We had spent 3 days in Yellowstone without seeing a single moose. The rangers there all told us that moose don’t get seen much in Yellowstone anymore– you have to go to the Tetons for that. So that is exactly what we did. We arrived at the Jenny Lake Visitor’s Center and asked about the hikes there. We were told no moose had been spotted in the area, but one hike, Moose Ponds, sounded promising.
Moose Ponds is a loop trail that hugs the shoreline of Jenny Lake for the first half mile. After that, you turn south off the main trail and head over to some small ponds. The trail loops around the ponds and ends up back at Jenny Lake. The trail is flat and narrow and quite secluded. Like everything in the Tetons, the trail is very beautiful. And of course, because we are Utah’s Adventure Family, we saw a moose and her yearling calf.
As we dropped down into the ponds, the mama moose stood off to the left on the other side of the pond. The calf, which was probably born last year was standing next to her about 100 yards away. Eventually, it laid down as the moose browsed nearby.
One thing that was very interesting to see on this hike was the evidence of beaver. At one point, we stopped and looked around and counted 36 small trees that had been chewed down. These were all along the trail, so we were very hopeful of spotting a beaver, but only a few waterfowl were lounging in the pond.
After you pass the ponds, the trail crosses the brook and continues south. It ventures into a more open area before doubling back near the road. Because it had started to rain, we followed the road back to the Jenny Lake parking lot. If you continue on the trail, you will circle back to the original Jenny Lake trail.
The Moose Ponds hike stretches to around 3 miles and is absolutely gorgeous. If you are in the Tetons, we highly recommend this hike!
