Monday, 9/18/2023
I was cold during the night, so I put on my hoodie and puffer jacket and pulled in an extra blanket, cuddled up, and went back to sleep until 6:15.
We left early to drive to the String Lake “trailhead.“ I put that between quotation marks because we parked in the designated area and then immediately discovered that the had to walk a detour for about a quarter of a mile back to another parking lot! (We could have parked a lot closer to the trail, had we known about the detour.)
We hiked to the Jenny Lake loop, but turned around after about a mile because we had left Porsche in the cool car with a window open. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on any trails in the park. We were both sad to have to return, so we came up with a new plan to have me go on alone to Hidden Falls while Woody returned to Porsche. I only saw one other person on the trail in about 3 miles of hiking. It was an absolutely lovely hike, and the Falls was beautiful. There were warning signs everywhere about bears, but I didn’t see any. Thankfully! They have grizzlies in that park, and there had been a mother bear and her cubs in our campground the day before we arrived.
As I was walking back, I noted that a ferry was just arriving, so I took it to cross back to the other side of Jenny Lake. I was the only passenger because we were hiking so early! Woody drove around to the other side of the lake to pick me up there.
We drove back to camp and had coffee and a big breakfast. After we cleaned up and took showers, we took a rest. Then we drove to Emma Matilda trailhead. I walked with Woody for about 20 minutes and then let him go on alone. Porsche and I went and got gas and bought a few gifts at the camp store. Woody‘s hike was mostly uphill through beautiful meadows and golden, quaking aspen. He had a wonderful view of the mountains and lakes.
Hiking together is wonderful. However, hiking alone clears the mind like few other activities. Maybe that is why people as disparate as Henry David Thoreau and Francis Shaeffer derived so much benefit from the practice.
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