Oct 30, 2022
I did the below trip pretty much as spec'd in the 58mi itinerary. It was great.
Backpack Recap Notes from Rae Lakes 2022
My gear choices and how it worked:
1 fixed hiking pole instead of 2 adjustable poles. Saved 2x4.5oz vs. 1x2.8oz (saves ~6oz). 1 pole was enough for getting up and down rock steps, and fixed pole is a joy to use. Nice to have hand free. Only reason to have 2 adjustable poles is to set up a tent / tarp, but my new Moment DW has it's built-in arch pole and worked great.
Moment DW: loved the main tent: much more spacious than Notch Li, and sets up in a minute with arch pole. Attaching 2 tyvek pads to end struts allowed them to be set up in seconds with a rock as weight. Fits in small spot, needing only room from arch pole to pole, and strut end to end.
-mesh fly seems only necessary if I expect bad bugs-not a concern in Sierras. Removing it saves 10.3 oz and the fly-only tent interior is even more spacious, for my Dyneema ground sheet cowboy camp.
-if I have the 2 tyvek pads attached I can leave stakes home
-The fly, struts and arch pole weigh in at 24 oz (1.5lb). I can carry it with struts in, all rolled tight, on exterior, or remove the struts and pack fly inside pack and carry only struts and arch pole on outside.
-I can cowboy camp most of the time, but have this as a practical emergency rain shelter that sets up quickly and fits in small spot.
-the outer fly has 3 attach points that can be used to attach my led string light, or tiny anti gravity bags for glasses, etc.
Nunatak Bearpaws pack: this new pack worked great. Held the medium-sized bear can tight, and I appreciated ability to open can while it was strapped in (just lay the pack on it's side). At start the shoulder pockets were on backwards, but I reversed them on day 3, so the curved zipper is facing inwards, towards each other, so opposite hand can fully operate the zipper and reach into the pocket.
-at home weight empty pack with 2 shoulder pockets at 1.9 or 2.0 lbs. (virtually same as Katabatic Onni and Gossamer)
-thin elastic cord just above can works great to hold zlite pad, chair, tent...
-my emerging system was left shoulder pocket for: mosquito net, InReach, small zipper pouch with salt pills and chapstick; sunscreen right pocket for: the day's snacks
-other pockets: left pants for phone, right pants zipper for baggie with wrapper trash, right for handkerchief, bandanna around neck or in rear pocket.
-holsters for water bottles worked quite well; trick to putting bottle in is to align it with straight edge by my body and then let it drop inside
-attach a couple more light stretch cords to ladder loc
Sleeping System - Chair / Pad:
The chair worked fine as a chair, but not great as sleeping pad. Narrow by an inch or two, and the rods are sometimes felt and uncomfortable. Nothing under feet means I have to use the pack for foot insulation, but didn't work great and seemed to need to be emptied of everything to lay flat. So I experimented and found I can sit in chair with no pads in it. So I plan to make a new, lighter weight, padless chair, and then that means I can use a traditional zlite mat that is 3/4 or full size for sleeping.
-I found I was not using the chair to read that much. I liked audio books while hiking and at night in camp. Chair to read bible in morning for 15min with coffee was nice, but not if I want to hit trail fast. Perhaps in middle of day a nice scenic break with chair would be good. Chair at middle Rae was good when I sat and watched the view of neighbors camping while listening to the audio book.
Sleeping System - Sleep Quilt:
-Boy, quilts are fussy. I got good at attaching it to yellow cords and keeping it snapped at top all the time and wiggling in and out. But the cord attachments drift and I get breeze on lower back. Putting the attachment clips into 2nd hole helped, and pulling them way to center.
-The Alsek 22f quilt worked great, fluffed to high loft, kept me toasty on nights that went down to 34f and 33f. With my over quilt it should be great in the 20s too.
Food:
-brought 7.5lbs food and ended with 1.25 extra. Besides 3-4 extra bars there were too many small candies (halloween chocolates), stale mixed nuts, too many tea/coffee, extra protein additives for dinner... kinda little of everything. Maybe my real consumption rate is 1.4 or 1.3lbs/day, and I should aim for that total and then add 3 extra emergency bars.
Pills:
-my little mesh bags for pills are very fussy. It can take 1-2 min just to get the pills out! Let's go back to pill bags marked M1, M2, E1, E2 for morning, evening and the day. I could put them into 2 anti-gravity mesh bags, perhaps white mesh for morning.
