Paintbrush Canyon is one of the crown-jewel hikes of Grand Teton National Park, a soaring glacial canyon on the range's eastern flank that most famously forms half of the legendary Paintbrush Canyon to Cascade Canyon Loop. Combined, that loop is a roughly 20-mile circuit with about 4,500 feet of elevation gain, climbing up Paintbrush Canyon, over the high Paintbrush Divide to Lake Solitude, and back down Cascade Canyon, and it strings together many of the park's greatest hits in a single, spectacular outing.

The scenery is genuinely world-class. In one trip you pass Jenny Lake and String Lake, climb through wildflower meadows and past scattered waterfalls, top out on the 10,700-foot Paintbrush Divide with panoramic views of Mount Moran, Mount Woodring and Rockchuck Peak, and drop to Lake Solitude with its direct view of the Grand Teton and Mount Owen towering across the water. Roaming wildlife, glaciers, and one dramatic vista after another make the loop a bucket-list Teton experience.

It can be done as a fit day hike or, better, as a two- or three-day backpacking trip. Backcountry camping requires a permit (reservable on recreation.gov, released in early January for the May-through-October season), and this is a serious mountain undertaking: the Paintbrush Divide often holds snow into mid-July and can be genuinely dangerous without an ice axe and the skills to use it, so stopping at the Jenny Lake Ranger Station to ask about current divide conditions before you go is strongly advised.

The trailhead is at the String Lake parking area on the east side of the park, near Jenny Lake, and July and August are the busy, snow-free window, which is exactly when permits are hardest to get, so planning ahead matters. Many hikers do the loop counterclockwise, up Paintbrush and down Cascade, to tackle the steep divide climb early.

This is high, exposed alpine country with fast-changing weather, afternoon storms, and real elevation, and it's grizzly country as well, so standard bear precautions apply. For those prepared for its length and its high divide, Paintbrush Canyon and its loop deliver about as much Teton grandeur as a single hike can hold, and it's rightly considered one of the finest trails in the entire national park.