I dreamed of backpacking Rae Lakes after I first saw photos of the area when I was in college. This trip was by far my favorite backpacking trip. Kings Canyon National Park is, in my opinion, the most underrated park in the West. Every view of the park is as panoramic and breathtaking as Yosemite Valley. I also saw more bears on this trip than I did my whole time living in Montana.
Backpacking Rae Lakes – Permits
To backpack Rae Lakes Loop, you will need a wilderness permit from Kings Canyon National Park. We booked our permit reservation to backpack Rae Lakes the day the permit portal on recreation.gov opened. We had heard about how competitive it was to secure permits for this trip. So, we planned our trip itinerary in advance to be as quick to book our reservation as possible.
Our reservation was to hike the loop in four days (three nights) in the clock-wise direction. We were set to start from Roads End to Upper Paradise Valley the first day, Upper Paradise Valley to Rae Lakes the second day, Rae Lakes to Junction Meadow on our third day, and Junction Meadow to Roads End on our last day.
We ended up modifying our trip itinerary a bit during our stay, but I’ll outline that below.
In addition to the reservation and backpacking permit, we used our America the Beautiful pass to get into the park. The America the Beautiful pass can be purchased online or through in-person retailers like REI.
Day Zero: Sequoia National Park and Camping at Moraine Campground
My partner wanted to stop at Sequoia on our way up to backpack Rae Lakes because Sequoia is his favorite park. We also both just bought brand new hiking boots and wanted to have a chance to try them out before the big trip.
So, we left early in the morning from Orange County and made our way to the Giant Forest Museum Trailhead parking lot. There, we changed our shoes, hit the restrooms, and visited Sentinel Tree.
Hike in Sequoia National Park: Detailed Description
After that, we started at the Giant Forest trail area on Alta Peak Trail. Alta Peak Trail began as a paved walkway and eventually turned into a less trafficked dirt trail. We walked along this until we reached Huckleberry Trail.
We took Huckleberry Trail past Squatter Cabin until we reached Crescent Meadow Loop and Washington Trail Junction. Then, we turned onto Washington Trail and continued to Circle Meadow Loop towards the Senate Grove.
We stopped in the Senate Grove for some photos and continued along until we reached the President and Chief Sequoyah where we turned onto the Congress trail. The Congress trail has two parts that run parallel to one another but eventually end up at the Sherman Tree Trail.
We continued along this until we reached Sherman Tree. Here, we stopped again for some photos and then took the shuttle from Sherman Tree back to the Museum. In total, we estimated that the hike was about 5-6 miles long.
Moraine Campground
After we finished up our hike, we drove to Moraine Campground so that the morning commute to Roads End was short (about a 10 minute drive).
At Moraine Campground, we set up camp, visited the river, and cooked our dinner. During the night, my boyfriend said a bear visited our campsite in the middle of the night. I slept through the ordeal. (Bear count: 1)
Day One: Roads End to Upper Paradise Valley (10 miles)
We arrived at Roads End Permit Office around 8:30am and started hiking on the trail by 9am. There are parking options in the same lot as Roads End Permit Station and long term parking across the street from the station.
We got our permit and a spiel on bear precautions and safety from the ranger. He notified us that bear spray was NOT allowed in the park as it was considered a weapon. This was surprising to us as we were always encouraged to carry bear spray in Montana parks. (Note: bear spray is not just discouraged but rangers may issue tickets if you carry it on the trail.)
After that, off we went! The first day of our backpacking trip was the most difficult day for me. I don’t know if it was the change in elevation (we basically live at sea level) or just an off day for me physically. It was also warm and muggy (I’d estimate 85F-90F temperatures).
A couple stopped us about three miles into our hike. They spotted a momma bear and her two cubs just off of the trail. (Bear count: 4) We stopped to observe them for a bit. Cubs and momma bear ambled off without any incident and we continued on our hike.
Only a few miles later and we encountered another bear! Same deal, this bear was happily minding its own business off to the side near the trail. (Bear count: 5)
We stopped for lunch in Lower Paradise Valley on a rock in the middle of the river. Here, we ate, dried our shoes and socks and filled up our water reserves. We brought some garden produce from home to eat on our first day and happily enjoyed it on the river.
Arrival at camp
Eventually, after a lot of complaining (on my part), we reached our campsite for the night. We did not experience any eventful bear sightings this night. It was also very warm – I ended up sleeping on top of my sleeping bag rather than in it.
Day Two: Upper Paradise Valley to Rae Lakes (13.1 miles)
We finished eating breakfast and getting packed up around 8am before departing on the most scenic day of the trip.
This day, I felt much better. I was in great spirits as we trekked through the most amazing scenery I’ve ever seen. Castle Domes Meadow was my favorite part of the entire trip. Seeing some campsites near the trail, I would love to camp in this area if we do this trip again.
The diversity of the landscape here was amazing as aspen groves frequently appeared along the creek bed. Large domes (hence, the name) towered over us as we meandered through the valley.