-I really liked dried cherries and Quaker Oat Squares (light but bulky) as a trail snack.
-I relearned that bulgar needs pre-soaking, I did presoak on last dinner for 30min and that helped
-I relearned that boil times at high altitudes (like ~11,000') are much higher
-I found I can do fine with fewer hot drinks: just one coffee in morning first thing, with double packets of starbucks; just one herbal tea at night (TJ ginger-tumeric, which I can take out of bag and remove string).
-I found cold cereal in morning was fine, saving a burn of gas and the time (and risk of spilling)
-I want more variety in dinners, devise couscous, rice, mac n cheese, etc. variants
-various breads from farmers market were great (sliced and toasted once or twice): Einkorn, sunflower/oat dense bread, seeded... also good for dipping into dinner stew.
-having separate 'additives' like powdered cheddar cheese, veggie protien bits, and hemp seed: these are all very tasty, but I brought too many and they were tricky to add. Much better to precisely measure 1-2 oz of one into one dinner bag at home. Saves the bag and extras.
-base weight of 5oz for dinner bag was good before adding 1 or 1.5oz of 'additive'
-based weight of 4oz for breakfast cereal was fine
-final morning I got hiking in only 40 min by having only coffee (nothing to eat), and cowboy camping. 45min later on trail I stopped and ate my cereal. Very tasty, and I got a rest on trail. I was skipping morning tooth brushing anyways.
-having only 2 cups was tricky. E.g., if I soaked dinner in the orange cup, then I had to make tea and drink it from hot pot. Then transfer the dinner to pot to cook, I had 2 dirties. I think it's worth while bringing a PeanutButter jar as 3rd container for soaking. Also, for breakfast on trail I can put the breakfast cereal into the jar and close top and then have it ready to eat by adding water on trail.
Random:
-use full size chapstick (rather than tiny Gossamer, which is easy to lose and too soft)
a Gaia map is in folder "2022 SEKI Rae Lakes loop - v2" in Gaia
https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/folder/73313480-b436-4d3e-99c3-0539fc1ab57d/?layer=GaiaTopoRasterFeet
SUMMARY: I will park at "Roads End" wilderness station in Kings Canyon and do the Rae Lakes loop in a counter clockwise direction, going up Bubbs creek on Friday. I will probably add a leg going from Woods Creek crossing to Lake Marjorie (this leg is in the below plan). If I need to cut the trip short or am feeling too tired, I can skip the leg.
58.3mi 14,918' ascent
- Day 1 - Roads End (5,100') to Junction Meadow at 8203'
- Day 2 - Junction Meadow to Dollar Lake at 10,231' (over Glenn Pass 11,967')
- Day 3 - Dollar Lake to Lake Marjorie at 11,200' (over Pinchot Pass 12,090')
- Day 4 - Lake Marjorie to Woods Creek camp site at 7,774' (about 2.1mi above Upper Paridise Valley campsites)
- Day 5 - Woods Creek campsite to Roads End
from
https://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/rae-lakes-loop.htm
Distances Along the Rae Lakes Loop
|
Point
|
Miles from Road's End via Paradise
|
Miles from Road's End via Bubbs
|
|
Road's End
|
0
|
41.4
|
|
Paradise/Bubbs Jct.
|
1.9
|
39.5
|
|
Mist Falls (no camping)
|
3.9
|
37.5
|
|
Lower Paradise (first campsite )
|
5.7
|
35.7
|
|
Middle Paradise
|
6.8
|
34.6
|
|
Upper Paradise
|
10
|
31.3
|
|
Woods Creek Crossing
|
15.7
|
25.7
|
|
Dollar Lake
|
19.7
|
21.7
|
|
Rae Lakes
|
22.7
|
18.7
|
|
Glen Pass
|
24.6
|
16.8
|
|
Charlotte Lake Junction
|
26.7
|
14.7
|
|
Vidette Meadow
|
28.2
|
13.2
|
|
Junction Meadow
|
31.1
|
10.3
|
| Charlotte Creek |
33.9
|
7.5
|
|
Sphinx Junction (last campsite )
|
37.5
|
4.1
|
|
Paradise/Bubbs Jct.
|
39.4
|
1.9
|
|
Road's End
|
41.4
|
0.0
|
2022 SEKI Rae Lakes loop v2 (includes Lake Marjorie leg)