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Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 2:44 pm
by iHartMK
We are doing the Rae Lakes loop counter clockwise at the end of July. I am a little worried about the bridge being out as well. I would really like to hear from someone that has been there or actually crossed it.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:05 pm
by AlmostThere
iHartMK wrote: Fri Jun 28, 2019 2:44 pm We are doing the Rae Lakes loop counter clockwise at the end of July. I am a little worried about the bridge being out as well. I would really like to hear from someone that has been there or actually crossed it.
People have crossed it -- after the snowmelt is over. It remains to be seen whether that will happen before the end of July.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:23 pm
by bobby49
iHartMK wrote: Fri Jun 28, 2019 2:44 pm We are doing the Rae Lakes loop counter clockwise at the end of July. I am a little worried about the bridge being out as well. I would really like to hear from someone that has been there or actually crossed it.
Early July: not likely. Mid July: maybe. Late July: very likely.

The melt doesn't last forever.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 5:45 pm
by AlmostThere
But it can be slowed by cold snaps. Such as the one that happened this week. This time of year, it should be 100+ in Fresno, at least in the 90s. Yet here we are enjoying lovely spring weather...

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:30 am
by bantin
The trail is passable going clockwise. There is a log crossing about 0.5 miles past where the bridge is washed out. I was there yesterday and crossed it myself. The log is wide and easy to walk across, though it will be scary with a pack on.

If you don't want to cross the log, the ranger estimated that the creek would be passable 2 weeks from now. So by late July you should be good to go.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 10:45 am
by Wandering Daisy
By clockwise, do you mean going into Rae Lakes and then returning the same route? If doing the entire loop, clockwise or counter clockwise makes little difference- you still have to do both crossings.

This appears to be a location (Paradise Valley) where a bridge is difficult to maintain. I have been there before the bridge was built and we too crossed on a downstream log. Not easy and with its own risks, but possible. However unless really accustomed to log walking waiting a few weeks seems to be the better strategy.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2019 7:42 pm
by PointeAuBaril
Bubbs Creek just past Bailey Bridge is passable. We were there today to recon the day before our trip. It’s crossable in at least two different places, and it’s not remotely daredevil stuff. We saw a guy and girl cross while we were there. We head in tomorrow, hopefully we can make it all the way to Kearsarge Lakes. We saw two rattlesnakes in the first mile.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2019 4:41 pm
by greenh
Did you end up doing the loop? Any update on conditions? I've got a permit for Woods creek entry (clockwise) this weekend and not sure if it'll be doable or not. Specifically, is the south fork of the kings river passable at Paradise valley and how sketchy is the ascent up Glen pass from the north? Thanks.

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:12 am
by robow8
Here's a recent FB post I saw: According to a hiker on the Rae Lakes Loop FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/496524253873881/, there is a sketchy but possible log crossing over South Fork Kings -- 0.5 miles north (upstream) of the washed out bridge at Paradise Valley. This crossing is well down-watershed of our notorious JMT South Fork Kings crossing. It's not on the JMT itself, but on the entry/exit lateral that leads from the Woods Creek suspension bridge (aka Golden Gate Bridge of the Sierras) to Roads End in Kings Canyon. I assume it looked better to him that the previously-reported log that is south/downstream of the washout. Location he provided on Google Maps. https://goo.gl/maps/7NryxB2ufvs11rck9

Re: Rae Lakes July 1st - Advice Needed

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:27 pm
by PointeAuBaril
greenh wrote: Tue Jul 09, 2019 4:41 pm Did you end up doing the loop? Any update on conditions? I've got a permit for Woods creek entry (clockwise) this weekend and not sure if it'll be doable or not. Specifically, is the south fork of the kings river passable at Paradise valley and how sketchy is the ascent up Glen pass from the north? Thanks.
Sorry for the late reply. We did not do the loop, we stayed south of Glen Pass. We didn't have time to hike clockwise to see if there was a passable section near Upper Paradise Valley. In any event, we did a slightly shorter trip than expected, and hiked out earlier than planned and spent a day in Santa Barbara and another in west LA.

We did see a rather large black bear (for this region) on Bubbs Creek trail about a mile west of Junction Meadow. I'm guessing he was ~350 pounds - and he didn't scare off easily.