Women's Rae Lakes and Sixty Lakes Basin Adventure, Kings Canyon National Park, California

The Trip

Join a long tradition of women in the wilderness as we celebrate 40 years of women’s trips. Connect with nature, find camaraderie and trust in yourself as you wind among majestic peaks and explore remote lakes and mountains with light cross-country travel.  In the first few days we'll cross two near 12,000 foot passes, Kearsarge and Glen, rewarded with quality time at Sixty Lake Basin and Rae Lakes that allows for rest, relaxation, and/or optional day hikes to further explore the area.

Our hiking schedule is not rigid. How far we get each day and where we camp depends on how we feel, the weather, and other factors outside of our control. There will be portions of the route that were not scouted by the leaders before the trip -- some additional scouting may be required during the trip. Flexibility is important. The itinerary described here should be taken as a general plan, and the actual route and schedule may well depart from this plan. But you can be assured of having a memorable and satisfying trip!

Day 1:  We will meet at the Kearsarge Trailhead to hand out gear, orientation, and start out on the trail for just a few miles with near 1,400 ft ascent.

Day 2: We'll finish the climb of 2 more miles to Kearsarge Pass up another 1,300 ft, travelling from approximately 10,500 feet to over 11,800 feet.  Oxygen can feel thin.  After enjoying the views, from high, we'll travel another 5.5 miles down 1,500 feet.  

Day 3: A longer day but with a little less pack weight, we'll travel over 7 miles with approximately 2,300 feet of ascent and 2,000 feet of descent.  If conditions permit, we may opt for an off trail route to our Sixty Lake Basin destination.

Day 4: We’ll have a layover day allowing for rest, relaxation, and/or optional day hike to further explore the remote area of Sixty Lake Basin.

Day 5: With a short travel day to Rae Lakes, you’ll have ample time to enjoy these iconic lakes on the John Muir Trail / Pacific Crest Trail, with yet another opportunity for an optional afternoon day hike.  We will again travel cross country from Sixty Lakes to Rae Lakes if conditions permit. 

Day 6: We move onto Kearsarge Lakes, a gem of its own with the lakes backed by the Sierra Crest and Kearsarge Pinnacles.   On this day we move 7 miles, 2,000 feet ascent and 1,600 descent.

Day 7: We head back up to the Kearsarge pass, only a little over 1 mile and 900 feet and make our way down to the originating trailhead, four miles with 2,600 feet of descent.

Getting There

Our trip officially starts at the Kearsarge Trailhead near the Onion Valley campground. 

For improved acclimatization, participants are encouraged to arrive early and do some day hiking at altitude. An extra day or two also makes it easier to recover from events such as a missed connection and still make it to the trailhead in time.

Onion Valley is located a few miles west of the town of Independence, CA, on the east side of the Sierra Nevada -- about 225 miles from Los Angeles, 240 miles from Las Vegas, 245 miles from Reno, 340 miles from San Francisco, and 84 miles south of Mammoth Lakes. Trip members arriving from other parts of the country should explore the option of flying to one of these cities and sharing a rental car or arranging a ride. We will send a trip roster to all participants well before the trip in order to help facilitate ride-sharing. Specific driving directions will also be sent before departure.

Please do not make non-refundable travel arrangements until notified to do so by the leader.

Accommodations and Food

We will plan a diverse and appealing menu to accommodate both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Meals, including beverages, will be provided from dinner on day one through lunch on the last day of the outing. Responsibility for cooking and cleanup will be shared by trip participants. Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners will all be hearty, healthy, and varying. Participants will be required to bring their preferred trail snacks. The leaders work hard to make the weight of the food as light as possible to lessen the loads in our packs. Careful attention is paid to ensuring there are sufficient calories with high protein content so our bodies are well-fueled. Organic foods are used as much as possible. We can easily accommodate vegetarians.

Trip Difficulty

The overall trip is rated 4 on the 1-5 rating scale. This trip is physically very demanding. A training and conditioning program will be necessary to achieve the required level of fitness.

We’ll have three passes to climb/descend 2,000 to near 3,000 feet at high altitude and with backpack weight.  In addition, we’ll be over 10,000 feet throughout the trip, including at all camps.  Conditions permitting, there will be some off trail hiking with packs. 

In years with high snowfall, late-melting snow on the high passes may also make hiking more difficult.

Participation in this outing requires that you be in good shape and have backpacking experience. Very good aerobic conditioning is essential. Our objectives are to enjoy some spectacular country and to complete the trip safely as a group.

Equipment and Clothing

The Sierra Club will provide the following items: food (excluding trail snacks), pots, cooking utensils, stoves, fuel, group first aid kit (which is only used for emergencies), bear-proof canisters, and gravity filter for use at camp. At the beginning of the trip you will be issued one bear canister loaded with food, plus a portion of the group gear, which together may weigh up to 13 pounds. You will be required to limit your personal gear to 20 pounds or less, so that your total pack weight is less than 40 pounds -- including up to 2 liters of water, which can account for almost another 5 pounds.

Your pack needs to be large enough to carry a BearVault BV500 bear can (8.7” diameter by 12.7” in height) and group gear item such as a stove (inside of pack and about the size of three fist), fuel bottle (outside of pack 3” diameter by 11 inches height), tarp, or utensil bag for example.

The leader will send detailed clothing and gear recommendations to participants in advance of the trip. 

References

Please plan on bringing your own map and compass -- not only is this a matter of safety, but you will have a better appreciation of where we are going and where we have been. You are also welcome to bring GPS devices.

Maps covering our route include:

• Four U.S.G.S. 7.5-minute quadrangles: Mt. Pinchot, Mt. Clarence King, Aberdeen, and Kearsarge Peak. As an alternative, a custom map can be purchased from www.mytopo.com. Upon request, the trip leader will provide a link to such a map.
• The Kings Canyon High Country map published by Tom Harrison Maps.
• The two-sheet map set for the John Muir Wilderness and Sequoia/Kings Canyon Wilderness published by the U.S. Forest Service.

Books:

• Laws, John Muir, The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada. The California Academy of Sciences. An excellent guide to the plants and wildlife of the Sierra Nevada.
• Secor, R.J., The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails. The Mountaineers. An excellent general reference to trails and climbing routes in the Sierra Nevada.

Conservation

"If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it." - President Lyndon B. Johnson

The real purpose of Sierra Club outings, which began in 1901, is to follow John Muir's example of bringing more people into the fold of protecting the earth's ecology. Muir wrote "if people could be got into the woods, even for once, to hear the trees speak for themselves, all difficulties in the way of forest preservation would vanish."

During our week in the wilderness, we will discuss and practice minimal impact. We'll discuss local and global conservation topics. In addition, you are encouraged to come prepared and introduce topics of interest to you.

As a group, we will diligently observe Leave No Trace principles.

Sierra Club National Outings is an equal-opportunity provider and when applicable will operate under permits obtained from U.S. federal land agencies.