Rae Lakes Loop- Day 3

Day 3- I woke up half-frozen the next morning, discovering a flaw in my new sleeping bag- My tossing and turning would force the down to settle, leaving cold spots EVERYWHERE.

Forunately, it was a nice sunny morning, and we were itching to get on the trail. The two people that were slower the day before decided they'd separate from us once again, this time packing up and leaving early to get a heads start. I try to discourage separating, and had hope they had learned their lesson the day before, but alas... t'was not to be. Yet. Since they had arrived 40 minutes late the night before, they started 40 minutes early in the morning. Me and the two other girls enjoyed a nice breakfast, lounged around, gawked at a bear, then headed up the trail. The entire day we passed PCT'ers, who were interesting to talk to. For the most part, very few were ultralighters. Most looked to range around the ~25 lbs baseweight area, which surprised me some. Oh well.

The trail was washed out at this point, leaving only this log as a means to cross.

Having froze the night before, this was not a good sign.

We were at the base of the mountains I had seen the night before.

The north part of the valley.

Our first glimpse of snow.

The area around Dollar Lake.

 After a long strenuous uphill climb, we reached Dollar Lake. We met the other two there who had started early, having gotten there a few minutes before us. This is where I had wanted to spend the previous night, and for good reason.

It was beautiful.

We ate lunch there, enjoying the view. I was determined to spend a good deal of time there, as I had been deprived of it the night before. There were signs there saying there was no camping allowed, as it was a restoration zone, but the ranger had not mentioned it when I had told him our agenda. He merely had suggested that Arrowhead lake had better campspots, but it was our call. So, I'm unsure as to whether you are actually allowed to camp there or not.

After staying there an hour and a half, we packed up and headed out, our slow compatriots having already left on their 'head-start'. From this point, snow was more common, several places requiring we trudge through a foot or so.

We affectionately dubbed this 'Moses Rock', as water seemingly came straight out of the rock.

Arrowhead Lake

Fin Dome

Rae Lakes

 After a long uphill section and a few stream crossings, we reached the Rae lakes. Our entire group arrived at the same time, and we searched for a good spot.

Surprisingly, there weren't very good camping spots. We searched and searched, and the spots were either marshy (wet with bugs), rocky, or filled with weeds. We opted for the weedy area, packing our tents together like sardines in anticipation of another cold night. We weren't wrong.

 Before night fell, we decided to climb up to Fin Dome, allowing ourselves an awesome view of the Rae Lakes, as well as the Sixty Lakes Basin on the otherside.

Fin Dome again, this time much closer.

Rae Lakes. If you look closely, you can see our tents and three girls sunbathing on a rock.

Sixty Lakes Basin.

 As we overlooked the Sixty Lakes Basin, we saw several frozen lakes. The trail was completely covered in snow, so our overlook was the only way to see it.

Looking up at Fin Dome.

Looking from Fin Dome towards the hill where we climbed. We took pictures of each other at this moment. You can see a person almost dead center of the picture.

This is from that point looking up to where I was taking the picture. If you look hard enough, you can see me.

 Climbing the mountain was a challenge, trying to avoid the snow. Climbing down was even worse. At several points, I post-holed into several feet of snow. Thankfully I made it down unharmed, but the realization of what could have happened lingered in the back of my head.

 We made a friend. This little guy hung around our camp, watching us curiously.

 We made it to camp, had dinner, and then the cold set in. Being over 10,000' in elevation, there were no fires allowed. We huddled together, layering up to try to stay warm.

Sunset time was glorious though.

We played cards, trying to stay warm.

 As dark descended, we decided to take our card game inside a tent. Five people in an REI Half-dome T2 tent was a sight to see.

Like sardines.

Stacked head-feet-head-feet-head.

Surprisingly, we were quite warm stacked like that. Warm, but uncomfortable.

Continued in Part 4.