Continuing a few miles past Castle Domes Meadow, we met up with the junction of Rae Lakes and the John Muir Trail. The elevation here was about 8500m elevation and the effects of the elevation settled in.
We slowed our pace for the next 4 miles until we reached Dollar Lake. Here, we took a substantial break for lunch and watched a dragonfly hatch and trout swim happily through the lake.
We omitted filling our bottles at Dollar Lake because it was mucky while we were there. Looking at the map, we knew we’d be coming upon a stream crossing soon enough.
The hike from Dollar Lake to Rae Lakes was just as picturesque as the photos online describe the loop to be. Beautiful meadows with grand lakes, sleepy streams, and epic rock formations everywhere you turn.
Arrival at camp
We reached Rae Lakes in the evening, set up camp, and went down to the lake to clean our socks and read. We filtered water here as well, but I did not appreciate the fishy taste in the water.
After dinner, we went to see whether we could find a free flowing stream nearby to refill our bottles with a less fishy after taste. That’s when we came upon a beautiful scene of two bucks and a doe grazing together by the lake during sunset.
We watched the peaceful animals until sundown before heading back to camp for the night. This was the only night that I actually slept zipped up inside of my sleeping bag. The high elevation provided for a cooler night.
Day Three: Rae Lakes to Sphinx Junction (16 miles)
We initially planned to sleep at Junction Meadow on our last night but realized early in the day that we wouldn’t have enough food to fuel us for the next day. So, we decided to hike as far as we could while we still have a dinner to look forward to. This would shorten the load for our last day.
We woke up early, packed up camp, and were on trail by 7am. I was nervous for the hike to Glen Pass. It sounded difficult but I found it pretty reasonable. In fact, I felt better hiking up the pass than hiking on our first day. My boyfriend would beg to differ as he was having issues at the high altitude.
We only spent a few minutes on top of Glen Pass because it was surprisingly crowded considering how infrequently we ran into other groups on this trail.
As we continued along Bubb’s Creek towards Roads End, we saw yet again another bear hanging out by the trail. (Bear count: 6)
We stopped in a meadow a few miles past the PCT and Rae Lake junction for lunch. It was a good rest before trudging to our final campsite. Here, we saw several beautiful wildflowers and evidence of a lot of use by wildlife residents.
As we packed up lunch, a slight drizzle began, and this weather accompanied us most to our final campsite. We were thankful for the cloudy day. It was a nice change from the bright hot days of Day One and Day Two.
Arrival at camp
We arrived at Sphinx Junction just before sundown. We had enough time to set up camp and wash our clothes before the sun set. As we ate dinner, we heard yelling and clanging of pots and pans from the people in the neighboring campsite.
There was a bear in their campsite, trying to get an easy meal by stealing one of the camper’s backpacks. We were on high alert this night and very careful with our food and gear. As recommended by the ranger, we gathered some rocks and pinecones to throw in case a bear entered our camp.
Day Four: Sphinx Junction to Roads End (3.7 miles)
We woke up early, (around 5am) before the sun rose to get an early start on our last day. We wanted to beat LA traffic and avoid succumbing to our caloric deficit. As I packed up the inside of our tent, I saw a shadow walking along the creek. It was the bear from the night before! (Bear count: 7)
Until this moment, I wasn’t worried or nervous about the bears as they had ignored our presence and happily gone along their way without conflict. This bear, however, approached our camp so we yelled at him until he continued along his way.
Though, as he walked out of our campsite, he walked towards the other campers. Luckily, they were all awake as early as we were and shooed him out of the camp again.
With that, we continued on our way back to the car and had an uneventful experience. We took in as much of the scenery as possible before we heading back into civilization.
We arrived back to the car around 9am and were back in Orange County by 3pm. But somehow, we still managed to hit LA traffic on our way down.
Backpacking Rae Lakes – Things I Would Do Differently:
Food quantity
We had problems in the past bringing enough food to satisfy the demands of a backpacking trip. I will try to remedy this by calculating a rough estimate of our caloric needs per day. Then, by breaking down the nutrition of meals we plan to bring on the trip, make sure we will have a surplus of food.
Backpacking Rae Lakes – Things That Went Well:
Home dehydrated meals
We dehydrated a few of our meals at home and they rehydrated really well! That is definitely something we will continue doing.
New boots
Our new boots were wonderful. I put off getting a new pair because I only owned my previous boots (Salomon Outline Mid) for a year and a half. But my feet were so happy in my new boots (Topo Athletic Trailventure).
Desserts
We brought prepackaged dehydrated desserts with us. We did this previously on another backpacking trip and enjoyed it. So, we agreed to have dessert every night we were out. Not only did the desserts taste good (for the most part – I can review the ones we liked and the ones we didn’t) but they also topped up our caloric needs for the day.
If you are interested in reading about other backpacking trips, visit the backpacking page on my blog.