Paintbrush Canyon

I awoke to a very calm morning after a night of wind and rain. Leigh Lake was perfectly still. I remained at my campsite until late morning almost wishing I had a permit to stay another night. I gathered some of the dried driftwood from the beach along with some downed pine branches and built another sweet smelling crackling fire and let it burn down. By the time I left the site, the wind had picked up from over the mountains and was blowing in hard.

I was really enjoying the area, so I decided to drop my gear at the car and take a different trail around String Lake and up Paintbrush Canyon between Mt. Woodring to the north and Mt. St. John to the south. There was a lot of snow in the canyon and it made the hike rather slow. The canyon hike though the forest afforded great views of Leigh Lake and one of Mt. St. John once I reached a high enough altitude and the trees started to thin. I estimate the hike took me about 7 miles. If I would have hiked through the day, I might have made it close to Idaho, my intended destination via car the next day. However, I was looking forward to a shower and then a visit to Jackson Lodge. Here's a link to a detailed map of Grand Teton National Park, courtesy of the National Park Service:
http://www.nps.gov/applications/parks/grte/ppMaps/ACF18EE.pdf

It was getting pretty late while I was at the lodge, so I took a break from the camp food and had a burger and fries at the Blue Heron Lounge. It was the first time I hadn't eaten a meal either at my car or campsite since I got on the road. It was typical bar food and as I settled into my sleeping bag at the Colter Bay campground, I wished I had opted for my standard mac & cheese or Lipton instant noodles with tuna mixed in.

My intention was to stop for another hike further south along the Teton range the next day, then push on to Jackson, Wyoming, and into Idaho. It might be a few days before I update my blog.