Well.....the Grand Canyon R2R2R seemed like a huge success to me.....so it's time to plan another. Here's the loop I have in mind:

http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/rae-lakes-loop.htm

I've done it once before and it's absolutely fantastic. Very runnable and very scenic. Water is very easy to come by. Navigating is simple as well. We'll run into snow on Glen Pass but I suspect that it might be passable by then given our terrible snow year.

If you are planning to fly to California I can likely pick you up at Orange County Airport or possibly LAX.

What: A run around the fantastic Rae Lakes loop starting from Roads End. I'll be going clockwise but I suppose folks could go counter-clockwise as well

When: Saturday, June 16th, 2012

Where: Roads End, CA.

Who: Anyone that understands the strenuous nature of doing a 40something mile loop in remote terrain.

Those that have expressed interest at this point:

Brian Blair
Joshua Malpass
Keira Henninger
Jesse Haynes
Slater Fletcher
Monique Fletcher

Edited by donkey on 04/16/2012 16:11:10 MDT.

Damn... I wish this was July 16th - I'd be in for sure! Can't get out there in June :(

well,
you, Josh, Keira, and Jesse are too fast for me, plus I've got San Diego 100 June 9.
something I would like to do, so give us a great trip report and some beta afterwards.
maybe later in the summer.

great to sort of run with you at RRR.

Brian,

I would love to keep the ball rolling and join you guys for this, that routeI looks killer, but I wont be able to with it being so close. Maybe in the fall if you guys do the loop again.

You and Josh should think about running Deadman Peaks 50 in October, its on the CDT. I think Craig was considering it.

a little too soon for me as well, but definitely on my "to do" list- have fun!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/288614754566340/

We started a little group on Facebook to organize this one. We'll see how this works out as an organizing/planning tool.

BB

I don't have Facebook...

Anyhow, wish I could do it but my knee is still a bit screwed from the canyon. Managed 35 miles last week, but can't get any single over 8 miles right now.

Really want to do this loop someday, but this one is too soon for me.

Have "fun" out there.

Edited by xnomanx on 05/17/2012 17:27:14 MDT.

Brian - could you give us some feedback on trail conditions etc. after your run this weekend.
We are thinking of running it in July some time.
Have a Great run.

Gentlemen-

Conditions are perfect.....absolutely perfect. There's very little snow on Glen...maybe 400 feet, total, in 2 patches.

It was pretty warm by mid-day/into the afternoon. The final switchbacks down to the river were pretty toasty.

Also worth noting.....the bears are out and about. We saw two while running the loop. That pretty much made my day....I always dig seeing bears.

Final note. If you're driving up there.....take highway 63 from Visalia to 180. The other route(264?) is windy and extremely slow.

Photos:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150896877557883.411456.638542882&type=1&l=b3db202525

Nice pictures, thanks.

Brian - thanks.

John and I would be doing it from the East side, because we also want to do another Eastside run or two in the same trip.
up over Kearsarge Pass then onto the loop.
any tips for an Eastside start ?
no date set yet, mid to late July ?
anyone else ?

Nice! Wish I could've made this one with you.

Craig - I'm trying to put together a 2 run Sierra trip with John for late July.

run one - Devils Post Pile to Tuolumne (30-32 mi) with a $10 bus ride back,
assuming they get the trails reopened.

run two - Rae Lakes Loop from Onion Valley.

may 2 or 3 rest days in between.

Art-

Your DPP to Tuolumne run sounds awesome.....I hadn't thought of taking the shuttle back. That's a great idea. I'm going to look into this and maybe have a go at it soon.

In terms of an Eastside start for the Rae Lake Loop.....I guess it'll add 12ish miles to the loop....but you'll lose 4 from the Road's End Spur. I reckon you'll wind up somewhere right around 50 when all is said and done.

I think the big question will be clockwise or counter-clockwise. I think I'd lean towards clockwise for several reasons:

1. Get the low, hot portion out of the way earlier in the day. The switchbacks down to the Road's End Spur are extremely hot in the afternoon.

2. You'll hit Glen Pass when you're already tired and almost done....which is fine because no one is running up Glen Pass anyway.

3. Water availability in the afternoon. You'll never be more than a few minutes away from water while going through Paradise Valley/Dollar Lake/Rae Lakes.

BB

Edited by donkey on 06/18/2012 13:34:42 MDT.

Brian there are 2 bus issues.
YARTS from Tuolumne back to Mammoth.
and the Reds Meadow bus to pick up your car the next day (don't think it is running right now because of the cleanup operation, but I heard maybe by July 4 it may resume).

I think Yarts leaves Tuolumne around 6:00pm (check the schedule).
if you can get there before 5:00 pm you can feast on burgers, fries, milkshakes and beer at the Tuolumne Grill.

Brian,

I have done the Rea Lakes Loop 7 times, 6 of them were in one day

A bit of information I can give you is DO NOT GO CLOCKWISE!!!

I have done this once and it is horrible compared to c/c.
You have to do a painfully slow push up hill for over over 30 miles with a tiring hard on the knees downhill at the end.
Going clockwise on a 2 day trip is better because you wake up and have a little push to the top and you can slow down and enjoy the down hill.

The only problem going counter clockwise are the gajillon steps you go down after the upper campground.
Going counter clockwise gets you up to the top of Glen feeling like crap. You think you are going to feel better once you drop down to the lakes but you don't until you get to the draw-bridge/ JMT split. The rest is easy. You will also get to the top of Glen by 1pm.
Going clockwise means that if you do not feel good and have to slow down even a little, you will be getting to the top of Glen with not much light left.

Okay, so going clockwise is an easier go getting up to Glen. If you do go clockwise, I would leave early, like 3am early to give yourself the margin to slow down and still get below the tree line by night fall.

I have gone counter clockwise in a dry year June day and made an easy trip of it not even having to use a light the entire trip. This was due to the easy miles of downhill that I averaged about 3.3 mph going down and about 14:45 hours in total time. Usually it takes me about 13-16 hours but I usually slowly jog at least half the way down.
You can expect a clockwise trip to take you at least 17 hours and I would say more like 19. It takes a looonnnng time to get up to Glen going clockwise.

Edited by awsorensen on 06/18/2012 12:03:18 MDT.

Thanks for the feedback Aaron. I've done the clockwise version twice and have always walked away feeling like that was the way to go. I'll have to give counter clockwise a try sometime just to see what it's like.

We might also have different experiences/impressions of the loop.....I get to Glen feeling pretty good and ready to cruise the downhill back to Road's End. I get pretty bored/feeling monotonous by the time I get past junction meadow....but otherwise I really like the loop clockwise.

The loop took us 12 hours even this time......12.5 last year. We spent alot of time socializing with PCT thru-hikers and swimming in the Rae Lakes. We could have gone faster....but I sure wouldn't have wanted to. To go any faster than that would take away from some of the experience for me.

We will be doing our one day run of the loop starting and ending at Onion Valley on the Eastside.

would this start/finish impact your feelings on going clockwise or counterclockwise ?

Edited by asandh on 06/25/2012 11:23:38 MDT.