Higher up youвЂ™ll find the alpine country, with its talus slopes, glaciers, and globe flowers, Glacier Lilies, and Alpine Forget-me-nots, the park flower. In Cascade and Paintbrush Canyons you will see boulder fields and subalpine forests of fir, Engelmann Spruce, Limber and White Bark Pines Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, American Pikas, and Yellow-bellied Marmots may be seen in the area. After August it is easily traversed without an ice axe, trekking poles are always useful on extreme day hikes and make the small snow excursions even easier but it might not hunt to have an ice axe along if you go earlier than August. A snowfield makes the trail a bit tricky as you cross the Divide until early August. Also, itвЂ™s steeper which is more pleasant to go up than down, and gets the hard part over with while you are still fresh. It's best to go up the Paintbrush Canyon first because it allows turning around if the quicker if ice/snow at the divide is a problem. The Paintbrush Divide trail makes up the first part of a great loop hike that carries you across the Divide (10,720 feet), passing Lake Solitude as it winds back down to the Cascade Canyon. You still had a good hike.Hidden Falls Cascade Canyon grand Teton National Park If the conditions do not look good, you can always turn around and try another day. Hikers need snow skills and knowledge of snow conditions to safely cross the slopes. Crossing the snow slopes may be dangerous. Upper Paintbrush Canyon retains snow through July. Paintbrush Canyon and the North Fork make great backcountry destinations as out and back hikes.ДЄlways check with the Jenny Lake Rangers on trail conditions before starting the hike.ДЄs a day hike and early start and good hiking pace is required.

The Loop would make a great backpacking trip, but you would have to carry a heavier load over the Divide. We have hiked the Loop in both directions, but have only hiked it as a day hike. We also discuss gear, and other logistics. The Guide includes Route Data, Trailhead Directions, Route Description, Route Notes, Mileage, Map Links, and User Comments. We liked hiking up Paintbrush Canyon, first. The route can be hiked in either direction. The described route cuts 1.15 miles from the overall length and avoids the busy String Lake Picnic Area and the Inspiration Point - Hidden Falls area. Finally, follow the Jenny Lake Trail to the north to complete the loop at the String Lake Trailhead. The Horse Trail bypasses Inspiration Point as it descends to Jenny Lake Trail. About 0.30 mile before reaching Inspiration Point, the route takes the Horse Trail to the north. Continuing, the route descends the North Fork and then Cascade Canyon.

After crossing the Divide, the route enters the North Fork of Cascade Canyon and descends to Lake Solitude. The route taken starts from the String Lake Trailhead, goes around the west side of String Lake, then up Paintbrush Canyon to the Divide. The signs are great waypoints that are easily definable. Quite a few of the photos are of trail signs. There are 60 photos in the Guide (and page 2), and wished we could have shared even more. The Tetons (to the south) soon came into view and we could hardly make any time hiking because we were having to stop to take photos of the mountains. Wow! Soon, we were looking down into the North Fork of Cascade Canyon and beautiful Lake Solitude. We climbed through Paintbrush Canyon to Holly Lake, above the lake to the upper slopes of the canyon, across the snow slopes and scree, and finally up a ramp to the divide. On our next visit to the Park we hiked the loop. We thought that it would make a great hike, it was the Paintbrush Divide Trail. As we climbed high along the ridge toward the summit of Woodring (we chose not to summit - but that's another story), we were able to see the hiking trail crossing the divide to the west in dramatic fashion. Paintbrush Divide Loop Trail in Grand Teton National Park is one of those special trails that crosses a divide and it crosses in grand fashion.ДЄ few years back as my wife and I were exploring the trails of the Tetons, we hiked to Holly Lake to climb Mount Woodring (which sits on the northern shore of the lake.) The trail and Holly Lake were great but the climb was not much fun, but the views were. Then, there are a few trails that go out one drainage, cross a divide, and then continue as the trail descends into a different drainage.

To return to the trailhead it is just a matter of reversing the path. The trails follow a drainage that ends on the shores of an upper lake or land formation. Many hikes in the mountains are out and back, day hikes.

Paintbrush divide tetons np