I was up early again and on the trail by 6AM in the dark. I had 13 miles back to Road’s End, all downhill of course.
Along the way I would see the waterfalls on Bubbs Creek. I received a couple surprises as well. The first waterfall is right along the trail and it is the one everyone sees. Lovely Bubbs Creek Falls, 48 ft. high (shown here). From my research I had marked off a second waterfall. It was a nice one as well, about 35 ft. high. But in between I found two other waterfalls that were complete surprises to me. A 40 footer and a 107 footer! I don’t know how missed these in my research, especially the 107 footer. Go just a little bit off the main trail and what amazing things you can find. Almost all the waterfalls I saw on this 5 day adventure I would never have seen if I stayed on the trail the entire time.
I made good time hiking down the trail. For the first time on this 5 day trek I got blisters on my feet and it was due to the big rock steps I had to continually jump down. Dang it. I met the gnats at about 7500 ft. in elevation and they were very happy to see me again. Dang it. I almost stepped on another rattlesnake. Dang it. I got back to the car at 2PM, one and a half hours ahead of schedule. Back to Fresno for a pizza stop and then drove home.
Day 5 of Rae Lakes loop complete. It was an incredible journey in magnificent Kings Canyon National Park.
I slept fairly well but it was a cold night (40 degrees) at Middle Rae Lake and I needed to have all my layers on in my sleeping bag. It was a very beautiful morning. Such a magnificent place in God’s creation. I took my time and enjoyed the beauty but I was on the trail by 8AM. I had to get over that pass and it was going to be a doozy.
My legs felt good this morning. The previous afternoon of rest at Rae Lakes was exactly what I needed. It was still a very difficult hike.
Glen Pass is at 11,926 ft. It is the highest I have ever been on foot so far. Top of the world. Top gun. I know you Mt. Whitney hikers are thinking, that is so lame! Yeah I know, but there are no waterfalls on the top of Mt. Whitney so why would I ever go up there? Seriously though, I am sure I will climb Whitney some day and there are a couple waterfalls on the way to the top of it so give me this small victory. It was a victory. Everyone else I saw today felt the same. Glen Pass is a tough climb! And what a view! The scenery was absolutely magnificent.
It so happened that my French friend came up to the top just a few minutes behind me. He should have been a full day ahead of me but he spent an extra day exploring the Rae Lakes basin. We took photos of each other and rested and enjoyed the views. He went down on ahead but I saw him a couple times later in the day yet again.
In the evening I went up to see Upper Bubbs Creek Falls. Yet again, even though it is not difficult to see, no one goes to see this waterfall and I have never seen any photos of it before. Yet this was the highlight of the trip for me. By far this is the prettiest waterfall on the Rae Lakes loop. It is an absolutely stunning 61 ft. cascade. What makes it so special is not the waterfall itself but East Vidette Peak (12,356 ft.) looming over it. The setting is just out of this world.
My campsite was in upper Vidette Meadow along Bubbs Creek. This time I had a perfect campsite with no one else around. It was perfectly quiet all night long.
I got about 5 hours sleep. I woke up at 5AM and was on the trail by 6AM. My plan was to see the two waterfalls on South Fork Woods Creek and Baxter Creek as well.
This is another perfect example of how my itinerary differs from everyone else. No one hiking the Rae Lakes loop sees these waterfalls because they are not visible from the trail. They are not difficult but you have to know where they are. Both the waterfalls are quite nice and definitely worth going off the beaten path to see them. The first one shown here is 50 ft. high. It is quite interesting how it splits around a big rock. It would have been difficult and I did not have enough time to explore the other side.
I was not entirely sure if I wanted to go all the way over Glen Pass and on to Vidette Meadow this day or just camp at Middle Rae Lake. If I could do the hike in one less day then I would have an extra day at home to recover before going to work on Monday morning. However, I just could not do it. My legs were dead tired before I reached the Rae Lakes. There is no way I could do another 1400 ft. up to Glen Pass. Was it the high elevation? Was it that I am out of shape? Frankly I think it was all the rock steps on the trail, which made the hike so much more difficult.
But then again, if I had gone over the pass I would have been caught in a thunderstorm. I did not bring my rain jacket. It was a stupid decision perhaps but it was not supposed to rain all week and I was trying to save weight. I was already at 39 pounds when I began the hike. I checked the weather report when I arrived at the lake. Zero percent chance of rain. Really? What are all these thunder clouds over the lake? I already felt some rain drops starting. I set up my tent quickly and got everything inside. Good thing. It rained most of the afternoon. Now I know what zero percent really means. Thank you weather forecasters for clarifying. It did eventually clear up and we had a lovely sunset.
Middle Rae Lake is an incredibly beautiful lake. It is a very popular spot along the Rae Lakes loop. There were other people camping here but it is a very huge camping area and I could not see anyone from where I was situated. There was a large group camping somewhat nearby, however, and even though I could not see them I could still hear them talking loudly as I was trying to sleep. Argh again.
