SEKI: Rea Lakes via Onion pass side (NPS vs USFS)

Not an expert in the area but when hiking the PCT in the vicinity, a party of several Rae Lakes Loop backpackers were just setting up their first night camps in the valley below Bubbs.  The only place they could’ve really traveled from was Onion Valley/Kearsarge Pass as iirc the loop goes onto the west and it was about 4 pm.

They’ll be forever etched in my mind as they had set a “bug bomb” to go off to rid their entire camp of mosquitoes fwiw (late June regular snow)

If you go in over Kearsarge, you’ll already be acclimated by the time you get to the JMT.  At that point why not go counterclockwise?  Any ranger would have a hard time sorting out where you were headed at that point.  In any case, the permit generally only controls where you enter, not where you go afterward, with exceptions like the Whitney Zone.  At least IME.  Has something changed in the last year or two?

Agreed no ranger will check when you are there, plus you have the right to change routes based on conditions.  I just did a modified Rae’s Lake loop – counter clockwise out from Roads End via Bubb’s Creek over Glenn – then went north to Bench Lake and down Muro Blanco to reconnect to Woods Creek at Paradise Valley. The first day was a hard 14 miles with most elevation gain. I had a permit for Baxter Pass which I did not use. That was a good decision when I looked at it up close and personal.  Raes areas was very crowded even in COVID times. Didn’t see a person in Muro Blanco. Water level was fine until the very end when it got a bit dicey.  Two camp bears which didn’t leave very quickly – both at 7am when I was leaving.  Lots of ranger paper notes about aggressive bears.

if you are coming from Onion – Kesrsarge, I would do clockwise. The first day in actual loop will be the reverse of what I did but the scenery and gain will be better and less on your way out – at least until you climb the passes.  Because I started and ended at roads end, I was all downhill after Pinchot Pass (since I added the extra leg). That last leg along Woods Creek was very scenic and very packed. Seems like 90 percent do clockwise.  I think most started at Wood Creek go to Rae’s Lake and return the same way. Far far fewer folks on Bubbs Creek.  Good luck. Bugs were not bad, but that trail is very sun baked.

Thanks for all the input.  Dave, I will do Kearsarge to Raes counterclockwise, butI havent heard back from US Forest Service on my app for Kearsarge entry.  Coming from 500′ above sea level I need some acclimation time.  Last resort, may have to start at Roads End Bubbs, but go left toward Bubbs instead of right via Woods.  Dont want to be that guy though….

I was from sea level (Phila) and if you want to spread the gain out from roads end, go the woods creek start and end via Bubbs.  The elevation gain heading out on Bubbs is much faster and shorter.  Basically you get to Glenn Pass High point in 15 versus 30 miles.  I never actually looked at it because I wanted to go down Muro Blanco and not up out. But it is great scenery all the way. Do fill up on water on the woods creek side when you can.  Parallels stream/river but for most part you don’t have easy access.  I generally carry 1 Liter but that really wasn’t enough in the sun. Have fun.

DaveB.  thanks.  I thought it was actually the other way around – counter clockwise was the fast elevation gain and everyone preferred clockwise to avoid that.  That would solve all problems if clockwise was the fast gain.

My experience with getting a pass for Trail Pass/Cottonwood Pass area was that even though I followed all the instructions, I had to call to actually get my pass mailed to me.

At first I tried to get a pass from a different agency on the Western side of the Sierra (for the High Sierra Trail) by emailing a PDF form but that never worked. I tried twice and was always rejected and the rejection always went to my spam folder which was really annoying.

So I moved over to trying to get one from the Eastern side. I think I tried via the USFS website with no luck. Then someone said to use recreation.gov.

I was able to get my pass through https://www.recreation.gov/permits/233262. At first when I went there, there was no availability for the entry points that I wanted, but then one Monday afternoon a bunch of new permits were released and I was able to fill out their form, set my itinerary and pay for my permit all in one go. They included instructions on how to request an email copy of my permit and they said that walking in to pick it up was not available. You have to request an email copy. So I followed the instructions for that.

I heard nothing from them so I requested the email copy again a few days later. Still nothing.

So the Sunday morning 8AM before I left, running out of time, I called them on the phone and miraculously someone answered the phone. That person was very nice and emailed the permit to me right after we hung up.

Those were the steps I had to go to get this done.

When I was on the actual trip, I saw two rangers. One of them asked to see my permit only because I reported to her that I lost my hiking friend a few days prior. She was very apologetic about asking to see my permit. She did want to see the itinerary only so she could call other rangers to see if they’d seen my friend near any of those places. I had actually sort of followed my itinerary, but I told her I didn’t actually camp at all those places. She said yeah, the whole itinerary thing is pretty annoying and nobody expects you to stick to it.

The second ranger didn’t ask to see permits. He was very friendly. They all seemed very friendly. They just wanted to be helpful and do something other than just collecting trash. SEKI is pretty trashed right now. I was disappointed.