Jackson Lake - Spalding Bay to Bearpaw Bay

An absolutely gorgeous summer day in Jackson Hole, clear skies and practically calm winds... time to get out the sea kayak! I paddled from Spalding Bay over to Bearpaw Bay, not a long paddle but a nice start to the season. Also did a short hike from the lake over to a smaller unnamed lake; it turns out to be connected to Jackson Lake as a lagoon when the lake is full like it is now. Water temperature was 65 degrees in the shallows near shore.

Trip details at EveryTrail

Phelps Lake tour

Jill, Katie, and I decided to go for a hike around Phelps Lake. Unfortunately the parking lot at the Rockefeller Preserve was full with a line of cars waiting!  So we drove to the Death Canyon trailhead, hiked up to the Phelps overlook, down to the lake and out the north shore to the road, and then followed the road back around to the trailhead.  The wildflowers are looking good, it's still too soon for huckleberries, and Death Canyon looks as beautiful as ever. We stopped for lunch at the jumping rock on Phelps Lake; we didn't jump in (brrrr!) but a few other people did.

Gates of Lodore

Yay, a river trip with Jill, Katie, and Eric (and Dave, Petra, Matt, Mike, Keener, Chris, Dan, Julie, and Steve). Eric won in the lottery for a Gates of Lodore permit, on the Green River through Dinosaur National Monument. Four days on the river, gorgeous scenery, good friends, good weather... hard to beat!

I'll post other photos to a Picasa album when I have more time.

Upper Palisades Lake

Hard to believe that I've lived the last thirty-plus years within an hour's drive of this trailhead, and had never hiked all the way in to Upper Palisades Lake. I decided it was time to change that, so did a solo overnight backpack trip. Lots of people and horses on the trail inbound and outbound, but nobody else at the lake overnight. The weather was perfect.

Upper Palisades Lake, Idaho at EveryTrail

Garnet Canyon

A gorgeous summer day; Dave & Gail and I went for a hike up Garnet Canyon to get some exercise. We ran into continuous snow beginning at the Platforms area (about 9000'), and didn't go much further than that. Wow, summer is finally here!

Garnet Canyon at EveryTrail

Teton Rail Trail

Glen, Guy, and I went for an easy mountain bike ride on the converted railroad grade (rails to trails) from Tetonia to Lamont. Easy riding since it is never more than a 2% grade. The old railroad trestles have been repaired or replaced, with very nice decking and railings. Here is the new bridge across Badger Creek.

The views are better if you ride north-to-south, so you have better views of the Teton Range.

Teton Rail Trail (partial) at EveryTrail

Ski Lake and Beyond

A gorgeous day in Jackson Hole, so we went for a hike up to Ski Lake

and kept going on up above the lake into Horseshoe Bowl. There is a trail leading up out of the northwest corner of the bowl, so we followed that until we ran into too much snow at about 9500'. Great views looking north to the Grand, and every other direction for that matter.

I couldn't find a name for the two small lakes in the foreground of this picture, they're at about 9000' just southwest of Phillips Pass.

Trip details at EveryTrail