Jenny Lake Boating — Local services in Jackson

We enjoyed a beautiful morning on Jenny Lake. We arrived at 7:00AM and were able to catch an early ride across the lake to the most popular hiking trails. The young boat captain was very polite and seemed to enjoy his job. He said he was blessed to have grown up in the area. It was just a short trip to the other side. We chose to take the 1/2 mile hike to Hidden Falls. It was a cool June morning and the hike was perfect. We chose not to hike further to Inspiration Point. The waterfall was awesome and much of the hike back down was along the stream. There are plenty of places to step off the trail to rest and get pictures. There are enough people around to not really worry about bears. If you don't have bear spray they do have a vending machine near the bathrooms before you board the boat where you can rent a can. When we returned to the dock we waited only a few minutes before boarding our boat back to the main dock. We highly recommend that you take a few hours at Jenny Lake. You can spend much longer if you wish to hike around the lake so a visit here can be enjoyed by novice hikers like us or more avid hikers that frequent the National Parks. We do recommend that you come early to beat the crowd. By the time we were leaving around 9:30AM the parking lot was full and people were parking on the shoulder of the road as far as a 1/4 mile away from the parking lot. Don't miss Jenny Lake when you visit The Grand Teton...

Jenny Lake Boating (7-7 summer hours) is the concessionaire that provides shuttle services across Jenny Lake. Reservations are not needed as the boats run continuously throughout the day, both out and back, and the wait is not usually long. Purchase tickets at East Boat Dock, and you’ll usually be able to get on the next boat. It’s a fun 7-minute cruise across the lake, with an informed pilot who will tell you all you need to know, and when to be back at the West Cascade Dock for the last boat back. The boat features life-jackets and bus-style seating, under a canopy. Bring a light jacket as the wind across the water can feel cold, and don’t forget your camera. Cascade Dock was where we saw our only bear in GTNP. A juvenile Brown bear was scouting out the dock area just yards from people who were waiting on the shuttle boat. This was a spur-of the moment choice for us and we really enjoyed it. Tickets were $17 (senior fare) each, and credit cards...

We rented a canoe for the day, and it was so wonderful. We went around the shoreline, stopped at a pebble beach and read and swam for a bit, made it to the headwaters on the north side, then ended up docking at a sandy beach near the dock for the lake shuttle. From there we hiked to hidden falls and inspiration point, highly recommend!! Then hung out on the sandy beach for a little bit while we snacked, relaxed in the sun, and swam some more.

There’s so many nice little spots to pull off and hangout on the shoreline. If you’re thinking about hiking Jenny lake trail, perhaps consider this instead. Hiking is great but being on the water while getting to see the whole perimeter of the lake, and getting to hike inspiration point on top of that was just a great way to experience the lake.

On top of everything, we saw an otter at the very end of the day! He...