Headed up with Bruce to due a nice fall summit of Alta. The colors were a tad passed prime but still something to behold. The weather was ideal and we both enjoyed our jaunt. The trails are all in good shape and I would guess that the time is running short to enjoy the area before Winter asserts itself.

pictures and a more detailed report here:

http://alpinelakesaficionado.blogspot.com/[…]/alta-mountain-6240.html

Despite getting rained on twice and being surrounded by clouds nearly the entire trip, this was one of my favorite hikes. The dogs and I visited dozens of alpine lakes, saw tons of marmots and hawks, and experienced a unique climate created by converging cloud fronts of precipitation and smoke. We were even lucky enough to spend an hour or two above the clouds on the summit.

We started off under thick clouds from the unofficial trailhead at Rocky Run Creek off NF road 136. I glimpsed a tent through the fog on the way past Lake Lillian and encountered a lone hunter clad in blaze orange on the trail above the lakes. On the way up Rampart Ridge the cloud front from the west poured over the ridge and into the valley below and I could smell occasional pockets of warm smoky air rising up from the east. From the summit we scrambled down the boot path to the east and back into the clouds, continuing along the steep trail to the Rampart Lakes.

A web of paths weave among the Rampart Lakes on the way to the Rachel Lake, becoming Rachel Lake Trail 1313. From here we headed toward Lake Lila and Alta Mountain. At about 5400' the distinct north-to-south ridge of Alta Mountain became visible and shortly after that a trail appeared leading towards it.

I was well prepared for the many false summits from the trip reports I had read. Even so, I was fooled at least once. At about 5800' we emerged above the clouds and it quickly became t-shirt and shorts weather. There is one spot just after the true summit comes into view where I had to assist the dogs down a 6 foot drop with some serious exposure on all sides, but other than that the trail was easy to travel.

An impressive cairn adorns the summit. Box Ridge, Chikamin Ridge, Huckleberry Mountain, Alaska Mountain, and Mount Thomson were all visible allthough heavily shrouded in smoke from the wildfires to the east. We enjoyed the summit for well over an hour, basking in the sunshine, and were joined for a while by two gentlemen who had camped a Lake Lila the night before. We watched the sea of clouds from Gold Creek Valley slowly rise up and over Alta Pass, spilling into Box Canyon like a waterfall.

This was an unforgettable trip, made all the better by relatively small crowds along the trail. Rainy day hiking in Washington occasionally has its perks!

A WORD OF WARNING:
There is a maze of trails in this area making it very easy to get lost. I highly recommend that anyone attempting this hike or anything near it bring with them a reliable contour map and compass, and the knowledge and experience required to use them.

Yay, back again! Lodd and I hiked to the summit of Alta Mountain via the Lake Lillian "shortcut" / Rocky Run trail and Rampart Ridge. Nonstop scenery, at the cost of lots of sun and steep loose rock.

The famous brush on Road 136 was actually not too bad. The worse problem on that road right now is actually the potholes, which are pretty big. Since the road is narrow, there is no avoiding them. We had a Subaru Forester, but there was a Toyota Yaris at the trailhead.

We took the side trail to Lake Laura. It was actually by accident, I didn't know it was a side trail. But whatever, it was worth it, Laura is nice.

Next the trail went steeply through the woods to Lillian. To get around Lillian (to the right/east), the trail soon hit a cliffy part. There also seemed to be another trail that climbed around the back side of the cliffs. While we were contemplating this, a couple showed up and the guy confirmed that the latter option was a bypass to get around the cliff. But he said the cliffy section was very short and it was just one short move that was not a big deal. So we just did the cliffy part.

After that, the trail drops back down to the lake on the east side and follows it for a bit. Then it climbs very steeply to gain the ridge to the north. This is the worst part of the hike, as there is a lot of loose rock. We both took a couple minor spills coming back down. The nice part of that section is views back over at Mt. Rainier towering over Lillian.

Then we followed the trail over to a pond, after which there was a split. We followed the right fork, where there was a couple cairns. This well-defined trail ended up rounding a shoulder of the ridge to the east before dropping down to the Rampart Lakes, rather than heading directly up and over the pass. I think it gained/lost less elevation going this way, although maybe the route was a bit longer. At any rate, we were happy with this route so we took it on the way back, too. The entire meadowy section between Lillian and the Ramparts was blooming with flowers, to an amazing extent for Labor Day.

The section between Rampart Lakes and the Alta Summit is familiar and does not need much description. Love that narrow tightrope ridge. Approaching the first false summit, my dad could not believe that it was not the real summit, despite my warnings to the contrary (I had done Alta before via the Rachel trail). Little did he know that it was not even the last FALSE summit...

As surprised we were at the abundance of flowers, we were equally surprised by the lack of huckleberries. The only good patch we found was toward the start of the Alta Mountain trail (after it splits off from the Lila Lakes trail).

Very hot day for a hike, but the forest cover to Rachel Lake thankfully absorbs much of the direct sunlight. The trail to Rachel Lake was in pretty good shape, we'll just say "somebody" brought some loppers and helped do some brushing along the trail. The "puncheon" through the swampy area could use some work as it's starting to sag in places and break apart. Bugs were around, but not an unbearable nuisance. At Rachel Lake find the trail up, eventually you'll come to a intersection marked <-Rampart Lakes Lila Lake->, Go -> toward Lila Lake, the trail continues, eventually you get some views of a meadowed hillside, perhaps you'll even sight the trail. Soon you'll come to another intersection, with a clear path blocked by sticks heading off in the direction of the meadowed hill I mentioned, this is the Alta Mountain Route. I enjoyed this trail much, it is a totally open ridge walk all the way to Alta summit(6151'), with two or three false summits along the way. To the acrophobic there are a few airy sections, but nothing that I found dangerous or difficult. The views from the summit are incredible, and of special interest if you've ever hiked the section of the PCT it overlooks from Chickamin Ridge (I believe) all the way to the Catwalk, it brought back some fond memories viewing it all. Bugs were more of a problem on this section of the hike, but the scenery and abundant wild flowers drown out almost everything besides themselves, so bugs are easy to ignore. No water after Rachel Lake to Alta Summit, so you might wanna fill up there. I believe the RT is 13 miles or so, worth every step! I highly suggest this hike, Happy Trails!