Rae Lakes Loop: Day 4

October 1

Mileage: 9.4

Last night was terrible.  The worst sleep we have gotten this trip.  The “party group” kept us up for a while and there were quite a few people that came into our campsite looking for a site to sleep in.  A lot of people were trying to position themselves to climb the pass today.  I can only imagine what it’s like in the summer. Gannon was on edge most of the night, which in turn makes me on edge. No sleep for us!

It was also soo cold last night, like soo soo cold and it is lingering into the morning.  I don’t think we have been out in this cold of weather on any of our other trips.  With no campfire to help us, it is a good motivator to get us going and out of here.  There is a coyote that keeps coming around our campsite.  He is waiting for us to leave him some scraps of food. He is not afraid of humans at all. Sorry buddy, not happening.

We set out to climb Glen Pass.  It is a lot to climb in a short distance, but it really is not that hard except for the knife edges that with one misstep can send you falling to your death. Haha!  The “party group” catches up, passes us, and offers to have us join them.  We realize that the men that we lost the trail with on day 2 were in that group and leading it!  They stay a bit of ahead of us, and we prefer it that way.

Half way up the pass we come across an Ultra runner.  She is doing the entire trail that we are taking 5 days to do, and doing it in 1 day!  Those people are flipping crazy!

We make it to the top!  Hooray!!  11,978’ accomplished!!!!  It is super cold up here, so we don’t stay long.  I also find out that 2 of the girls in the “party group” as also part of my Ladies of the JMT group!  How exciting!!  We take our pictures and video and start to head down.  We are headed for the Meadow Junction area for the night.

 

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Several small groups of people pass us.  As usual, everyone passes us.  I am the slowest hiker on the planet.  No clue why, but it’s true.  We get passed by a younger couple and we end up leap-frogging with them all day.  At one point we find out they are from Carlsbad and this is their first trip.  They are nice to talk to throughout the day.

Pretty much from now on, we are headed back down.  No more climbing.  We run into the “Carlsbad couple” again at the Junction Meadow sign.  They inform us that they went a bit further and there are no campsites.  We realize that we need to camp here.  But here, is where the “party group” is camping as well.  We go through them and cross Bubb’s Creek on some logs.  It is sweet that the man takes his young wife’s bags across for her.  Gannon looks over at me, I give him a look, and I tell him “don’t even think about it!”  I don’t think so.  I can do it myself.  I just went over the pass that the Iowa man would not do.  I can walk my pack across the logs all by myself. Haha!

We find a campsite and can have a fire again!  More and more people show up and are like right next to us. We are not used to this.  The man comes over and offers Gannon some of his whiskey.  That was super nice.  We both try to share it, since it was a generous pour.   We don’t normally drink any alcohol when hiking, but it’s the last night, so why not!

I don’t like how many people are here and it is really hard to find a place to do your business.  There is barely any privacy to be had.  Not sure how others are doing it.  I can’t wait till it’s dark.

Hoping everyone settles down early tonight.  I really want to get some sleep. It’s our last night and I am sad that it’s coming to an end.  It’s always bittersweet.  I look forward to a bed and real food, but I really love it out here!  Time to watch the season finale of our show.  Good night!