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.