I slept for about 10 to 11 hours making up for the 0 hours the previous night. There was a loud bird that woke me in the middle of the night. I do not know what kind it was but I have never heard the sound before. It was cawing constantly and loudly for about an hour.
There were no bugs in the morning and I enjoyed my breakfast in peace. However, they showed up later in the morning as I continued my climb up the trail. I did not lose them until I hit about 7800 ft. in elevation.
There were some pretty fall colors displayed in this section of the trail but mostly all the Aspen trees were well past peak. It was a bit disappointing since it is only Oct. 3. It was a very early season this year for color which is surprising to me since it has been so hot this summer. At one point I came across a hiker resting along the trail and enjoying a particularly beautiful fall color view while smoking a cigarette. Why anyone would want to smoke a cigarette out here is beyond me but I had to take a photo of this amazing view so I apologized as I quickly stepped in front of him to take the shot. He had a French accent and we said hello before I continued up the trail. Little did I know I would see him again multiple times.
I arrived at the Woods Creek suspension bridge at about noon. I would be camping here. The suspension bridge swings crazily and is wild to walk across. And fun. I had to do it a few times. For the camera, you know.
My trip planning is different from most people and I was passed by a lot of people doing the Rae Lakes loop (including my French friend). My primary goal of any trip is to photograph all the waterfalls along the trail in good lighting conditions. Thus I will usually camp near the waterfalls, while others may camp in different spots or hike longer or whatever. Case in point: Woods Creek Falls. 99.9% of the people hiking the Rae Lakes loop will NOT go up to see Woods Creek Falls. It is an extra 5 miles round trip and 1100 ft. of elevation gain. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Well, the Waterfall Madman of course! Even the PCT hiker I passed as I hiked up to the falls thought I was nuts going up there. He did not say that in so many words but I could read his mind.
Woods Creek Falls is a beautiful 45 ft. drop right along the trail. Some pretty fall color here as well. I went to the upper falls as well which was not as impressive as I thought it would be. I am pretty sure I could have done the Rae Lakes loop in 4 days instead of 5 if I skipped Woods Creek Falls so was it worth the effort going up here? Well I certainly thought it was. But I’m a madman.
I ran back down the trail and got to camp just after sunset. There was another couple that decided to camp right beside me. There is a whole huge area to camp with no one else around at all and they decided to take the spot right next to me. Why would they do this? It would not have bothered me so much except they were talking noisily as I was trying to sleep. Very annoying and rude. Argh.
With my new job I have to submit vacation requests at least one month in advance. This is a problem for me sometimes. I usually like to plan my backpacking trips within a week or two of the date. I do not know what the weather will be like a month or more in advance. For October trips, there could be rain. There could be snow. There could be fires. Just book it and hope for the best, I guess. One thing that I certainly did NOT expect to be an issue in October: HEAT! It was over 100 degrees in the valley in the first days of October and it still has not let up. This has literally been the summer of hell in California. At least it would not be 100 degrees in the mountains but it was going to be much hotter than I would like and no doubt the bugs would be an issue as well.
Where was my planned trip going to be? The infamous Rae Lakes loop in Kings Canyon National Park. 5 days. 45 miles. 8000 ft. of elevation gain. Majestic mountains. Spectacular lakes. Magnificent scenery. Multitudes of waterfalls. Was this another bucket list hike for me? I suppose it was. It was not at the top of my list but it has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time now.
I got zero sleep the night before the trip. Maybe a half hour at most. I was up at 2AM. Why so early? A couple reasons but mainly because I wanted to try to get to the first waterfall, Mist Falls, in good lighting conditions. I already have decent photos of this waterfall so I didn’t really need to do this but it’s always nice to re-visit waterfalls and get better photos. It is a very long and tiring drive to the trailhead. I forgot just how long and slow the drive is to Cedar Grove in Kings Canyon NP. It is excruciating. I don’t really want to ever do that drive again but who knows.
I arrived on time at the trailhead (7:30AM) and started the hike. It is 4 miles to Mist Falls. Once you start the last bit up to the waterfall the gnats came out in force. All because of that darn heat this summer. They should be gone by October. How did they compare to Tehipite? Tehipite is the hellish standard in gnat comparison so if Tehipite was a 10 in nastiness then I would say Rae Lakes was an 8. They were bad but thankfully I would not have them for the entire hike. And I had my head net of course.
After Mist Falls I continued on to Upper Paradise Valley. The hike is very difficult due to all the rock steps they built into the trail. Why did they have to do this? Pretty much the entire Rae Lakes loop is horribly built with all these rock steps. It is mostly not necessary and it makes the hike at least five times more difficult. Every single one you have to lift your leg up higher than you should and some of the steps were huge. It was so incredibly tiring. Argh.
I camped the first night at 7000 ft. elevation after hiking 9.0 miles and 1900 ft. elevation gain thus far. The gnats were still out at this elevation but praise the Lord there was a breeze in the afternoon and the bugs left me alone. Until the evening when the breeze stopped but I was going to bed early anyway.
