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.

Backpacked with my partner and dog at Rampart Lakes on Sunday night, with a side quest to check out Lila after setting up camp.

As others have mentioned, there are tons of (easy) stream crossings and sections where you’re hiking through creeks or mud, since most of the snow has melted out. Navigation to Rampart and Lila was straightforward, with occasional help from AllTrails to stay on track. We saw some amazing wildflowers in certain spots along the trail too. Definitely bring plenty of bug spray if you’re planning to stay near any of the lakes for a while - the mosquitoes were out in full force.

Camping spots were plentiful at both Rachel and Rampart. If you’re doing this hike (day trip or overnight) you have to make the push up to Rampart. Rachel is beautiful, but the classic alpine lake terrain at Rampart is absolutely stunning. I've been backpacking in WA for 15 years and can't believe I didn’t find this gem sooner. Highly recommend.

I headed out for the Rachel Lake hike with a late start around 1 PM, after an unexpected hour-long delay due to construction work on I-90—definitely something to factor in when planning this trip. The trail, about 4.24 miles long with an elevation gain of 2,398 feet, started off fairly manageable but quickly showed its wilder side. The first 2.5 miles were heavily overgrown, with bushes constantly brushing against my legs—long pants are a must if you want to avoid getting scratched up. As the trail progressed, it became more rugged, with steep sections filled with a maze of thick, exposed tree roots that really test your footing. At times, I had to cross streams, so waterproof shoes and trekking poles came in handy.

To stay on track, I relied on offline maps from AllTrails, which I highly recommend—there are several side trails that could easily throw you off course. One of the standout features of the hike was the abundance of waterfalls and streams along the way. One in particular stood out, a large cascade tumbling over massive rock slabs, marking the point where the trail gets noticeably steeper. Eventually, I reached Rachel Lake, and the effort paid off—despite the light drizzle and chilly conditions at the top, the view was stunning. The lake shimmered in rich green-blue tones, tucked beneath rugged ridgelines. I wasn’t alone either—plenty of backpackers were camped around the lake, enjoying the peaceful alpine setting.

The trailhead had ample parking, which was a relief, but it's important to remember that a Northwest Forest Pass is required. Even with the less-than-ideal weather and the late start, this hike was absolutely worth it. The changing terrain, constant flow of streams, wildflowers along the way, and the serenity of Rachel Lake at the end all made for a memorable and rewarding adventure.

This is a report for getting up to Box Ridge East Peak, which mostly is off trail, and involves some bushwacking to get up onto the ridge. Ngie and I started at the Rachel Lake trailhead at 10:50am. At the first switchback we took an offshoot trail for a short bit, before heading up into the forest. It is better to just head straight up at the switchback up some moss/grass covered rock slabs. After this it is mostly all forest avoiding the thickest of the brush. The brush was not that bad. The hardest part was getting around numerous rock faces. Some of the gaps were quite steep, and were hard to find coming down. We were helped navigating up the steep slope by some nice game trails, some of which could of been an old trail of some sort.

Up around 4900ft we veered left and hit the ridge up at 5000ft. We followed the ridge  north for a while through some nice flowered meadows. At around 5200 we ran into a huge gendarme. Here we skirted around a huge rock face on the west side. After getting past this rock wall, we headed straight up again and caught the ridge. After a short bit on the ridge we caught our first glimpse of the summit. The summit looked impossible with all the exposure, and it was for me, as I didn't scramble up there. I stopped 46ft vertical from summit as the scramble up was too spicy for me with the downward sloping rock with the exposure below it. Ngie made it up to the top, but didn’t really enjoy it. I tried dropping down 80 ft to the east and traversing to that side, but after scrambling up that way, bailed on it as there was too much loose rock and dirt with a super bad run out. There was a rappel sling over on that side. 

Some sweet views from near the peak, especially looking over to Lobox, Mossy Slab, and down to Hibox Lake. We pretty much took the same way down, making it back to the car at the Rachel Lake Trailhead at 5pm. 4.8 miles with 3073ft gain which includes about 200ft of added gain exploring an alternative route around the east side of the exposed summit block

Went for a run/hike up up to Alta mountain, and added on Rampart ridge since it’s only a mile detour.   I brought my micro spikes expecting snow, but I never even took them out of my backpack.  The trail to Alta is mostly snow free, though there are intermittent snow fields that can be crossed in regular shoes or avoided on rocks.   The trail was a bit steep and has some exposure, but no real scrambling was needed to get to Alta.   I’d recommend GPS for this post though as the split in the trail between Alta and east Alta is covered in snow, making it hard to see where the trail branches off (I ran past the junction and had to go back with GPS to find where I missed the turnoff).   

Rampart ridge has a bit more snow cover and a couple of places micro spikes could be useful, but the trail is  doable without them.    

There also is a ton of water on the trail (it looks like a stream at some points) and some downed trees going up to Rachel lake. Nothing unmanageable, but your feet are probably going to get wet on the way up and down.