That elevation gain in that last mile and a half is no joke. Brutal.

Got to the parking lot 7:45a, and it was pretty full. Bathrooms were out of toilet paper.

The hike itself was good. Some parts had some over grown underbrush. Some downed trees to climb over, but really nothing unmanageable. The bugs were definitely out, but the bug spray made it okay. Our friends with us continued to Rampart lake and said the bugs were worse up there. There were some parts where it was hard to know which path was the main trail. Definitely download a map beforehand. Beautiful hike.

Fantastic hike! Wildflowers everywhere, a beautiful creek to hike beside, views, crystal blue lakes; a lovely hike!

Road: gravel, in good condition
Trailhead: parking lot was pretty much full at 9:30 am, a few already parking at side of road. Good condition bathrooms, (two pit toilet stalls) each with 7 empty TP rolls...
Trail: Overall enjoyable, but did have some things to note. there is significant overgrowth in the first few miles of the trail, see picture. We cross 6 logs, easily, and 12 water crossings (mostly the same creek) with dry shoes the whole time, between the trailhead and Rachel Lake. The steeper incline below Rachel lake involves some trail confusion, with some false trails that sometimes dead end at bushes, and sometimes try to reroute back to the main trail.
mild mosquitos at Rachel Lake. Miserable SWARMS of mosquitoes between Rachel and Rampart Lake. bring the bug protection or be eaten. Rampart Lake was luckily clear of mosquitoes, or at least the light breeze at Rampart lake makes them seem non existent. Backpackers we spoke with said they didn't have bug issues overnight at Rampart Lakes though, just on the trail.

The backpackers toilet at Rachel Lake is broken, but still useable, if careful to not fall in.

Lakes are cold as they are still touched by snow, but the trails are snow free. I considered jumping in because they were beautiful, but didn't.

Overall a great hike.

Previous trip reports describe this trail well! Lots of roots and rocks, so you needed to watch your footing almost constantly. The lake and waterfalls are lovely and there were plentiful wildflowers in bloom. Although there is water running down the trail, it was all navigable without getting our feet wet. Do use a trails app to keep on track through some of the steep section. We clocked about 7.5 miles and just under 2000 feet of elevation. Just under seven hours on the trail, including a nice long lunch break at the lake. There was plentiful parking at 9 am on July 4, and, although there were lots of people on the trail, it never felt crowded. Note that the trail rules are that dogs need to be on a leash—a little tricky for us and our pooch to use the leash through some of the water crossings and steep scrambles up rocks.

Awesome hike up to Rachel Lake --> Alta Mountain -->Rampart Lakes.

We started the hike at 8:30am. The parking lot had a lot of cars, but the trail didn't feel too busy. Lots of awesome dogs with smart owners intent on getting their pups out of the cities and away from the fireworks. At least one of the bathrooms has a non-functioning lock. Also lots of cars camping along the river off the road about 1 mile before the trailhead, and there were even porto-o-potties set up along the road for the campers.

The trail up to Rachel is flat for the first while, then steepens up, but it didn't feel hard. There are several spots once it steepens up where we questioned whether we were on the trail or simply walking in a shallow flowing creek. Gps was handy at times. Once the trail steepens, the mosquitos become evident. It went by pretty quick, and before you know it, you are at the lake.  Rachel Lake had mosquitos too, but the breeze largely kept them at bay.

The hike up to the Rampart Lake junction goes by quick. There is a partially downed junction sign at a 3 way junction that marks Rampart Lakes and Lila Lake from my recollection, but no direction for Alta, but it is obvious that it is the unmarked trail at the junction. 

There is one small 30' long snow crossing on the way up to Alta in a non-exposed area - that's it for snow crossings on the way up to Alta. Mosquitos were out until we got out of the trees and into the meadows on the ridge, then they were gone. None on the summit. The ridge was awesome. Wildflowers, butterflies, a hummingbird, bees, and amazing views. There are a couple of exposed spots where you want to watch your footing, and a couple spots where you need to scramble up. Nothing hard but I wouldn't take a dog up to Alta. Some spots would require carrying the dog, and a couple of spots could be fatal with a fall. It took 3.5 hours to get to the summit of Alta. The hike down the ridge was gorgeous. We were careful in a few spots. 

