Kayaking Jackson Lake

We double-downed on the kayaking by hitting Jackson Lake following yesterday’s ‘yaking on Jenny Lake. We knew Jackson Lake would not let us down with the “trail” mingling among the many inlets, channels, and islands between Coulter Bay and Half Moon Bay. We started early to avoid some foretasted thunder storms in the afternoon. The early start provided us with glass-like water on our way out of Colter Bay and as we turned South, hugging the banks on our left. Some of the most amazing views are splattered in this small stretch. Our eyes are overwhelmed with the mixing of water, land, trees, snow-capped mountains, and the big sky. It would be tough to fit any more into the scene.Before reaching Half Moon Bay, we ran into a shallow channel which forced us to portage the two kayaks the 150-ish feet to deeper water on the other side.Soon after, we arrived in Heron Pond (not accessible without another portage) which was our destination. The East side of Heron Pond was included in my first ever hike in the National Park with Timmy back in 2010. This time we beached on the West side of the pond, looking back across the pond and to that very trail from five years ago.

The plan was then to paddle around some of the islands, into the main body of water, but as we started that way the weather started down our side of the Tetons. Staring down the barrel of Mother Nature, we chose to turned tail and paddle back the way we came – the shorter route back to the truck.

My experiences of past hikes made it an easy decision and it was the right one. In the final half-mile we caught the wrath of the storm with rain, wind, and some pretty big waves (for kayaks). The only plus-side was that the wind assisted us by giving a nice push towards our finale. Cold and wet, we emptied the kayaks and loaded everything back onto the truck, just in time for the storm to blow past and the sun to reappear… oh well.

One cool item found on our way back was a large set of bear prints in the mud where we twice portaged. Kerri was not very comfortable with it, but I had to hang around long enough to grab a photo… safety be damned… I’m crazy like that.