Grand Teton--Hermitage Point Trail

 The Hermitage Point trails on Colter Bay, Jackson Lake looked like a good option on paper.  However, they had much more ascent/descent and rocks than we expected.  Definitely worth doing once if you are in the area.  Spectacular vistas of both lake and mountains and pleasant quiet forest riding.  If you are looking for autumn color, there is basically none. We parked at the Cabin Road overflow parking lot.  Park personnel told us we could park anywhere in Colter Bay area where our rigs could fit and didn't block traffic. (except where prohibited or noted otherwise.) The horse corrals have a small parking lot, but I assume they want it for horse rental customers during that season.  When the season closes about the third week in September they close the road.

Showing Cabin Road overflow.  It is "drive through"--no place to turn around and depending on time of year may be crowded.

Track for September 26, 2019.  Total mileage=13.3; Elevation=6,522' to 6,909'.  Ascent/Descent=1,630'  Trail conditions=40% hard pack dirt with gravel; 35% moderately rocky with hard pack dirt; 15% soft dirt; 10% very rocky.  The trail system may be extremely confusing unless you have a good map.  Some examples are shown below.  I took a photo with my phone and referred to it while on the trail.  

First choice of trails.  We opted to do the COUNTER clock wise loop  (keeping to the right) and that was an excellent decision because the views and trails were better.  If we were to do it again, we'd go both DOWN and BACK on the west part of the loop and then add in the other loop over to Swan Lake from Heron Pond.

Typical of much of the trail.

Just approaching Heron Pond.

Heron Pond

The western portion did have its share of downfall, but all of it was passable.  This particular one we found a way around.

More of the forest.

Typical of a good portion of the trails...rocky.

Some spectacular views just before getting to the "bottom" of the peninsula.

Taken on the eastern side.

This is typical of about a third of the eastern portion...sagebrush and rocks.  There are some views of Jackson lake and wetlands, but almost none of the mountains.

Eastern portion

Eastern part with a view of Third Creek.

Swan Lake view.  This is worth seeing.

A couple of forest portions where the trees are SOOOO straight.

This is our view of the horse corrals as we came back.  The horse rental operation stopped about 10 days ago and the "ROAD CLOSED" sign prevented us from parking here.  We were able to park in the Cabin Road overflow parking area, which is about 1/3 mile from the corrals where we found the access trail.