Me and my 17 year old daughter had a chance to do Rae Lakes Loop the week of July 4th.
We got lucky and obtained a walk up permit for cw direction which was good since my daughters longest hike to date is only 12 miles, I wanted this to be an enjoyable trip.
We got a late start on the trail, around 2:00 p.m. the permit station said we got lucky in getting the permit, she said it was full just an hour before, but they had some cancelations that opened it up for us to go, WOOHOO we're on our way.
We arrived at Lower Paridise Valley around 6:00 p.m and decided to call it a night since we both were tired from the day before and getting a late start today. I hiked 25 miles earlier that week with a friend while my daughter took care of some stuff at home before she met me on Wed.
This was a good night considering I forgot my lighter in my other pack, but we met a kind gentelman named John who had an extra lighter that he gave us.
I couldn't wait to finaly get the chance to use my new cook set from Flatcat gear,
our first meal was home made lasagna, "IT WAS AMAZING" Thanks Jon for your Youtube video's.
The weather was warm, but at least it wasn't 109* that's what the temp was at home all week, I think most of our trip was high 70's during the day and mid 40's at night, I used my MYOG quilt with 5.0 Apex and was sweating most of the nights even when it wasn't completely on me.
An Asian family strolled in late that night and didn't have the right canister of fuel for thier stove so I traded him some Esbit tabs for another lighter and showed him how he could use the tabs even though he didn't have a Esbit stand.
2nd day we set off for Woods Creek, this was a tough day as my daughter was just starting to get her hiking leggs under her, don't remember what we had for lunch, but we made it to Woods Creek at set up camp, lots of people here tonight, we made Cheese Burgers tonight, another one of Jon's recipes and another hit!
One lady that was getting ready to cross the suspension bridge heading north decided to come back to our group after seeing a big bear on the other side of the bridge just starring at her, this was just moments after me and my daughter had just crossed over, which surprized me because I'm usaully very good at spotting wild life, but I never even seen this bear, WOW!
Day 3 started off we me making scrambled eggs, hash browns and bacon bits with Jon's cook kit, again AMAZING!I really am starting to love this cook system.
The plan for today was Rae Lakes, we started to see a few through hikers now, my daughters Asthma started to act up and she didn't bring her inhaler, she hasn't had a flair up since she was around 10 so she didn't think to bring it, so I decided to lighten her load so she could breath easier and it helped, I think it was just her body trying to adjust to altitude, what parents will do for thier kids, and I would do it again!
We made it to Rae Lakes and picked out a great spot for the night, This has always been my favorite part of the hike and I think my daughter agrees, tonight Chicken soup and mashed potatoes with Blue Berry Muffins, nice and toasty warm we headed off to get some much needed sleep before we climbed up Glenn Pass.
After a good night sleep we made breakfast and headed out early to get up to the pass before it got to hot, I took most of the gear out my daughters pack so this would be a good experience for her, and it was, we made it in pretty good time, from Rae Lakes camp to the top 2 hrs 12 min.
This is where it gets crazy, still having most of her gear I just kept hiking, until we got to one of my favorite spots on the trail, it's where the river rushes over some Granite and has made some nice sitting pools to sit in and cool off, this is about 1/2 mile east of Junction Meadow, where we were headed for the night.
I was hot, dirty and excited to show her these pools, I walked out on to the granite to sit, when my daughter asked if the was any place that had shade, when I turned to answer her my feet slipped out from under me and I went crashing down on the granite hard, twisting my ankle underneath me and slamming my head on the granite, all I could think was OH NO! don't let my ankle be broken.
I sat there a minute and assessed the cituation, luckly some young hikers that we kept seeing on the trail were passing by so I got thier attention in case it was worse than it appeared.
They stopped and I stood up and tried out my ankle, seemed to be okay other than swollen and sore, maybe it's just a bad bruise, so I told them it was okay to leave, they said if I didn't show up at Junction Meadow they would come back to look for us, so I taped it up with some super duty tape that I carry and off we went.
While I was on the granite my daughter kept sneeking gear out of my pack to make it lighter for me to carry, she's a great kid!
After getting up we decided to hike as far as I could to get closer to the trail head for the exit out tomorrow, we passed Junction Meadow with no site of the other hikers, I guess they split and didn't want to stick around to help an old fart out of the mountains. LOL
We ended up at the 2nd camp spot past Junction Meadow about a 1/2 past Junction Meadow set up camp and had our favorite meal, PIZZA! now that's what I'm talking about, yeah!
I was in a little pain all night, got up the next morning to some pretty serious swelling, so I decided to just pack up and hike out without breakfast, my daughter told me later that day she was starving but that she was more concerned about me.
We stopped about 4 miles out and I had to cut off the tape it was digging into my skin, so I then used my ace bandaid to secure my ankle, it wasn't as supportive, but it was going to have to do, it was wierd I could hike up hill no problem 3-4 miles an hour, but down hill was another story, and if you've ever been on this trail you now this section is all down hill, we made it to the trailhead in 6 hrs 45 mins. loaded the car and went to Hume lake for a much deserved Double cheese burger with fries and a chocolate shake.
Upon getting home I elevated my foot and took some alieve, went to work Mon. but the swelling wouldn't stop so, I went to Urgent care and this is the souvenir I brought back with me.
The first pic is the night I got home the 2nd is Mon. at Urgent care, Doc said I have a broken ankle and I have surgery next Thur. to put in a plate and screws.
My daughter came home with 125 mosquito bites, they really like her I guess.
Overall this was a great trip that I'll never forget, not because of the ankle and bites, but because I got to spend great quality time with my beautiful daughter.
