hiking around jenny lake

the weather predictions weren't great for the last day we were there, but we had put off hiking hoping for good weather. we determined to hike- rain or shine. well, it rained! but we had a really good time. due to the weather, we rode the ferry across the jenny lake (jenny o, it was named after you! :) if you even read this- ha!) instead of hiking around it. it was windy and cold.

once we arrived on the other side, someone mentioned that there was a moose near a creek, so we decided to go check it out. thankfully, we had these bear bells that chet found for us, that i LOVED! (and we were armed with bear spray, this huge fire-extinguisher sized pepper spray for bears, and we were armed with the knowledge of what to do in case of a bear attack...grizzy OR black bear, which is what put the fear in me and confirmed the purchase of the bear spray and bear bells. anyway...) these clever bells come in a pouch so that they don't jingle all of the time, only when you are hiking so any large wildlife, a bear, a moose, what have you, is not surprised by your presence and compelled to ATTACK! i joked that i am not quiet enough to startle anything, that a bear would hear me coming, for sure. i did not, however, take into account the elevation, and lack of talking due to the gasping for oxygen. so THANKS, CHET! they worked. all of the bears were well aware of our presence (along with the many other hikers we crossed paths with. :) ) oh, we didn't see a moose. he was probably bothered by our jingling and moved on. we learned that moose are very elusive.

we had planned to hike to hidden falls, and then to inspiration point, and then see how we were feeling from there. we arrived at this waterfall, and took lots of pictures. it was so pretty and the water was just gushing! this is really a neat season to see everything because of all of the melt-off from the snow. i am way up there on the bridge. it was so pretty!

we kept going, and we came upon another larger beautiful waterfall. i had thought that the first one was hidden falls, but i was wrong. this was it! :)

some nice people took our picture.

then it seemed like we hiked for-eva! (now, mind you i am not a wimpy hiker. we really enjoy hiking around our north carolina mountains, and i am in better shape than i have been in a long time- thanks, the shred!- but i was struggling! and wishing that i had the granola bar or trail mix that we left in the car. we were trying to be bear aware! and i thought that peanuts would smell extra yummy to a bear whether we were wearing jingle bells or not, so we opted not to bring the food. what's that they say about hindsight? ) anyway, i was feeling puny, but we finally arrived at this beautiful spot...

a pre-teen named riley offered to take our picture. he was on a trip with his grandparents from mississippi, and he was "really good with cameras" so, we let him and i think he did a pretty good job!

so pretty. i asked how much further joel planned to go, and he said he would like to at least hike to inspiration point. what?! this 'point' wasn't inspiration point? goodness! so we kept on. i was remembering the t-shirt that we chuckled at the day before that said "my lungs hurt- jackson hole, wy" only it was truer than it was funny at this point.

hiking further up... it was really so pretty!

and finally, inspiration point! beautiful!

joel being inspired...

we went a little further, and then hiked down. it eventually stopped sprinkling and warmed up some. it was just a great time. i really enjoy hiking with joel and am ready to go back and hike even further up to lake solitude. :)

here is the view riding the ferry back, inspiration point is the lighter colored part just above the treetops. it doesn't look like much from this view! :)