We got up a bit earlier today so we could make the trek across the pass to the Sixty Lake Basin and then up Mount Cotter. After a quick morning routine, we headed out from camp. There’s a one night camping limit at each lake in the Rae Lakes area, so we planned to pack up and move camp a short distance to the next lake when we returned in the afternoon.

Rae Lakes views.

We headed north from the JMT on to the trail to the Sixty Lake Basin and started climbing up to the pass that divides the two drainages. Soon we were on top, looking over to the next set of lakes.

First views of Mount Cotter and Mount Clarence King from the pass.

Mount Clarence King from the small lake below Lake 11001. We wrapped around the point just east of Mount Cotter and traversed over to Lake 10840. Here we ran into a couple of other groups, a solo hiker who was headed over 60 Lake Col for the Gardiner Basin to loop back over to Charlotte Lake, and another group of three who were headed in the same direction but just going out and then back.

We took a brief brake at Lake 10840 and then started directly up the southeast slope of Mount Cotter. It was a little tricky to find a good route at first, the lower part of the mountain right above the lake has many small rock outcroppings to navigate, but after a couple hundred feet it eased up and we were climbing a sand/talus slope to the summit ridge.

Dad climbing the slope of Mount Cotter.

The view across the upper lakes of the Gardiner Basin towards Mount Gardiner and Mount Brewer.

The summit rocks of Mount Cotter. Secor says “only the summit rocks are difficult,” so we headed up to see.

The summit rocks were indeed difficult! There is a maybe 20 foot high pile of boulders marking the summit with sheer cliffs on two sides. At first, we tried to climb directly up to the summit from the south up these rocks, but it was a bit too difficult for us, so we retreated and searched for another route.

We went back down and cut farther right (north) to the very edge of the mountain. Here, there was a jumble of boulders that we could climb over keeping the difficulty at class 3, though it was quite exposed. We climbed up to a step, up a slightly overhanging rock, and then across some balanced rock to the huge summit block.

The panoramic view from the summit.

Southeast towards University Peak, Forester Pass, etc.

Dragon Peak and Mount Gould to the southeast.

Mount Clarence King, with the Palisades behind to the north.

After a short stay atop the exposed perch, which included signing into the summit register, we carefully reversed the moves off the summit block and climbed back down to the more secure rocks below.

Dad downclimbing the last difficult bit. This bush would be a good landmark to look for for others seeking to follow this route to the summit.

One more view of the summit rocks, note the bush on the right hand side.

We carefully traversed the large talus along the ridgeline before crossing over to the easy southeast slope and plunge-stepping down for a thousand feet or so. We had some trouble again with the lower reaches and ended up pushing through some bushes in a couple of gullies, but eventually found our way back to Lake 10840. Then, we continued on back to Rae Lakes.

Mount Clarence King from Sixty Lakes Basin.

Climbing back to the saddle over to Rae Lakes Basin. It was getting hot, but otherwise another beautiful day for hiking.

Dragon Peak from the lake that straddles the divide between Sixty Lakes and Rae Lakes.

Almost back on the JMT. We passed a deer taking a break from the mid-day heat in a shady spot near here.

Views from the JMT.  We got back to camp at about 4:30 having taken about 9 hours to get up and down Mount Cotter. We took a short break and then packed up our camp. While I’m sure we could have gotten away camping another night at the Middle Rae Lake, it was a bit busy for our taste and we hoped we could find a slightly quieter spot by avoiding the bear boxes. So we headed north on the trail, figuring we’d look for a site at Lower Rae Lake.

The backdrop from the outcropping near the ranger station, quite a view!

It didn’t take long to get over to the north end of Lower Rae Lake. We passed another giant bear box campsite near the middle of the lake but it was already getting crowded. Instead, we found a secluded spot at the north end of the lower lake. After setting up our tent I was wandering around and found a slightly better site. As I picked up our already pitched tent to move it, the tentpole broke right in the middle. Not good! I didn’t have a split, but dad had a good idea to use one of the stakes as a splint with a bunch of athletic tape to hold it in place. It wasn’t perfect but it would hold in the favourable weather conditions. We cooked dinner and went to sleep without much of a plan for the next day.

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