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TIL I shaved 3 hours off my Sierra loop by walking it backwards from the guidebook
Last season I did the Rae Lakes loop out of Roads End in Kings Canyon the normal clockwise way and it beat me up pretty good, 4 days of feeling wrecked every afternoon. This July I tried it counterclockwise after a ranger at the Wilderness Office told me most people just follow whatever the guidebook prints. Going the other way put the big climb up to Glen Pass in the cool morning instead of the hot afternoon, and I hit the switchbacks with fresh legs. My daily mileage stayed the same, around 11 miles a day, but I was rolling into camp by 3pm instead of 6pm with gas left in the tank. The other thing is you run into way fewer people going the opposite direction of the crowd, I had the Woods Creek crossing almost to myself. Same trail, same pack weight, totally different trip. Has anyone else flipped a popular route backwards and found it way easier?
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charliestone1mo ago
The "same trail same pack weight totally different trip" thing is so real, I flipped the Wonderland at Rainier one year mostly by accident and the whole thing felt like a new hike. Weird how much a route's direction messes with your head more than your legs.
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