Lake Rae overlook - group two Off-Trail hike on 6-Oct-2025

Participants: Sim, Jeannine and Jack

Having never been to Rae Lake, or the ridge overlooking it, I decided to copy Francisco (since his trip, as always, was full). Interestingly, some of my usual cohorts also had never been there and signed up to join me. The recent snow reminded us that it is much more work to walk through vs. a dry trail and we stopped several times to layer and delayer, getting used to colder temperatures. Leaving the well-trodden trail past Elbow Lake, we enjoyed beautiful views of the surrounding peaks and lingering larches and despite a multitude of different GPS tracks (thanks, Jack!) arrived at the lake. Not having a track to the overlook on anyone's phone (this must be a Francisco original) the group unwisely chose to follow my idea of heading southeast, as I thought I had seen a trail heading up that way, which was incorrect. Happily, by the time we returned to the lake, the other group was there so we could put away our phones and follow them up! It was nice to see some familiar faces I hadn't seen for a while.

Once we reached the ridgetop and enjoyed the beautiful views, we opted to head back down to the lake for lunch where it was less windy. The return back felt very long but the sun was shining and the snow dusted peaks around us made for a scenic path. We were also greeted by a horse and rider, with her three dogs and second horse accompanying her, and found a rare pink river otter who Sim adopted despite her already-heavy pack.

Thanks to Jack for monitoring our route finding on his GPS (I really don't love this job so always grateful for others who are better at it anyway) and to everyone for joining me on this first "shoulder season" adventure this fall.

Stats: 20.2 km, 632 m, 7 hours

Pam