Rae Lake Rays on Rae

Of the three times I have been to Rae Lake, it has been during the month of October.  Each of those times I stated "I want to see what this place looks like in the summer".  With summer so close I can taste it, it was go time!  I put a shout out looking for company and was delighted to have a few friends hop on board.  With the winter gate only opened three days ago, there were no reports saying what it was like in that area.  As usual we go prepared for anything & everything.  

arriving at Elbow Lake

The air was close, the weather warm, plus no wind.  

We saw lots of green, plenty of flowers and no snow.

There was the odd bug, loads of glacier lilies and the most bear scat I have ever seen in one day.  

Then too, of course, you have the gorgeous scenery....

....looking up the valley towards the Cats Ears & Piper Pass.

in front of Tombstone Mountain

The further in we went, the more blue that appeared.  

The timing was perfect as we headed down the trail towards Mount Rae with Rae Lake at its base.

Aiming for our destination and lunch spot.

where the creek meets the lake

our first view of Rae Lake

Rays on Rae Lake

we had the sunshine and blue sky exactly where and when we desired it the most

The bugs were bad right at the Lake so we meandered around to the wide open meadow away from the lake shore.  We were still afforded wonderful views for our dining time.  It was so peaceful & pretty. I would have liked to stay longer but grey was moving in at our backs.

my Rae Lake destination shot

We took a detour down to the junction for where you would head down to Tombstone Campground.  The last time I was down there the bridge was not in tack and I was curious to see its conditon.  We could see from this vantage point that it was good to go.

along the way

We expereinced a few slight scattered showers that were worthy of covering up against for about maybe 20 minutes in total.  They were not enough for us to alter our plan.  Upon our return, we hiked along the opposite side of Elbow Lake and admired the activity and views.

The Elbow Lake Campground was bustling with people and activity.  While it was nice to have 100% outright ownership at Rae Lake, it was good to see the busyness around Elbow Lake.  It felt like others could taste summer today too.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!