Today we had the pleasure of meeting up with Dr. Ann Mattson, of the Jenny Lake visitors center. She spoke woth us about the geology and ecology of the Tetons and the Greater Yellowstone region in general. She lead us on a mile-ish long hike to sit on one of the spots where the Teton fault manifests itself above ground in thenform of a fault scarp. The fault scarp runs at depth below the Grand Tetons and in many places manifest right along the base of the mountains. After lunch we began a hike through the very snowy upper level of the hidden falls trail. For much of the trail, the path was covered with snow and ice, and so we relied on the footprints of previous hikers to lead us to the end of the trail. This is the point where I realized that I really enjoy hiking in the snow. Its kind of a puzzle like...."hmm where can I step without fall through or slipping and falling down the side of the mountain". By the time we had gotten half way to Hidden Falls I had a method figured out: dig in your heels (because its better to sink too far in and fall on your butt than to slip and fall without any kind of control), and avoid the icy patches and spots where other hikes had slipped (evident in the footprints).
The view of the falls was definately worth the hike. Hidden falls is quite possible the most awe-inspiring waterfall I have ever had the pleasure to gaze upon. Across from the falls was a snow-covered slope which looked very much like a ski-slope. We took advantage of this location and the wonderful texture of the snow, to have another snowball fight.
We took the lower trail on the way out, amd the hike was fairly uneventful aside from 2 events. For one, we came across a group of recent graduates from a school in Georgia who decided to jump of an outcrop and into the lake. Just to give you an idea of how cold the water in Jenny Lake was, the entire lake was frozen over until the end of last week. So needless to say, the guys were kinda crazy. The second interesting event was getting to come face to face with a yellow-bellied marmot, who posed for us on a rock right along the edge of the trail.
Back at the campsite, we ate dinner and then a few of us went into Jackson with the professors to search for a relaxing coffee shop where we could read/work on our blogs (think Cool Beans in Columbia). To our dismay, we realized that no coffee shops were open in Jackson Hole past 7pm and we didn't get dropped off until about 9. So we spend about an hour wandering around, and finally settled for a cup of joe from the Loaf N' Jug, the local gas station/convience store.
I'm a little worried about what tomorrow brings because it is already past 11pm. For comparison, I usually go to bed between 9:30 and 10pm. So we will see how tomorrow goes, and I'll be sure to pass along the information to you all.
Wildlife notice: saw a female and a baby moose on the Jenny Lake hike today by some avalanche debris that we hiked over.
Pictures to come once I can get WiFi :)
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