An Early Start

Because this was a weekend and the park seems quite busy, we thought we would arrive early at our desired location and beat the rush.  So we got up and were on the road by 7am, arriving at the Taggart Lake trailhead before 8am.  Then we made breakfast and did our preparations.

We were some of the first to arrive.  While we were eating, people started trickling in, then pouring in.  By the time we left on our hike, the lot was nearly full.  When we returned from our hike, three hours later, there were lines of cars parked by the side of the main road in both directions for as far as I could see.

We hiked to Taggart Lake, then Bradley Lake, for a total distance of just over 5 miles.  One thing we enjoyed about this hike, in addition to the lakes themselves, was the Aspen trees.  They are beginning to turn color and add splashes of yellow to the scenery, with the mountains as a backdrop.

Great hike, always great scenery, although my legs are beginning to protest from all the activity of the last few days.  At some point they will hopefully get used to it.

We made lunch in the RV, watching all the people come in and out of the parking lot, hoping to find the space that wasn’t there. Then we headed for String Lake, where we would be one of the people hoping to find a space that wasn’t there.

We found a space, in one of the RV spaces, where a smaller RV had conveniently parked all the way forward.  We pulled in behind it, filling the space nicely, and unloaded the kayaks for a paddle in String Lake.

String Lake is located just above Jenny Lake, which we paddled yesterday, and just below Leigh Lake. Supposedly you can portage your boat between the three lakes, but we didn’t find a way yesterday from Jenny Lake.  There was an established portage between String Lake and Leigh Lake and we spent a few hours padding both lakes.

Like Jenny Lake, these lakes lap right up against the side of the mountains, which makes for some dramatic landscape.  It was enjoyable viewing this from a kayak.  This morning, when hiking, we were mostly looking at our feet to prevent ourselves from stumbling over the rocks in the trail.  In a kayak, we could just paddle and enjoy the scenery without worrying about stones or anything else.  It really was a nice way to enjoy the mountains.

When portaging from one lake to the other, we met a woman toting a stand-up paddle board and we asked her how long the portage was.  “It’s super short, only about a quarter of a mile,” she said brightly.

Super short does not equal a quarter of a mile.  She’s not carrying two heavy kayaks.  Turns out it was about 500 yards.  In spite of the National Park philosophy of leaving no trace, I dragged the kayaks the entire distance.  If it’s OK for horses to tear up the path and to leave their droppings behind, it’s OK for me to leave two faint lines in the dirt from my kayaks.

After dinner, we checked out a section of the Snake River for possible kayaking tomorrow, then it was time to go somewhere to settle in for the night.  Deb found a campsite on the map and suggested we check it out.  Turns out the campsite was 10 miles off the road, six miles beyond the end of the pavement, five miles beyond any available cell service, and three miles beyond the National Park boundary.  All I know about it is that it is called Pacific Creek Campground.  It’s about as far out of the way as you can get.  It was dark when we finally got here, so I’m not even sure what the place looks like.  I’m glad there was an available campsite.  But Deb did see some elk grazing in a meadow on the way in.  I was too busy trying to keep the RV on the narrow, winding road to see them.