Rae Lakes Loop- Day 1

June 2014- I'd been itching to get back to the Sierras, but even with the dry winter we had there was still snow on the mountains. I waited as long as I could, then dared to make the trek to the glorious Rae Lakes. Hindsight being what it is, I may have waited longer...

I had been eager to try out some new gear I acquired over the off-season, as well as some changes since my shakedown trip to Sykes Hot Springs. Sporting my new Zpacks Arc Blast 60L, along with several other lightweight upgrades, it was time to put them to the test.

I applied for our permits weeks in advance, hoping to get the exact dates we wanted. Fortunately, the snow warnings had deterred others, leaving little in the way of competition. We easily got our permits for the day we wanted, with very few others hiking the loop at the same time. We began on a Sunday, which meant even less people.

Note to future visitors: If you apply for a permit, but plan to begin your trip after 9:00am, call their permit office and tell them. You can arrive anytime before 3:00pm, and not have to rush or worry about losing your spots.

Dry Pack Weight: 10.31 lbs

6 Days of Food: 8.68 lbs

Total Pack Weight: 22.29 lbs

Our agenda:

Day 1- Start at Road's End, hike the loop clockwise to Upper paradise: 10 miles

Day 2- Begin at Upper paradise to Dollar lake: 9.7 miles

Day 3- Dollar lake to Rae lakes: 3 miles

Day 4- Rae lakes to Junction meadow: 8.4 miles

Day 5- Junction meadow to Road's End: 10.3 miles

Of course, nothing ever goes to plan.

We started from Road's End just after noon, hiking towards Mist Falls to eat lunch. This stretch has quite a few day hikers, which become non-existent after that point. We hiked at a good pace there, stopping for an hour or so to admire the river.

 Once past the waterfalls, the pleasant hike turned less-than-pleasant. I knew going into this trip, we'd either face cold or bugs. There would be a lot of one and not the other. At this point, it wasn't cold. Yet. So, we had to deal with bugs. Lots of them.

Still water areas like this were commonplace in Lower Paradise Valley. Mosquito heaven. The nasty critters were persistant, following you for miles. My merino wool shirt was useless against them, as they just bit me straight through the fabric. While others were getting tired, I pressed them to go faster, if just to be rid of the bugs.

 Forunately, the higher we got into the valley, the windier it became. The bugs were blown away, replaced with a chilly breeze- a glimpse of what was to come.

 We kept hiking, eager to make progress, slowed only by the sudden uphill switchbacks. We made decent progress until one of our groupmates suffered an asthma attack, stalling our ascent. Fortunately, they had came prepared with an inhaler, so the issue was not as distressing/trip altering as it otherwise could have been. The cause was unknown, as the last asthma attack for her had been some years back. Maybe it was because the view was breathtaking?

Yeah, I went there.

Unfortunately, our pace slowed dramatically from that point, and my hopes of 10 miles were dwindling. We managed 8 before finally stopping to make camp. Some of these people were still novices at backpacking, so I wanted to give them plenty of time (and daylight) to setup camp and make dinner.

I found a spot near a river that already had a fire ring, where we stopped to make camp.

All in all, it was a good first day.

Continued in Part 2.