I really love this hike... if only miles 2-4 weren't part of it. Every time I go I am mystified that thousands make the trip to Rachel Lake annually; the trail is simultaneously hard to find and hard to lose. I find myself in an area that can't possibly be trail and continue on a bit only to find the trail in front of me. It's a weird trek over what can be a running stream of meltwater in May, but is usually dry by August. And because so much of that portion of the trail is in what is under snow/water 6-8 months a year, it's tough to tell if it's really trail. But rest assured, if you can walk on it and it seems like a dry creek bed, you're on the trail.

Left home 6:20, started hiking by 7:40--maybe six cars in the lot. Quick note on the road:  the last 4 miles are gravel, but among the best gravel roads I've driven to a climb. You can hit 40 MPH on it without fear of breaking an axle, though 30 is probably more sane, up or down. Not even terribly dusty. Beautiful morning--very clear down low--and about 45 minutes hiking to the Hibox trail turnoff (easy, flattish, clear trail for 2.25 miles), and 1:50 to Rachel Lake (more challenging but fun "trail").  Trail notes:  it's in good shape (for what it is) but the "big waterfall" was almost dry. Never saw the water level so low. Same for the lakes up top. They looked... thirsty.

Above Rachel the trail is a basic climb and it's obvious when you get to the Rampart Lake/Lila Lake split. For Alta Mtn, go right for a cool walk to the ridge and along the "cliff top" overlooking the lake for a bit. The next trail junction (formerly marked by a cairn) would be left and then steeply uphill to the Alta Ridge or right to the high beautiful valley filled with lakes and blueberry bushes. You can get to Alta either way, but this time I chose to go straight up and return in a loop via the other (less steep) trail. The ridge is basic--you come to a "false summit" past which if seems there is no going at first, but if you look down and to the left, there is clear trail the final half mile along the ridge. Only one sketchy descent of about 4 feet on a slab to your left. Ran into a handful of friendly folks up there, two guys coming down, and three women ascending as I went down. On the descent, I went about a 3/4 to one mile to a point on the ridge trail where a clear path descends to the left--this brings you down into the gorgeous valley, and when you hit the valley floor, a right turn brings you back to the main trail. A left goes to the lakes and Hibox beyond, and (one time) the summit of Alta by "the back way" scramble. So many things to do and see up here.

It was about 3:25 to the summit and 3:00 to descend to the car. A glorious, sunny but not too hot day. The only problem was the gray/brown layer of forest fire smoke (you can see it in the pics I did not post). Blue sky above, some haze below, and this table-top of smoke around 5-6,000 feet in the distance. Ripe blueberries were a treat. A few guys hunting, which made me wish I was wearing something brighter. I hope to go back in a week or so, because the Lila Lake valley is  absolutely stunning with the reddish blueberry leaves showing through a dusting of snow.

stats:11.5 miles; 3,452 elev gained; 6:25 on trail (7 minutes stopped).

I love getting in a full day of fun in the mountains and getting home by 3 so I can squeeze some work in!

Beautiful, rainy Sunday for a hike! I hiked to Rachel and Rampart Lakes. Gaia recorded round trip distance at 9.03 miles (although, that includes any off trail wandering, either lost or for picture purposes, so it may not be completely accurate). Elevation gain - 2403 ft. Total moving time - 5:14.

Parking/Road - The road in is in good condition. There are a few potholes to watch out for but easy to avoid. I arrived at the TH around 6:00am to about 15 cars in the upper lot. I assume most were overnighters since I saw a few people coming down. There was still parking available. When I came back down around 12pm, a few more people had arrived, but there were still spots available.

Trail Conditions - Very rocky and rooty in places. There are some log crossings/stream crossings. It can also be hard to follow at times. I would recommend using a map/GPS to make sure you’re headed in the right direction. But the trail is BEAUTIFUL. My favorite part was seeing Hitbox in the distance. There are also some tight squeezes through shrubbery taller than you, but I liked it. It was a bit cloudy/drizzly, but everything still looked amazing.

Trail Difficulty - WOW does it get steep towards the end. At about the 2-2.5mi mark, the ascent starts gaining fast. Once you reach Rachel Lake, there are some nice areas to take a break at. I chose to hike a little further down to the beach area on the right end of the lake. The trail up to Rampart is also very steep. And very rocky. The loose dirt also made for a few slips. Poles were helpful both up and down!

Creatures/Critters/Bugs - I saw some chipmunks. No other critters unfortunately:(. The bugs were not bad. The only real annoyance were the spider webs. How can there be so many??

Overall, the views made up for all the pain. Would recommend. Prepare to break a sweat, though. Also, saw ~15 people on the trail and everyone was awesome! Love the community.

Once again I’m being reminded that trail difficulty shall not be assessed as a simple length-to-gain ratio for the elevation gain can be compressed…

Road & Trailhead

Forest road is soothingly smooth. A bit of washboard and a couple minor potholes, but any car can pass, and maintaining 25-30 mph is no issue except in curves.

Trailhead has two large parking lots; many people park way too wide - there’s no shame in getting closer to each other folks, who’s gonna judge you, chipmunks? Anyway, I was able to find a spot in the lower lot, but there were cars parked along the road for maybe quarter mile.

Toilet is running out of essentials, but is clean. No passes are sold at the TH besides a QR code for online purchase.