The hike to Rampart Lakes is fairly flat. The lakes are amazing. It maybe adds 20 min each way if you go to the last lake, and well worth it. One or two small snow crossings on the way. The mosquitos were the worst on the traverse to Rampart Lakes, but none at Rampart Lakes themselves.

The hike down to the car was uneventful. There is an awesome river 20 minutes before you get to the car that we dipped our feet in. The hike down feels longer than the hike up. 

All in all, it took up 9 hours exactly, getting back to the car at 5:30pm. This included about 1h 15m of breaks including a few short snack breaks, lunch on the summit, a power nap at Rampart Lakes :-), and a power nap at the creek where we dipped our feet in. So total moving time is about 7h 45m. The gps showed 12.17 miles car-to-car, but this could be off since the officially listed mileage to Alta is 12 miles, and the added distance to Rampart Lakes was probably 1-1.5 miles rt on top of that. So figure between 12-14 miles car-to-car.

I highly recommend this hike! It is amazing! I fully recommend the detour to Rampart Lakes - they are so unique. We met some really nice people, and even nicer dogs. :-)

- Crampons: definitely not needed

- Footwear: I wore non-waterproof trail runners and they were perfect for me. They did not get wet as you can avoid stepping too deep in the water even during the "am I on a trail or in a creek" sections. My hiking partners wore boots, which would be helpful for stabilizing ankles since there are areas where you can roll your ankles. I was happy with my trail runners though.

- Mosquitos: Pretty bad if you stopped. I got a lot of bites. I recommend buying and bringing one of those head bug nets, and bringing some bug spray.

- Poles: brought them but never used them

-Clothing: The forecasted weather was mostly sunny and 57 deg w/ 7-11mph winds. I went up in shorts and a t-shirt and never had to put on an additional layer. It got a slight bit chilly at the summit but not bad. One of my hiking partners wore pants + longsleeve shirt, and the other shorts plug long-sleeve shirt. They faired out better with the bug bites. Also, I got a few cuts on my shins from the brush. I'd still do this in shorts and short-sleeve shirt again, but if I had socks that went up higher and to my knees for the brush and bugs, I'd consider wearing those.

My hiking group hiked to Rachel Lake and Rampart Ridge today.  We pulled up to the Th at 9:10 and the lot was half full.  It was sunny skies and 65 degrees when we hit the trail.  The new Vault toilet building was clean and stocked with rolls of TP.  It was also great to see several  Porta Potties randomly placed along the road by the river campsites after the Kachess Campground all the way to the TH.  Whatever jurisdiction who oversees the area is doing a great job of maintenance despite severe government funding cutbacks.  As mentioned in several prior trip reports there were several water crossings due to the snow melt.  No one in my group got their boots wet using the random logs and rocks to find routes over.  After the gentle first couple of miles this trail elevation basically goes straight up and side routes are everywhere to avoid where the trail is a rushing stream.  It was very helpful to have the route on a trail App to get you back on the right path.  I haven’t hiked this route for 30 year so it seems much more eroded.  Every step is step over a boulder or root.  We went all the way to the Ridge trail marker at Rampart Ridge and All Trails says we covered 9.2 miles, my Apple fitness App said 11.1.  It felt more like the later.   The trail is hard packed dry soil with loose silt on steep areas, except water crossings where extended puddles have formed.  We only had 2 short snow crossings from Rachel Lake up to the ridge.  At the top of the ridge snow was on the trail to about 1 1/2 depth towards Lila Lake / Alta Mtn and Rampart Lakes.  Due to our later arrival further exploration was saved for another day.  Wildflowers were blooming from the start and were popping up all the way to the ridge and varied by what zone you were in. We saw vanilla leaf, wintergreen, queen’s cup, wild rose, tiger lily, saxifrage, lousewort, monkey flower, spirea, lupine, bunchberry, penstemon, Columbine, Lewisia Columbiana, arnica, elderberry, mountain ash and more.  Trail traffic was moderate, backpackers were descending and day hikers were continually heading up and down the trail.  We stopped at the lakeshore on exposed boulders to eat our lunch and soak our feet in the water. It wasn’t breathtaking cold, but know one was swimming.  We were envious of a hiker who brought an inflatable and was floating near the lake shore.  No real wildlife sightings, a couple chipmunks and a few varied thrush were calling in the woods along the route.  We were glad we made it but a long day for our aging group.  The heat and descent were both factors on our trail time. It was 6:30 we walked back down to the trailhead.  Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.