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| Backpack | 64.00 Miles |
14,780 AEG |
| | Backpack | 64.00 Miles | 6 Days | | |
| 14,780 ft AEG | | 28 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | The Rae Lakes Loop is a classic High Sierra trek and offers stunning granite peaks, alpine meadows, pounding waterfalls, raging creeks, and breath-taking mountain lakes to see and explore. This hike deserves its reputation as one of the premier hikes in Sequoia and Kings Canyon, if not in the entire Sierra.
On Sunday, we picked up our entry permit and camped near the Onion Valley trailhead (9185') Sunday night. Monday morning we entered Kings Canyon National Park from the east climbing Kearsarge Pass (11845') before meeting up briefly with the JMT and PCT trails and then following Bubbs Creek further east before heading north into Paradise Valley and Woods Creek to the west. Then we turned south near Castle Domes and joined up with the John Muir Trail into the Rae Lakes area. Over 6 days, we hiked approximately 64 miles and climb over 10,000' - including a number of 12,000' passes. We came out on Saturday (one day early as the original plan was to hike out on Sunday) at Onion Valley again and drove back late that night.
We were going at a moderate pace with some tough elevation changes and average about 10 miles a day with some additional miles from day hikes. We visited the Sixty Lakes Basin (11,000') - a plateau above Rae Lakes & Baxter Peak (12,300').
Expect some very real challenges like steep precarious snow fields, dangerous creek crossing, high altitude, sudden storms, hungry bears, and swarms of mosquito.
Bears are active in this area and you will need to purchase or rent a bear canister to store ALL your food and be 'bear aware' at all times. There are no campfires above 10000' and you will need to pack out all trash.
We had 3 encounters with bears on this trip:
1. Fist day the bear walked into out camp right before we were getting ready for dinner. We grouped together with bear spray in our hands and shouted loudly at him. He walked away after a little while. Little before he entered the camp, a deer came across and we were joking that a bear might be after this little guy. I guess we were right.
2. I came across a bear as I was hiking from Bubbs Creek to Paradise Valley. I fell behind on the trail due to taking several pictures of flowers and also taking several breaks (this was our longest day, 17 miles). As I was hiking by the creek I noticed some movement across the water and surely enough there was a bear bathing and later munching on something. I tried to take several pictures without being noticed.
3. Near Arrowhead lake, a bear was scared off by my friend who was fishing on the lake. No harm done, bear run away.
Trail Schedule:
First Day: Monday 10.4 miles
Onion Valley - Kearsarge Pass - Kearsarge Lakes - Bullfrog lake - Trail (JMT/PCT) Jct. - Vidette Meadow - Junction Meadow
SIDE TRIP: East Lake - Junction Meadow 5 miles
Second Day: Tuesday 16.9 miles
Junction Meadow - Charlotte Creek - Sphinx Juction - Bubbs Creek Bridge/trail fork - Lower Paradise Valley - Middle Paradise Valley - Upper Paradise Valley
Third Day: Wednesday 10.9 miles
Upper Paradise Valley - Castle Domes Meadow - JMT Junction - Baxter Ck. trail Jct./Dollar Lake
Fourth Day: Thursday 0.7 miles
Dollar lake - Arrowhead lake
SIDE TRIP: Dollar Lake to Baxter lakes/Pass 13.6/15.6 miles
Fifth Day: Friday 2 miles
Arrowhead Lake - Rae Lake
SIDE TRIP: Arrowhead lake to Sixty Lakes Basin 5 miles
Sixth Day: Saturday 11.3 miles
Rae lakes - Glen Pass - Charlotte Lake Jct. - Kearsarge lakes - Kearsarge Pass - Onion Valley
Great write up from my friend Jeff: http://socalhiker.net/thru-hiking-the-j ... rae-lakes/ |
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