After all the insanity from buying our house, Kristen and I wanted to take a vacation. We’ve also been looking to do a backpacking trip with Kristen’s friend Vicky, who lives in LA. So, on Steve’s recommendation, we decided to get together in King’s Canyon National Park and do the Rae Lakes Loop.
The Rae Lakes Loop is ~40 miles total, with about ~7,000ft of total elevation change (the trailhead is around 5,000ft, and Glen Pass, the highest point, is around 12,000ft). Most hikers do the loop clockwise, ascending the Woods Creek trail, and descending down Bubbs Creek. If you do the loop in 4 days, the clockwise approach means you crest Glen Pass in the middle of day 3, and thus spend 2.5 days acclimating. We could only get permits to go counter-clockwise, however, which would require cresting the pass mid-way through day 2.
Day 1 – Road’s End Trailhead to Junction Meadow (12 miles, 3,400ft ascent)
Granite domes above Junction Meadow
We all arrived at King’s on Friday evening, and camped at a frontcountry site near the trailhead. Saturday morning was a bit of a slow start – taking down camp, distributing the food, pre-moleskinning our feet, etc.
The loop is a “Q”, with a short, sandy 2-mile tail from the trailhead to start and end the hike. At the first fork, we veered right to start the large loop, and headed up Bubbs Creek valley. The ascent could most accurately be described as “relentless.” Switchbacks led to stairs and upward pitches which led to more switchbacks. And it was HOT. 80-90 degrees with solid humidity, and little tree exposure. Who knew it would be so hot this high up?
Everyone was feeling good – we were making fantastic time up the ascent, pushing the pace, and working up a good sweat. Until about 7,500ft. I started to feel nauseas and had a migraine coming on. Uh oh, altitude sickness, probably exacerbated by the big effort in the heat. The last 2 miles of the day were a disaster – basically willing my legs to go on while everyone else felt fine (the 3 others had also taken Diamox, while I had not). When we finally arrived in camp, it was all I could do to inflate my sleeping pad and pass out for 2 hours before dinner. Luckily, the sleep (and 4 ibuprofen) helped significantly, and I was functional from that point on, though the headache didn’t really go away until we finished the hike.
Day 2 – Junction Meadow to Rae Lakes (8-10 miles, 3,800ft ascent, 1,400ft descent)
Allen and Vicky ascending from Lower Vidette to the Charlotte Lake area
Nearing Charlotte Lake
The Rae Lakes basin from Glen Pass
The Rae Lakes basin, with Painted Lady and her reflection to the left
I ranged the mileage on this leg because we’re pretty sure the distance markers are wrong (particularly from Charlotte Lake to Rae Lakes, which is marked 3.9 miles but is definitely more like 6).
This was our hardest day, though the most beautiful. We were out of camp at the crack of 9am (most of the other camp sites were empty when we woke up), and set a good, but not blistering pace up to Lower Vidette meadow, where we took a snack stop (jerky and trail mix). We didn’t actually eat lunch on Day 2, probably due to a combination of altitude and wanting to finish out the day quickly.
When we arrived at the Charlotte lake turnoff (~11,000ft), the wind picked up and it started to spit rain. We put on rain gear, but the real rain never actually materialized, so we soon took it off. The trek up to Glen Pass was slow going – even Vicky, our pace leader, dropped her tempo. But the views from the pass were amazing – a huge granite bowl off of one side, and Rae Lakes and the surrounding mountains on the other. And on top of it, I felt great – energized and barely out of breath.
We assumed the way down from the pass would be a victory lap, but it wasn’t. The 1,500ft descent to Rae Lakes took almost 2 hours, and felt like several miles. We had a view of the lakes the whole way down, and they never seemed to get any closer. By the time we hit camp, we were all exhausted. We didn’t even set up the tents right away.
The Rae Lakes basin is just gorgeous. From our camp, we had panoramic views of the upper basin and Painted Lady (a colorful banded mountain), plus its reflection in the lake. Rae Lakes was one of the nicest campsites I’ve ever stayed at. We all took a quick dip in the lake before dinner.
Just after dinner, dark clouds started to gather over the ridge to the Northeast. This was bad news. We assessed our camp situation, and quickly decided we needed to move to higher ground. We picked up the tents and transferred them to a campsite higher up the rock, and covered our packs with ponchos. Just in time, we got into our tents and rode out the thunderstorm. It hailed. Everything got dirty, but most of our equipment remained dry, thankfully. After the storm passed, we had a period of calm and a gorgeous sunset. Throughout the night, though, storms rolled through.
Day 3 – Rae Lakes to Road’s End Trailhead (22 miles, 5,800ft descent)
Kristen at the start of the descent out of Rae Lakes, before the rain
The view down the valley from Rae Lakes
Nearing the bottom – Kristen and Vicky on the final switchbacks down Woods Creek near dusk
On the morning of day 3, there were clouds in the sky, but the weather looked like it would hold. We descended the valley from Rae Lakes at a leisurely pace, with beautiful views of the mountains below.
Our hike today was supposed to be easy – 10-12 miles from Rae Lakes down to Upper Paradise Valley. But as we neared the bottom of the Rae Lakes drainage, the clouds gathered once again and it poured rain. Now we were truly soaked. Vicky and Allen had forgotten to bring garbage bags for their clothes (none of us expected rain, and definitely not like this), so their packs got drenched. We were miserable. We ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch while crouching under a tree. Allen tried to change his socks to a drier pair, only to find his reserves were even wetter than the ones he had on. We decided to shoot the moon and hike all the way out – camping in the rain with all wet clothes didn’t sound good to anyone.
The hike was fine for most of the day, though very slow going, as Kristen’s back tends to act up if she pushes the pace downhill. We were doing about 1.5-2mph max, meaning we walked for a total of about 12 or 13 hours that day. After Lower Paradise, we hit mosquito territory. Now we were wet, miserable, sore, and getting bitten. And worse, twilight was approaching. We pushed the pace a bit in order to make it to the bottom of the Paradise just at dusk (descending down steep terrain in the dark + rain sounds pretty treacherous). We hiked the final 2 miles with headlamps, and made it to the cars around 9pm. First stop out of the park – In ‘n’ Out burger.
This was easily one of the most beautiful hikes I’ve ever done. I had never really been to the High Sierra before this trip, and was just blown away by the granite formations. I would definitely go back, and can’t wait for years of backpacking trips to come in the Sierra.
