Rae Lakes Loop

Hike in: 9/3/22

Hike out: 9/10/22

Who: James, Andrew, Dean

Total Distance Hiked: 44 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 8,136 ft

Permits

It was very hard to get permits for this hike. Reservations open up six months in advance on recreation.gov at 7 AM PT and are filled within five minutes. It took us several attempts to get permits. Miraculously James was able to get permits on Labor Day weekend which is historically very busy for backpacking.

Preparation

I have never taken a backpacking trip longer than three days so this was quite a challenge to prepare for. I usually eat dehydrated meals for lunch and dinner whenever I backpack. Given how long this trip is, I knew I had to cut it down, especially since all food needs to fit in the bear canister.

I ended up packing dried meals for dinner only. I put all the dried meals in their own ziplock bag and only saved one container to keep recooking it in. This cut down on both weight and space. For the seven days we were backpacking, I packed a total of 11 dried meals. One for each day and four bonus meals.

I ended up packing too much food and had to force myself to eat a lot to make my pack lighter

Thoughts

I was nervous going into this hike as I was worried about how much elevation there was and if we had enough time to complete the loop. This was the hardest and longest hike I have ever done but the scenery was impressive on a massive scale. Rae Lakes itself was beautiful along with the path leading up to it. I would definitely do this hike again but now I know

Day 1

We left LA at 3:30 AM. Supercharged to 95% in Selma. Got breakfast in Selma at 8 AM. Picked up our permits and started hiking at 1 PM. There were a lot of bugs and mosquitoes at the start of our hike near the valley floor. Our pack was the heaviest since we had all of our food. There was about 2600 ft of elevation gain until our camp at Middle Paradise Valley. Lower Paradise Valley was closed for camping due to the dead trees around the area.

Day 2

Had a slow start and slept in since none of us had good sleep. Also my brand new air pillow had a leak already (I was pissed). We camped near the bear box which was not the best idea since other people opened it up early in the morning while we were sleeping. We started hiking at 11:30 AM. 2600 feet of elevation gain. This ended up killing us since we were hiking during the hottest part of the day up through a valley with rocky steps and it was rough. It was probably upwards of 90 degrees with very little shade. We were taking all the breaks we could whenever we found shade. We eventually made it to Wood’s Creek where we could camp for the night but we were pretty worn down from the day. Wood’s Creek was a really nice camping though, we even got to cross a suspension bridge.

Day 3 (My birthday!)

Started at 9:15 AM. Still an uphill climb of at least 2600 feet but because we started earlier the sun was much more manageable. We took a lunch break at Dollar Lake which is the first lake we saw after a rocky uphill climb through the valley. The views in the valley were incredible and I wish we camped here one night but we were all determined to get to Rae Lakes.

Day 4

Zero day at Rae Lakes. The campsite we had was hands down the best camp site I have ever been to. It was hidden from all the other spots but had an almost panoramic view of Rae lakes against the backdrop of Glen’s pass. It was nice to relax and recover so we could get ready to hike Glen’s Pass early next day. We plan on being on the trail by 6 AM so waking up around 4 AM. Went for a quick dip in the lake which felt great.

The view from our campsite. I won’t forget getting out of the tent with this as the first thing I see

Day 5

We started hiking Glen’s pass at 6:30 AM and finished the 1600 ft elevation gain by 9:00 AM. Pretty fast pace for us, I think we killed it! We could see our camp site from the top of Glen’s Pass. I am glad we did the Rae Lakes Loop in the clock-wise direction because once we made it over Glen’s Pass the hike in the other direction seemed brutal. We made it early to Charlotte Lake to camp for the night.

Day 6

Hiked from Charlotte Lake to Junction meadow starting at 10 AM. Took a little detour to a small stream where we took a small dip. The campsite at junction meadows had its own little private pool area. We had a fire out at our camp site and there was a dead tree not too far away.

Day 7

10 mile hike back to the car. Started at 7:30 AM. A lot of switchbacks down and the very last mile and a half was the hardest which was mostly sand with very little shade.