Rae Lakes Loop – Day 3

Welcome to Travel Tuesday! I’m back today with Day 3 of our journey on the Rae Lakes Loop Trail!

Rae Lakes Loop in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park (Day 3)

Just as a refresher, we’ve covered abouttt 8.5-9 miles with ~1900 ft elevation gain so far in Day 1 from Road’s End to Upper Paradise Valley.

Day 2 took us through the Upper Paradise Valley to Middle Rae Lake (about 11.4 miles with 3700 ft elevation gain).

Day 3: Middle Rae Lake to Junction Meadow (8 miles, 1400 ft elevation gain, ~3800 ft elevation loss)

This is the entire trail:

This was definitely our most difficult day despite starting out pretty chill. We did a short hike to Upper Rae Lake and hung out in the lake for some time before we split parties. (2 out of our group had wanted to take 1 extra day to hike.)

Although there was less elevation gain than the day before, the altitude was no joke. Glen Pass is the highest point of the Rae Lakes Loop and is well above the treeline, at 11,978 feet.

The area is surrounded by alpine lakes, talus slopes, and craggy peaks — overall, a gorgeous site for high country views. However, it started sprinkling as we started our way up and the clouds suggested that there might be a storm rolling in.

On the way up, I also came across another backpacker who looked pretty horrified/traumatized — she had done the counter-clockwise route and another backpacker/hiker had left their food unsecured/unattended. Suffice to say, bears got into their food and she had witnessed a mountain lion killing a deer that morning quite close to her campsite. She hightailed it out of the area and warned us to make sure we didn’t stay at that campsite.

The pass thankfully wasn’t icy, but it was definitely super cold! I started developing symptoms of altitude sickness (dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea). Given that there was an impending storm possibly coming in though, we didn’t have much of a choice and pressed onward. The switchbacks were difficult, but going at a slow but steady pace helped.

On our way down from Glen Pass, it started hailing. (The weather here can be pretty unpredictable, so be prepared.) We huddled under a couple trees closer to the bottom of the canyon + ate a cold lunch. Eventually, we made it to Vidette Meadow, where we very much considered stopping for the night.

Since we wanted a less rushed day the next day, so we decided to continue to Junction Meadow as planned.

• If you haven’t already, read about Day 1 and Day 2 of the Rae Lakes Loop Trail! Stay tuned next Tuesday for Day 4 (the final day)!
• Have you ever experienced altitude sickness?