Hike

• Trail: flat and overgrown in places for the first 1.5 mi; relentless rocky and rooty climb to Rachel lake after that; a bit easier to Lila lake.
• Water crossings: numerous, including log walking, rock hopping, and wadding; waterproof boots are helpful.
• Navigation: less than obvious throughout the climb toward Rachel lake, with many optional routes. Nothing dangerous as all branches seem to always rejoin, so one won’t get lost, but choosing the wrong option will usually end with bushwhacking or steep slope or a mudpool. Having a good offline map is essential.
• Berries: start occurring at Rachel lake and up, abundant in quantity, hit and miss in quality. Some patches are the biggest and sweetest blueberries I’ve seen in the wild. Some are absolutely disgusting. (I feel berries at Mt. Baker deliver more consistently). If you want to pick berries for the future consumption, make sure to sample beforehand, and if it’s meh, the entire slope / area will usually be like that.
• Fall colors: a bit around Lila lake, otherwise not much. Many blueberry bushes seem to dry brown rather than turn red.

Stats & Crowds

In 11 am, out 4.30 pm.

• 1 hr 30 min up to Rachel lake
• 1 hr 15 min from Rachel to Lila (including ~30 min berry picking)
• 15 min at Lila lake
• 2 hr 30 min down (including another ~20 min berry picking)

Despite this being a combined trail for many destinations, it was not crowded at all. Lila lake seems to be the least visited with majority people going to Rachel or Rampart, so I had that stretch of the trail almost entirely to myself. 

A great hike, but be prepared: it’s longer and spicier than the trail description indicates. We clocked a little over 8 miles, and the last 1.25 miles to the lake are no joke—steep, rooty & rocky, and comically easy to get off trail. That said, persistence and a good attitude reaps the reward of Rachel in all its Alpine beauty. Plenty of friendly people and dogs kept us company, but not too crowded on this beautiful early-autumn Saturday. Forest road is in good shape and parking not too bad. Took us 5:20 RT (I told you it was steep!). Glad to have tackled this one at last, and overall a great day out on the trail.

This is not so much a trail report as a report of my response to backpacking to Lila Lake, Rampart Lakes, and Alta Mountain. I've adapted it from my full report, here at this link, which includes more pics and gets a bit more spiritual/political/poetic than might be appropriate for WTA.

* * *

Two weeks ago, the right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk was murdered by a twenty-two-year-old kid who imagined himself a vigilante against hate. I first learned of the killing on the morning of September 11, twenty-four years after terrorists leveled the World Trade Center. I was making a sandwich.

I ate the sandwich about an hour later, as my friend Steve and I approached the Lake Kachess Campground exit on I-90. There, we turned onto a gravel road. I finished the sandwich, pulled on my thick socks, and laced up my boots. We parked in an upper lot, and I counted six other cars.

As we ascended the trail, first to Rachel Lake at 3.5 miles and then to the ridge above, I counted the groups that passed us as they headed back to the trailhead. At one switchback, Steve and I stood to the side and caught our breath as an older man climbed down. He told us that he had hiked this trail back on 9/11 in 2001, that he had picked blueberries in the fall sun, looked upon the Cascades, and then walked this same path down into a changed world. On the way back to his car, he had met two men, perhaps two guys like Steve and me, who shared the tragedy that had struck earlier that day.

I recall this moment now, the quiet of the forest, the sun blinking through the trees, and wonder at the potential déjà vu. At the time, Steve and I just listened, uncertain how to appropriately honor the man’s story. But what if I’d read more than the headlines that morning? What if I knew what I know now, about the victim and the killer, about the tangled narratives of blame and reprisal and the messianic hagiographies that would leap from the internet into living rooms across America?

We just listened. But perhaps I should have told him to turn around, go back to that mountain, and stay there. It’s happening again.

* * * HERE I'VE CUT SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE US RESPONSE TO 9/11 AND THE KIRK MURDER WHICH YOU CAN READ ON THE LINK ABOVE * * *

Steve and I reached Lila Lake late in the afternoon and set up camp.

I ate Mountain House Chili Mac with Beef and drank the last of my Gatorade. Steve shared from his glass bottle of bourbon. The stars played hide and seek, and a chill wind pushed mist around the base of a nearby mountain. We puzzled over Enneagram numbers and read aloud from the Office of Fiction (a short story by Hiromi Kawakami from Dragon Palace) and the Divine Office (Compline).

The next day, we hiked to the pit toilet at Rampart Lakes and then to the top of Alta Mountain.

Ever since a harrowing adventure on Black Peak, I am peak shy—wary of scree or elevation gain that might require advanced scrambling technique. This particular route had just enough verticality to trigger that hypervigilance, but the risk was low and the reward spectacular: an endless cloudscape of mountain tops, Creator God flaunting her majesty in the changing colors of evening.

There at the top, we met a friendly twentysomething substitute teacher we called Austin. And we found more evidence of the hiker we’d met the day before: an American flag. Wedged between some cracks, he’d also left a waterproof container with a summit registry.

I unscrewed the lid and found a notepad inside. Here’s the first entry:

9/11/01 - Got to my car, turned the radio on, and then cried all the way home. Turned the TV on and cried more. This should not have happened.

9/11/25 - I had a great day today. I am still crying.

I signed the notepad next:

There’s a lot to cry about in the world now, but beautiful days like this give me hope. We read from Dragon Palace and Vespers here at the summit, drank bourbon and Dr. Pepper, and watched the mist gather around distant peaks.

* * * HERE I'VE CUT AGAIN FROM MY FULL REPORT * * *

Stories, Scripture, divinity, wilderness—if we let them, they call us into and out of ourselves, transforming our tunnel vision into something wider and more expansive, something more like peace.