Lost a light gray Teva hiking down from Rachel lake. If someone can bring it back to Seattle I will be so grateful!

Beautiful lake, must swim!

LOST MY IPHONE. Was swimming around Rampart Lakes and it must have fallen out of my backpack when I put it down. If found, please contact 425-275-1273.

Black iPhone in black case.

We arrived at the parking lot around 7:30am and had to park in the lower lot as the upper was full. We didn't use the restroom at the trailhead so can't comment on that. The trail was in great condition. As for the hike, it was gentle and pleasant for the first half. Then the incline started and never relented until we made it to each lake. We stopped for a quick snack at Rachel lake and then continued on to Rampart Lake. Up at Rampart we took some time to sit, enjoy the lake, snack, and I jumped in for a quick refresh. We didn't meet many other people on trail until we were on our way down. We made it back to the trailhead around 1:30.

This is a really popular hike so I would recommend an early start. Rampart Lake is a great spot to camp as there is lots to do to entertain yourself while there (lots of other day hikes and smaller lakes to enjoy).

We got an early start and hit up Rachel and Rampart Lakes this morning — a hike that's been on my list forever but I've never gotten around to! 

THE ROAD / PARKING

The road to the trailhead is in decent shape. Once you're on the gravel forest road, it's relatively slow moving, but should be no issue for cars of any clearance. 

We got to the trailhead around 7:15 this Saturday morning. The upper parking lot was already full, which we assumed was mainly overnighters from the previous night. The lower lot was nearly empty. When we returned around 1:30, both lots were full, and there were cars parked down the road. 

THE TRAIL

The trail is overall in alright shape overall, with a couple of blowdowns that were easy to navigate over. 

However, the trail is quite rooty and rocky in many places by nature, and is also difficult to follow sometimes because of how many social trails there are. We had to pull out Gaia at various points to figure out exactly where we were, and whether or not we were on the trail. We did lose our way at one point near Rampart Lakes and had to find our way back. We also encountered multiple groups throughout the day that lost the trail as well. 

Some of the water crossings (and there were many in the first half of the hike) took a little extra focus/balance — a couple had slightly slippery or narrow log crossings. Watch your step! 

As others have commented on before, the route to Rachel Lake is quite mild until about a mile before the lake, then the elevation really ramps up all the way to the lake. The climbing continues for a short while until you reach the junction with the Rampart Lakes/Lila Lake trail, after which it levels out until you reach Rampart Lakes. 

Bugs were somewhat there at the lakes, though it wasn't bad. I got one mosquito bite at Rachel Lake, but that's because I'm a mosquito magnet. 

MISC.

Huckleberries are out and many are quite ripe and delicious 😋 

We didn't spend much time at Rachel Lake, but we did hang out at Rampart Lake for a while, which was lovely, though also quite lively — lots of folks about, including backpackers/campers, day hikers, and fisherfolk. 

The lakes were beautiful! Rampart Lakes in particular were very pretty, and definitely worth the climb up from Rachel. We did see tents set up on the meadows though, which was sad 😞

Getting to the trailhead at 7:15 was a good idea. We didn't encounter many folks on our way up — we passed a few parties heading up, and some backpackers who were on their way down, and were also passed by a couple of trail runners. Our way down, unsurprisingly, was a different story — I would say we easily yielded to a couple hundred folks on our way down. 

Parking was filling up as we arrived at 8:50AM but for all the vehicles in the lot, we had much of the trail to ourselves. Lake was beautiful today with a breeze riffling the surface. Just a few wet sections on the trail. The steep section with lots of rock & roots is the same as always. Berries, berries, berries all along the trail and lots at the lake.