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Rae Lakes Loop Recap and Random Thoughts

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One of the Last Bridges

Some last thoughts about my first-ever backpacking trip/ visit to a National Park…

Planning/ reservations

Jared handled all of our reservations to obtain our permit, which is required during peak season – May 22 to Sept 26. Not only should you make a reservation in advance, but you also need to pick up your physical permit at your starting trailhead before you embark on your hike. There is a limit of 25 people/ day to hike either clockwise or counterclockwise, and 3/4 of those reservations are able to be made in advance. The rest are available as day-of walk-ups. My friends Justin and Stephanie were able to get a walk-up permit on 4th of July weekend last year. We were lucky to make and get our reservations for a clockwise loop well in advance – early May for our late June trip. Make sure to pick the correct entry trail for the direction you wish to go in. Going clockwise, your entry trail is Wood’s Creek; counter-clockwise, the entry is Bubb’s Creek.

Here is the helpful trip planner from SEKI, but you may want to peruse their Rae Lakes Loop info page first.

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Rae Lakes Loop Day Two

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Wood’s Creek Trail. Photo by Jared Williams

Wednesday, 24 June, 2015. Upper Paradise to Rae Lakes, 6876 to 10538 ft in elevation gain, 11-12 miles. 

We left camp a little later than the day before at around 8:15am. In contrast to yesterday’s 7am start, it seemed very late, and it was already quite warm. A group of girls who had camped (but very quietly) at the campsite south of us had already left. We chatted with a couple of them yesterday and learned that they had made their way up to the lakes, but, at 10,000 feet, one of their group had gotten altitude sickness and they were compelled to turn back.

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Rae Lakes Loop Day One

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The Sphinx

 

Tuesday, 23 June, 2015. Road’s End to Upper Paradise Valley Camp, 5035-6876 feet in elevation, 10 miles. 

On Tuesday, we woke at 5am, as soon as it became light, and quickly got ready. Our plan was to have breakfast at CGV, but by the time we made it to the there, it was only 6:52am, and the cafe did not open until 7:30am.

So off to Road’s End long term parking we went, planning on quickly eating a bar at the start and then taking a longer breakfast/ coffee break at Mist Falls, some 4 miles in.

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Rae Lakes Loop Day Zero

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Pre-hike. Cedar Grove. Monday, 22 June, 2015

Full car, full backpacks

After having lived for nearly 31 years in the U.S., I have never been to a national park. No, driving through Yosemite (without stopping) does not count. Nor had I ever been backcountry backpacking, not even for an overnight.

Last week I did both, hiking some 41+ miles, going from 5k to 12k in elevation around the Rae Lakes Loop in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park, accompanied by Danny and Jared. We had spent weeks in preparation. Since their Lost Coast trek, I had also gotten into obsessive perusal and research, poring over trip reports, maps, backpacking gear, backpacking foods, photos of the sierras, lightweight camera gear, etc. Danny had already done much of the research into ultralight gear, and so I also became familiar with Zpacks, Gossamer Gear, cuben fiber, and began weighing and tracking (some of) my stuff. We went on several training hikes to test out gear and food and endurance.

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