked the trail around Jenny Lake, past Hidden Falls, and up to Inspiration Point. This is the same trail where we saw that cute Pika with the nasty tick between his eyes. Along this trail there was a spur trail over to a pond where you sometimes could see moose. We took that trail, but alas, there was no moose. On the other hand, I almost stepped on a Ruffed Grouse.

This is my second close encounter with a Ruffed Grouse. I ran into one on a trail in Maine in June of 2006 (no picture). When I saw the one in Maine, I thought that it was somewhat slow to react to my presence. It saw me, and kept watching me, as it kind of sauntered off into the woods. It did not fly away in a panic. It just slowly, but purposely, walked away into the underbrush. At that time I thought that behavior was a tad odd, but I had never had a close encounter with a Ruffed Grouse before, so what did I know?

So, as Tammy and I were scanning the pond in the hopes of spotting a moose, I noticed some movement on the ground near my feet. I immediately stopped and watched as a Ruffed Grouse sauntered across the trail in front of me. Once again, this bird slowly but purposely, with no panic evident in its movements, made its way into the underbrush. Two close encounters with a Ruffed Grouse, same behavior each time.

Here is a picture of the pond with a reflection of the Grand Tetons in it. I timed the shot perfectly so that the water would be rippled, thereby preventing a clear reflection of the mountains (sarcasm). Tammy did a much better job with this opportunity. The next two photos are of the Ruffed Grouse that I almost stepped on.

Pikaboo!

I was expecting to eventually see a pika, but I really did not know what one looked like. I was thinking it was mouse-like (although it is more closely related to a rabbit), but really did not know how large one would be, nor whether it would be shy and run away, or just ignore me. When Tammy and I hiked around Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park, I got my answers.

When we startled this pika, it immediately ran for cover into the underbrush. And then immediately ran back out to the rock it was on when we first saw it. It would run and hide, and then just as quickly come back out. At one point I thought it might check out my boots. Unfortunately for this particular pika, he has a nice juicy tick right between his eyes. Maybe he kept running back out because he wanted me to pull that thing out?