Rae lakes loop 6-11

There will be enough people trotting through there for the next couple of weeks that there ought to be some serious track through the snow. The north side of Glen Pass ought to be fairly white. Sometimes you can email or call to the SEKI backcountry office and they will know something.

–B.G.–

Cody, we're planning to hike the Rae Lakes Loop starting out June 21. I'll be watching this thread closely since it's my first trip to the Sierra's and I'm having spotty success finding out about what exactly to be prepared for after the dry Winter there. I'm hoping someone can weigh in on the average temps I should be packing for as they seem to be all over the map.

I did find the below listed at http://www.wildlandtrekking.com/hikingtourdetails/alpineloopdetails.html
June Averages
Valley Hi/Lo – 81°/51°
Alpine Hi/Lo – 71°/46°

Part of my dilemma is that while I'm doing it with a friend who has hiked it before, he's a traditional backpacker so will be prepared for just about every "just in case". I'm still doing as much research as I can and I greatly appreciate any insight from folks that have experience in this part of the Sierras and if they can point me to a reliable weather forecast. At this point we'll likely rely on what we can find out from the Ranger's Station.

Art,

I've slept in the high sierra's about 60 nights now.
You can expect to be prepared for freezing temps above 9,500' throughout the summer.
The rain part is the tricky part.
It builds and rains in different parts and in different parts of the day all the time.
If you are in a location where it is building, you can get dumped on for a long time.

What you can expect 80% of the of the time is to have a 30-60% of a possible 45 minute shower about 3-4 times a week somewhere close to you.
Whether that hits you or not is just your luck. You can go out for a 4-day hike and it can rain 3 hours a day on you for 3 of the days.

Most of the time it rains in the afternoon to early evening.
It usually only rains at night when big fronts come in that you'll know about a week in advance.

You should expect the Alpine Hi/Lo – 71°/46° on elevations bellow 8,500 feet.
Expect lows from 30°-35° from at and around Rae Lakes. Usually lows from 35°-40° at Upper Vidette and the Woods Creek Bridge and 40°-45° at Upper Paradise.

However, in June you can have a cold front come through and all these temps could be 5°-10° colder, (not very often). Again, this will be know in the forecast a week in advance. Winds usually follow with the fronts and can be very windy. Most of the time you get 5-10 and 15mph gusts all day and up to double that if it is gusting on the passes. The mini fronts can also gust from 30-60mph if you are in a an area where it can build, (up on a ridge for instance).

So, if you pack to be warm enough at 30° you'll be fine. You can always hide from the winds on that loop, so the most you should get while camping is the 15mph gusts (as long as the forecast doesn't have anything big brewing).
Almost 100% of the time, those gusts happen during the warming and cooling of the day. By evening, the winds are calm.

Aaron – MUCH appreciated. I'm planning to bring my cuben SoloMid with perimeter netting, do you think that's sufficient for the average bug pressure at the end of June? I've seen some people unable to take a picture because of the swarms and am wondering if I'd be better off bringing an Inner . . .

Thanks

Not sure.
Can't say ever ever slept in a tent in the Sierra's and only a few times in a tarp.
In fact I've only been up there with swarms of them one day (ever).
Lucky I guess. I've been to Tahoe a few times with swarms.

I should be doing the loop sometime between June 15-26th.
It will be a "done in a day" hike.

Just might see you up there?

Aaron, thanks again for the insight. We might just see each other, our tentative plan (waiting for planner to get permits) is to start out on June 22, but I'm not sure if we're going CW or CCW. I'll be the hiker wearing a MLD Exodus next to two guys carrying God knows how much stuff. I literally think the guy planning this will be carrying 50 lbs, hike your own hike I guess.

"Done in a day" is beyond impressive. I'd be happy if we could complete it in 3 nights, but I don't think that will work out with the loads my buddies will be carrying. What will you be carrying?

2 of us doing this in a day going CCW.
Should be obvious with our tiny running pack on.

I just got this itinerary from the guy planning, so looks like we're going CW. I know this is challenging terrain, but this seems overly slow. I'll have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. If we see 2 guys going real light and fast towards us I'll ask if it's you ;-)

From roads end to upper Paradise Valley (night 1)12 miles. Sunday
Baxter Lakes (night 2) 10 Miles. Monday
Baxter Pass back down to Rea Lake (Night 3)8 Miles. Tuesday
PCT Over Healy Pass to Vidette Meadow(night 3) 9 miles. Wednesday
Continue up PCT to the next meadow (night 4 Prior to Forrester Pass)8 miles – (Day hike to top of pass?) Thursday
Back down to Bubbs Creek (Night 5) 12 miles Friday
Out Roads End. 8 miles Out Early and to Airport Saturday Afternoon.

You have a total of 58 miles.

The Rae Lakes Loop is 42 miles and Forrester another 8 (each way)
This adds up to 58.

The route you are going will have some additional miles going over the different passes.
This should add up to enough to justify doing the trip in 5 days?
It will probably be another 5-6 miles (at least) over your calculations.

Aaron, thanks. The itin and mileage was put together by my buddy planning this, I'll let him and the third member know.

Aaron, one more question – you mentioned checking the forecast right before the hike, how do you do that? The SEKI backcountry office or is there something online somewhere that accounts for the different elevations?

Thanks

I don't know if you can count on this, but…

I think there used to be a white board at the Roads End ranger cabin, and they would write some parts of the weather forecast there. As I recall, the ranger writes permits out of a window on the right side, and an empty room on the left side is where the white board used to be.

–B.G.–

The NOAA website has a pinpoint forecast capability. I pasted a link to it. There's a little map on the right side of the page. You can click anywhere on that map and it will take into consideration the elevation, etc for a rough forecast. Probably more accurate than just a forecast for the closest foothill or east side town. Notice right below the map it will give you the lat/long and elevation for where you clicked. Play around with it and you'll see the high and low temps change based on where you're "pinpointing". I've had pretty good success with it. The map part of the website works best on a regular computer vs a phone. However, it does work on my iPhone with a little persistence.

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-118.57374&lat=36.79304

You guys rock, much appreciated.

Hi Art and Aaron,

Maybe we'll see you out on the trail as well… my husband and I will be doing the loop CW starting on 6/21. We'll be the ones who look like they registered for new gear for their wedding, haha. :-)Thanks for the good info on weather and bugs!

Caitlin

We're flying in the night before we start hiking, and since we can't bring fuel on the flight, I'm wondering if anyone knows if it's available to buy inside the park? Thanks!

What kind of fuel?

If you are starting from Road's End, you won't pass very many stores on the way to the trailhead. If you are starting from Onion Valley, you won't pass any.

The airliner will be carrying fuel, I would think. Tap a little hole in a tank.

–B.G.–