Kearsarge Lakes + Rae Lakes + 60 Lakes Basin: 4 Day Backpacking Trip September 2025

We spend three nights exploring 30+ lakes, cresting two high Sierra mountain passes, and traveling 29.7 miles, on one epic adventure backpacking Kearsarge Lakes, Rae Lakes, and 60 Lakes Basin in Kings Canyon National Park in September 2025. After our Pear Lake warm-up back in June, we felt ready to tackle a bigger challenge. We intended to use this trip as training for our Salkantay Trek in the Peruvian high Andes in November, but it wasn't our first choice of permit. However, this trip still ended up being unforgettable and SO beautiful! We began at Onion Valley just outside Independence, CA and backpacked over Kearsarge Pass to Kearsarge Lakes, then over Glen Pass the next day into Rae Lakes and 60 Lakes Basin, battling wildfire smoke, thunderstorms, and a migraine along the way just to add to the challenge. I highly recommend this route to anyone interested in backpacking the Sierras. It's so easy to make it shorter and camp at closer (still beautiful) lakes before Kearsarge Pass, or make it longer and extend your trip along the JMT since the trail passes through a major backcountry crossroads. Learn more about planning this trip in my article below: https://theunremarkableclimber.com/ba... 00:00 Before Kearsarge Pass 02:20 Kearsarge Lakes 05:05 Bullfrog Lake Trail to JMT 05:40 Glen Pass 07:00 Setting up camp at Rae Lakes 09:31 60 Lakes Basin 11:25 Hiking 12 miles all the way to the car! Blog: https://theunremarkableclimber.com Acoustic Guitar 1 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... #adventure #travel #outdoors #hiking #backpacking #sierras #kingscanyon