We had a brilliant plan to stash a bike at the Margaret Lake trailhead and then do a one-way hike starting from Lake Laura's backdoor. But our plan was foiled when our car wouldn't start after we dropped the bike. So we hiked to Twin Lakes from where we were, finding a nice hiker halfway who offered to jump our car if it wouldn't start (which it did).

This was still a fine hike, with good steepness to the ridge and a nice island-like area for lunch in between the two Twin Lakes. Much of the hike has southern exposure which was nice on this fall day. The descent to Twin Lakes is pretty steep so poles are helpful. We found a few berries, small but flavorful.

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).

Trail was clear of blowdowns all the way from the Margaret Lake trailhead to Lake Lillian. I had heard that the week before things were quite a mess. Great job WTA! I would say that apart from the views, the first portion of the trail up to the ridge is nothing special. But, from that point onward its really quite beautiful, especially the area around twin lakes. For those with dogs, there is no water on the trail to speak of, except of course for the lakes themselves. The worst of the hot weather is probably over, but still be careful

It was a beautiful day for a hike and there were very few people. The hike to the Margaret Lake cutoff was steep but pleasant. Near the top there were a few patches of snow and many blow downs but we were able to navigate around all of them.

The hike down to Twin Lakes had even more blowdowns and more snow patches. We lost the trail for a little while but were able to pick it up again pretty quickly. There were some snow bridges that looked dangerous so we went around them.

The hike up to Lake Lillian was steep but the view was well worth it. The Lake is still mostly covered in snow.

On the way back down to the trailhead, we took a wrong trail just after the Margaret Lake turnoff. The main trail actually turns to the right but we missed it as there was also a trail straight ahead over a blow down. The trail finally disappeared and we had to backtrack so be careful and keep your head up so you don't miss the right turn like we did:)

We really enjoyed our hike as it was a beautiful day, the lakes were gorgeous and there weren't too many people. It was a great day!!