If you’re up for a long day of hiking, and have the strength to take on a hike with significant elevation gain, you might want to consider hiking to Lake Solitude in Grand Teton National Park. The Lake Solitude hike is quite the undertaking – officially, the hike out to Lake Solitude (round trip, using the Jenny Lake Ferry), is 14.5 miles, however my Garmin clocked it in at 17 miles. Either way, it’s an amazing hike and can be done as either a day hike or an overnight backpacking hike — (although my sister would say differently. She still curses me for taking her on this hike!) In this guide, I’ll let you know everything you need to know about hiking out to Lake Solitude in Grand Teton National Park. Let’s begin!

Lake Solitude Hike Statistics

Distance: 14.5 miles Round Trip, using boat shuttle (but my Garmin said 17 miles…)
Type: Out and Back
Difficulty: Hard
Elevation Gain: 2,350 feet
Time Needed: 8 to 11 hours, depending on fitness.
When to Go: Summer or early fall is best, as you could encounter very treacherous conditions regarding snow, if you go too early or too late in the season. We did this hike in late July.

What to bring: Bear spray, water (and lots of it!), sunscreen, picnic lunch and/or snacks. And a camera, of course. I also had my Garmin InReach with me – I always bring it with me on any hike of significant length for safety.

How to get to the Trailhead

The Lake Solitude hike doesn’t have an “official” trailhead for this hike alone. It shares the beginning of the trail with Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon before you begin your journey out to Lake Solitude.

For the best experience, you’ll want to take the Jenny Lake Ferry across the lake – that way, it saves you 2 miles each way. Because this hike is so long, you will want to take one of the first few shuttle boats of the day. The Jenny Lake shuttle begins running at 7am; we were on the second shuttle of the day and started our hike at 7:20am.

The last shuttle leaves at 7pm, so make sure you’re back at the dock before then!

If you take the Jenny Lake Shuttle, you’ll start your hike at the boat dock, following the signs for Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point and Cascade Canyon.

Hidden Falls / Inspiration Point

Your first section of this hike takes you to two of the most popular hikes in Grand Teton National Park – Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point. If you’re starting out early, you won’t have to fight the crowds, so if you want to take some photos in peace, do so now.

From Hidden Falls, you’ll gain about 500 feet in elevation as you hike up the steep, rocky steps to Inspiration Point. Once at the top, you’ve now made it about 1 mile in.

Because you face east at Inspiration Point, photos in the morning here are terrible. You might want to wait until you’re on your way back to take your photos here.

Cascade Canyon

A little past Inspiration Point will lead you into Cascade Canyon. This section of the trail is mainly flat and in the trees, so it’s not that impressive, save for a few spots where the scenery opens up. This part of the trail is easy and continues for about 4 miles.

Just after you leave Inspiration Point, keep an eye out for moose. This particular area of the trail is frequented by moose. We didn’t see one on our way out, but we did on our way back.

On to Lake Solitude

And here we start heading to the best part of the trail!

Once you reach the end of Cascade Canyon at about 4 miles, you’ll come upon a fork in the trail, with signage. To reach Lake Solitude, you will veer right. From here, Lake Solitude is 2.7 more miles.

You’ll be in the trees for less than 1/2 mile before the valley opens up and reveals some stunning beauty! To say this was spectacular was an understatement!

This is also where more elevation gain kicks in and the trail gets much tougher. You will definitely test your fitness as you make your way closer to Lake Solitude. The trail gets steep and very rocky; some spots have loose scree, so good footwear is a must. There’s also not much shade on this trail from here on out, so you might want to take time to re-apply sunscreen.

I’ll be honest, this part of the trail is where my sister had a meltdown. The elevation gain was a bit too much for her, (even though in the past, she’s done much more difficult hikes) and she was stopping every few steps to catch her breath. If you do this hike, you’ll want to make sure everyone in your party has the endurance and will(!) to tackle something like this. She still wants to kill me for taking her on this trail.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, we reached this area with a bridge, a trough for horses that overlooks a waterfall. Once you reach this spot, you can rejoice, because you are almost there!

Just a little bit more distance, and you’re at Lake Solitude! Once here, find a nice spot to enjoy the view, rest your legs, and have some lunch.

When you’re rested up, time to turn around and trudge on back the way you came. It’s all downhill from here, so it’ll be a bit easier.

You’ll also have some amazing views of the Grand Teton as you hike back, making for some amazing photo ops!

Be mindful of the time – even though we started at about 7:20, we didn’t finish this hike until 6pm, with the last shuttle leaving at 7pm. This hike took much longer than expected since my sister needed to make a lot of stops to rest along the way.

Final Thoughts – Lake Solitude Hike

I really enjoyed this hike and I would definitely do it again – it was one of the most scenic hikes I’ve ever done, mostly due to the views past Cascade Canyon. However, my sister has a completely different outlook. She hated it – especially as we got past Cascade Canyon, due to the rocky trail and the elevation gain. Because this trail is so long – and you’re on a time crunch with the boat shuttle hours – you’ll want to do this with similar-paced hiking companions. My husband and I hike very fast, and my sister hikes pretty slow, so this can be a frustrating experience when you have hikers with different athletic abilities. That said, she still made it, and it is quite an accomplishment to do this magnitude of a hike in one day.