After finally finding some time for an ‘extended’ trip, at least for me, I planned to hike the Rae Lakes Loop with my father-in-law. Since I really hadn’t been out much in the last few years I took a more leisurely 4 day schedule and while I subscribe to the lightweight mindsight my father-in-law is definitely ‘old school’.
Anyways, we arrived at Road’s End a day earlier to acclimate and grabbed a campsite at the walk-in before grabbing a burger at the snack bar. In the morning we headed to the ranger station to pick up our reserved permit, the ranger mentioned the week prior they had their record amount of permits given out however there was only one other group there today.
Day 1 – Road’s End to Upper Paradise Valley – 10 Miles
The first few miles flew by as we were both excited and anxious to get going then the uphill set in. I still felt fairly strong not to mention the weather and scenery were exceptional, not a cloud in the sky. Soon after we got to Lower Paradise Valley but instead of stopping to eat we trudged ahead a few more miles to an empty Upper Paradise Valley and our destination for the day. Since we got to our destination so early we were fairly leisurely with setting up camp however as afternoon transitioned to evening we had quite a full camp by night fall. Most of the others were going the opposite way and on their last night; one group actually turned around at Glen Pass due to injury and hiking out the next day. It was a sign of things to come.
Day 2 – Upper Paradise to Rae Lakes – 13 Miles
We woke up and were on the trail by 8AM, we knew today was going to be a long uphill day. After a few miles a group passed us who were doing the entire loop in one day, they started earlier that morning at 5AM, (I later found out they finished in a little over 12 hours) otherwise we didn’t see many people this morning. We crossed the famous suspension bridge and were officially on the John Muir Trail which was a perfect time for a snack.
While the afternoon was like the morning in that it was mostly uphill we did see quite a few more people traveling along the trail but not excessive. We slowly made our way pausing at times to catch our breath and let a few pack trains pass eventually arriving at Rae Lakes around 3:30PM. We had a few others nearby but found a nice site tucked behind a rock within some trees we decided to call home. While doing our camp chores we had a deer walk within 15 yards of us foraging on some shrubs. Night fell and we went to sleep early knowing we had Glen Pass up next tomorrow.
Day 3 – Rae Lakes to Junction Meadow – 9 Miles
The morning was crisp and the sunrise against the famous painted lady and fin dome made it difficult to leave camp but as we did we saw 6 deer grazing along the trail ignoring our presence completely. We trudged up ahead, and boy was it up. While I felt stronger than my father-in-law I let him lead and patiently waited beyond although I was eager to get. We finally made it to the top of the pass with a few minor aches and pains from the prior days and immediately went down, down, down.
Junction Meadow was our goal and it was almost entirely downhill on dusty switchbacks. While it made for easier miles than the days prior it was tougher on the knees. We began to see clouds in the sky and the day prior we were told by a ranger that it may rain tonight so we didn’t stop for lunch. As we got to Junction Meadow around 3PM it began to rain so we quickly found a spot and retreated to our tent. The rain subsided within an hour and it was back to clear blue skies which allowed us to complete our camp chores and begin dinner just in time before dark. We began to reminisce a bit about the trip and talked about not seeing a bear however minutes later one came walking down the trail no more than 20 yards away. From what we could tell we were the only ones camping here; we figured others got caught in the rain and stopped higher up. We made sure to take extra care of our food and ‘smellables’ and tucked in for the night.
Day 4 – Junction Meadow to Road’s End – 10 Miles
This was our coldest morning so we quickly broke camp and began walking around 7AM. The miles had a bitter sweetness to them, while we were eager to get home we were sad this experience was ending. Today was also filled with all downhill and by 9:30AM we knew we were making good time. The terrain was stunning and the air was clear from the storm yesterday afternoon so we were both quiet and enjoying the monotonous sounds of walking down the trail. In doing so we both almost walked into another bear who was foraging on the trail. While he didn’t seem too concerned with us but leisurely walked off the trail and we slowly walked by. Just before 11AM we were within ear shot of the end as we started to see a lot more traffic and plenty of day hikers starting out the day. We both couldn’t believe how fast it had ended.
Overall I had a great trip and it reinvigorated me to get out more for longer periods of time. I apologize in advance considering I am not as great of a story teller or photographer as some here but I was eager to share my experience.
We are already looking for another trip we can do in similar size and length (give or take a few) so if anyone has any recommendations I would be happy to hear them. One suggestion we got from a different group was North Lake to South Lake so I will have to research that.
If I can answer any questions I would be happy to do so, thanks for reading.
