Welcome to Travel Tuesday! I’m back today with Day 2 of our journey on the Rae Lakes Loop Trail in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park!
Rae Lakes Loop in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park (Day 2)
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!
(Here’s the whole trail…)
Day 2: Upper Paradise Valley to Middle Rae Lake (~11.4 miles, ~3700 ft elevation gain)
I started off the morning seeing both deer…
…and also a mama bear with her cub!
This was the day with the most elevation gain out of the 4 days. We hiked out of Upper Paradise Valley, crossed a bridge, and passed through a wholeeee lot of elevation gains/losses on the trail.
As you climb higher and higher, the landscape starts to change and the trees become more scattered, eventually bringing you to a junction of the Pacific Crest Trail/John Muir Trail.
At ~13.8 miles, you’ll reach the Woods Creek Bridge (lots of campsites nearby). It’s slightly rickety but definitely felt stable enough as we crossed it.
You’ll reach a marker for 10,000 feet (no campfires past this point!) and at ~17.4 miles, you’ll reach Dollar Lake!
You can see Fin Dome off in the distance!
There are some campsites around this area and by Arrowhead Lake, but if you have it in you to keep going, Rae Lakes (as this loop trail was named for) is even more scenic, so try to get there if you can!
- If you haven’t read about Day 1 of the Rae Lakes Loop Trail so far, go check out that post! Stay tuned next Tuesday for Day 3!
- What’s the last hike you went on?
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Beeeautiful! That is a whole lot of elevation gain for when you have a heavy bag, but it looks totally worth it to visit Dollar lake and see Fin Dome. Plus you saw a baby beeeeear! I hope it was far enough away t be exciting, rather than scary!
haha, my shoulders hurt so, so much by the end of the day. :'( It was absolutely gorgeous though!! (And yes, thankfully far enough away to be exciting and not “oh no!!! gotta make some distance immediately!!”)
Sounds like the best possible encounter. :)
The lake is so beautiful! I really enjoyed all of these pictures. I’ve never been here but hiking at least part of the PCT or John Muir Trail sounds quite exciting.
It definitely was! I’d love to hike more of it sometime soon! *-*
Wow! Seems like a serious workout but the views look well worth it!
So beautiful! Great pictures.
Thanks! It was a gorgeous trip! *-*
Can’t wait to add this to my list! The pictures of the wildlife are stunning!
Yay! It is a gorgeous trail — I loved seeing all the wildlife! :]
Looks like a beautiful hike and to spot a bear too! The hike seems to be a bit challenging and meant for seasoned hikers. The lake looks so lovely! Bookmarking for future reference, :-)
It definitely wasn’t an easy one but it was so worth it! :]
Farrah recently posted…Rae Lakes Loop – Day 2
Dollar Lake looks so beautiful. What an amazing place to hike!
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It really was!! *-*
Dollar lake is sooo beautiful!! And you saw a mama and her baby!! That is so sweet. What an amazing experience. I felt tired while reading it though seeing how many miles you went and the elevation gain. Wow! Badass!
I need a nap!😉
hahaha, thank you! It was definitely a tiring trip, but so darn pretty! *-*
Oh that looks glorious – I’d love to hike more of the Sierras, it’s hard to believe you can be at such high elevation and still just be hiking rather than mountaineering. And another bear sighting!
Andy Gibb recently posted…Dog Mountain, 15 Jan 2022
Agreed! I have no mountaineering experience at the moment (mayhaps that will change though in the coming years), so it was pretty cool that this was still possible! Definitely helps that it was during the right time of year though!
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