Grand Teton National Park - Cascade Canyon Hike

Cascade Canyon is one way to get into the mountains and enjoy and experience their immenseness.  The trail is by far the most popular and crowded of the canyon trails.  There are two way to get to the trail head for Cascade Canyon.  You can use the boat shuttle or you can add 2.4 miles one-way to hike by walking along the south shore line of Jenny Lake.  

Here's a photo of our shuttle boat.  The ride takes less than 10 minutes. 

The first stop along our route is Hidden Falls, 2.3 miles. You can see the the trail is easy to follow.

Along the trail are intermittent calm and turbulent stretches of Cascade Creek.  

You have to walk down several steps to get up to Hidden Falls, but its well worth the effort.

We had a fellow hiker take a photo of Kathy and I at the base of the falls.

We thought this was one of the best signs to discourage people from walking off the path.  It basically states that this site was once used to rest or as a picnic area.  The cumulative effect of all those feet over the years eroded the roots of the trees and they started to die.  Imagine this site in 100-200 years, the trees will be dead and since the roots were exposed and scarred there may not be any trees.  Stay on the path so that others can enjoy these sites in the future.  

It is a well worn but rocky trail up to Inspiration Point so just watch your footing and you should be fine.  Just as a warning, the trail to Inspiration Point is narrow and steep so those with vertigo might need to think about it before going.

  

Once we made it to Inspiration Point we sat down took in the wonderful view of the lake and the Tetons behind us and had ourselves a little snack watching the chipmunks try to steal other people’s food.  Those little guys were pretty sly and quick.

You can see here the placard for the elevation at Inspiration Point.  We climbed about 700-foot. 

We did see our fair share of marmots during our hike.  

This is the start of the hike to Cascade Canyon.  

At the foot of the canyon it is 4.5 miles to the junction of the north and south Cascade Canyon trails.  From there, hikers have the option of heading north along the Lake Solitude Trail to Lake Solitude (another 2.8 miles or south via the South Fork Cascade Canyon Trail to Hurricane Pass 5.1 miles.

This guy decided it was time for a rest. 

The trail gets narrow and wider at different sections along the route.  

The snow peaked Tetons tower over you on one side, while you hike along the cool river and surrounded by forest.  The views inside the canyon are awesome!

Here's Kathy at the forks of Cascade Canyon where the trail splits with the Lake Solitude Trail heading to Lake Solitude and Paintbrush Divide, while the South Fork Cascade Canyon Trail leads to Hurricane Pass.

You can see here there is plenty of snow still left in the canyon.

If you look to the left and right of the trail you will see some moose droppings.  

Now you know where they came from.  Although Kathy did not see this female moose, I spotted her not 10-feet from the trail.  We decided to get a quick photo and keep on trucking as they say. 

The was an unbelievable hike as it  takes you through an absolutely stunning canyon with breathtaking views along the entire route.   If you can only do one hike here at Grand Teton National Park, this is our favorite.