“Being poor is not having too little, it is wanting more”
Seneca
Today’s objective was to hike the loop around Jenny Lake – an easy goal – at least that’s what I thought. On paper, it is a simple goal, but my ambition of trying to hike all the trails in the Park make the reality a bit more complicated. Let me explain. There is a spur trail that connects the Lupine Meadow Trailhead to the Jenny Lake Trail (which I think is technically part of the so-called Valley Trail and includes some of the road) as well as a short loop called Moose Pond Loop that isn’t even really a loop on the map I have that I felt like I needed to incorporate to “get it all in.” Also, for the past few years, the National Park Service has been rerouting some trails around the Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point areas above Jenny Lake making the whole route a bit confusing. Additionally there are some parallel and intersecting horse trails in the area as well, so I felt a bit like Chandler Jarrell trying to find the crossed-dagger of Ajanti – nervous, intimidated, needing to follow the rules, but also needing to know when to break the rules.
Planning this hike the evening before did crystalize the fact that I might not actually set foot on every inch of marked trail in the Park. I could miss a few steps here and there, hike a horse trail instead of the corresponding foot trail, or not trek every 1/8th mile connecting trail and I’m just have to going to be okay with that. I’ll need to be satisfied with “doing all the hikes” while recognizing that I might inadvertently miss something.
I started out a bit north of the Lupine Meadows Trailhead at a random pull-off and wandered around a bit until I found the Valley Trail and the Moose Pond Loop Trail. The hiking was mostly flat with some scattered uphill sections. The trail then descended to a couple of beautiful reflecting ponds where indeed, I would expect to see a moose. There was no moose in the pond, but with the narrow trail winding through tall willow, a smell that can only be described as gamey, and blind corners I fully expected to run into something terrifying any second. I was sort of right – I came around a corner and was utterly startled, but by about the least terrifying site imaginable – a marmot casually chillin’ in a tree.
Cascade Creek
I finished the loop hike basically ending up where I started, then headed toward Jenny Lake. I walked around the lake in a clockwise direction, and did some crisscrossing and back-tracking to try to walk all the trails. The volume of water in Cascade Creek coming from Hidden Falls was truly impressive, and the roar from the creek was intense. As always, there were more people here having come off the Jenny Lake Shuttle Boat heading to Inspiration Point, so I decided to head on as I will pass this way again when I come up or down Cascade Canyon on my way to or from points higher. As I made my way past the boat dock I did catch a glimpse of a cinnamon-colored black bear as it made its way through the woods and away from me reminding me that the bears are everywhere, even in really populated areas.
The views around Jenny Lake are pretty spectacular, but especially impressive from the west side of the lake. The only issue with this section of the trail is that it is directly adjacent to the Jenny Lake scenic road and the volume of cars detracts a bit from the experience. I eventually came to the main Jenny Lake area by the boat dock and ranger station. This is the busiest place in the entire Park, so it took a lot of effort to doge all the tourists on my way back Lupine Meadows, but it wasn’t too bad.
As I walked today I thought about one aspect of the Stoic interpretation of wealth. By some measures, Teton County is the wealthiest county in the nation, and by living here we are surrounded by it constantly. The non-stop parade of private jets landing at the airport, insanely expensive SUVs, multimillion dollar homes and ranches are just a few of the daily reminders of the material wealth in the Tetons. One idea though that the Stoics propose is that a more basic and more fulfilling definition of wealth is having “enough.” I’ve tried hard to incorporate this idea in my life for a while because I’ve met several people who have so much, but are just not happy. We’ve all seen or know people who are less-fortunate yet extremely happy and those that have all the financial means in the world and are completely miserable. We’ve heard the cautionary tales of the lottery winners that wind up penniless and depressed. I’m convinced that being happy and content is a choice we make, and as long as our basic needs are met, not dependent on how much money we have. If we can’t be fulfilled with what we have, and are always wanting more, no matter how much we acquire, we will never be satisfied. The good news is that means wealth is attainable for almost all of us if we can just focus on what we can control and be content with having enough.
Mileage – 8ish miles
Time – 3 hours 6 minutes
BGAS – 3 deer, 1 black bear, several pronghorn in the trailhead parking lot
PS – many
* I have decided to not actually count people anymore because it’s a bit annoying. Instead I will classify the people seen as few, some, several, many, and TNTC.