Glen Pass drops you into a turquoise lake basin beneath jagged peaks. The bucket-list Sierra loop that earns the crowds.
The most popular backpacking loop in Kings Canyon, and for good reason. Glen Pass at ~12,000ft delivers you into the Rae Lakes basin: a chain of turquoise lakes beneath jagged peaks that looks like it was designed for a postcard. This is a bucket-list Sierra route. The tradeoff is permit competition and company on the trail, but the scenery justifies the crowds.
Start: Roads End Trailhead
End: Roads End Trailhead
Water: Bubbs Creek
Start early — Bubbs Creek canyon hits 5,000ft and can bake by 10am in summer. Steady uphill through manzanita and Jeffrey pine, then granite and alder as the canyon narrows. Junction Meadow at ~8,100ft is a gear-check moment.
Water: Multiple streams, Rae Lakes
Climb to the Forester Pass junction, then northeast up to Glen Pass (11,978ft) — one of the JMT's classic high points. Rae Lakes Basin spreads out below: a string of turquoise lakes with the Kings-Kern Divide as backdrop.
Water: Rae Lakes, Woods Creek, South Fork of the Kings River
Long descent from the basin — pass Dragon Lake junction and Dollar Lake before dropping steeply on switchbacks to Woods Creek. The suspension bridge at the crossing is iconic. The canyon widens and the trail mellows out below.
Water: Woods Creek, South Fork Kings River
Morning miles past Mist Falls — one of Kings Canyon's finest waterfalls, especially in early season. The final miles along the Kings River are flat and shaded. Roads End has a pay shower at the ranger station.
Side trips to Sixty Lakes Basin, Kearsarge Pass
Very popular - apply for permits March 1; rivers can be impassable in May/June; hot at lower elevations; camping restrictions at some lakes
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