Water and Air was warm enough to swim.Great mostly flats hike (just a small area of up hill in the middle of the hike). As mentioned earlier, the route along the eastern shore of Phelps Lake is far more scenic, especially in the mornings, if taken in a counter-clockwise direction. Actually, the side trail leading towards the left visits a small viewing area just off the main trail. During our most recent hike we saw fairly fresh scat in a couple different places along the route. We were just going to hike to huckleberry point but after seeing a black bear just before the point we decided to walk the whole-way around rather than go back thought that area. To reach the trailhead from Moose Junction, turn left onto Moose-Wilson Road and drive roughly 3.6 miles south to the turn-off for the Preserve on the left. Beyond the visitor center the trail enters a mixed forest dominated by spruce, fir and lodgepole pine.At just over two-tenths of a mile from the trailhead you'll reach what appears to be an unmarked split in the trail. It was a little long for him but totally worth it. When you reach the lake take a right in a north eastern direction and in a mile or so you will reach the jumping rock. The guiding document establishing the Preserve states that it The hike begins with a short walk across a sagebrush flat to reach the LSR Visitor Center. After 0.35 mile the trail crossed in inlet stream to Phelps Lake. The Phelps Lake Trail uses a short section of the Valley Trail to complete it's loop.

The insider/adventurous way to go is to park by the trailhead for Death Canyon. Phelps Lake is a great place to stop for photos. Then we took the trail down to Phelps Lake and to huge boulder with a jump about 20 feet. The rocky shore of the lake is only a short walk away from this point.The southern shore of Phelps Lake offers outstanding views of the glacially-carved lake and the surrounding mountains. In 2001 Laurance S. Rockefeller donated the final 1106-acre parcel, which would become the Preserve. Using this trail the hike is flat out to Phelps Lake. In 1932 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. purchased the 3100-acre ranch and turned it into a family retreat. The eastern section of Phelps Lake, Spur Trail, has awe-inspiring views of multiple Teton peaks, including: Albright Peak (10,552'), Prospectors Mountain (11,241'), Mount Hunt (10,783'), and Apres Vous Peak (9,508'). takes a little over an hour. The jump is something that might seem Spur Trail has a great view of an Open Canyon and its U-shaped nature. While the entire loop around Phelps Lake features a variety of wildflowers, the west side of the lake will have far more as the season progresses. The trail was a steady but easy climb through the woods to the overlook, and the view at the top was well worth the trip. The site, near the south end of Phelps Lake, was originally a dude ranch known as the JY Ranch.

Hikers should proceed straight ahead on the Lake Creek Trail to return back to the trailhead. "will become a place of physical and spiritual renewal, and to serve as a model for achieving balance between preservation of natural values and public use and to demonstrate that our citizens working in partnership with their government can achieve important goals. This trailhead is #12 on the paper park map. A short distance later the trail crosses over Moose-Wilson Road once again.The trailhead for the Phelps Lake Loop in Grand Teton National Park is located in the Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve off Moose-Wilson Road. Although you can take either path, the Woodland Trail is the most direct route to Phelps Lake.