Just two miles from my house is a small network of trails. Until this past week, I hadn’t hiked more than a mile of the trails, so I decided it was time to fix that. I hiked out to Hermitage Point, 9.2 miles round trip, and the trail was beautiful. This is Heron Pond with Grand Teton in the background. I didn’t see any herons, but there was a pair of Sandhill Cranes hanging around. I didn’t manage to get any pictures of them, but I did listen to them for a while.The trail mostly went through forest, at least until I reached the point. There were a few climbs, but nothing too bad.The berries are ripening. This is Twinberry and the berries look like they are glowing.There be bears here too! I didn’t see any, but I was making noise and carrying bear spray, just in case.About three miles in, I started hearing an osprey. It took me a little longer to find the source.That nest just barely fits…I got yelled at by red squirrels all day. The trail started opening up closer to the point. This is Mt Moran across Jackson Lake.There was a fair amount of haze. We’ve been getting the smoke from the fires in Northern California. PS- NorCal friends, stay safe!I love my new camera. I think this is a Three-toed Woodpecker, but I’m not sure.This doe was feeding in a sagebrush meadow when I came around a corner in the trail. I stopped to let her figure out what to do. She decided to walk toward me. I was not this close to her- I used the zoom on my camera- but I was closer than the required 25 yard distance. Had she been a moose or an elk, I would have been nervous, but she was not interested in me, so I waited for her to move behind a tree and continued down the trail.I ate lunch on the shore of Jackson Lake. The fish were jumping and there were a few gulls hanging out. It was very peaceful. I saw so many chipmunks. Everywhere.Willow Flats from the north side. This is a great area for wildlife watching, but I didn’t see anything that day.
It was a lovely hike, if a bit longer than my legs would have preferred. It was also a very quiet hike. Once I passed the first mile and a half, which is part of another, shorter loop, I only saw 5 other people.