Not too wet but some parts are definitely hard to follow. The last mile definitely feels steep but it was worth it at the top. Beautiful clear cool fall day. Maybe 5 cars in the lot at 1130 am on a Wednesday, and most were gone when I wrapped up at 415.

Clean bathrooms at trailhead - bring your own toilet paper. Road in good condition and LOTS of parking.

They are not joking about the last 1.5 miles of this hike. Traversing the roots and rocks to the end of the lake was definitely a challenge but the pay off is oh, so worth it! Great day hike. My mileage tracker logged 8.5 miles round trip.

A forecast for a mostly cloudy morning with increasing sun in the afternoon makes for a great hiking opportunity and had me looking forward to a day hike to Alta Mountain and Lila Lake, especially with the great views in that area. Alas, it was not to be as drizzle started about an hour into the hike and didn’t let up. More problematic were the low hanging clouds that had settled in just above Rachel Lake, obscuring the views, especially at higher elevations. Still, a day hike to Rachel Lake made for a respectable backup plan.

Road: The 3-mile forest road is in good condition, with only a few potholes but some sections of washboarding. The rather spacious parking area is mostly paved and has room for 30-40 cars. Three cars were in the parking lot at 8 a.m., and 8 cars at 1 p.m. The two pit toilets were clean, but were out of TP (bring your own supply).

Trail: The first 2.7 miles of trail are in very good condition. A few sections of the trail are brushy, which means getting wet from the morning dew if you are the first on the trail (as I was), and there are a few small streams to cross by stepping on rocks or balancing on logs, but nothing difficult. There were also several blowdowns to navigate, only one of which was a challenge, unless you are a dog.

But the trail becomes much more difficult when the one mile climb to Rachel Lake begins. Steep, rooty, rocky, slippery (especially when wet), and difficult to follow are all apt descriptors. GPS was helpful keeping me on the correct trail, as was simply following the most rooty and rocky path.

I arrived at Rachel Lake around 10 a.m.. With low clouds and a constant drizzle, I decided to explore the boot paths along the eastern shore of the lake while I waited for the clouds and rain to lift. There were a lot of ripe blueberries along many of these boot paths. After about an hour and with no significant improvement in the weather, there didn’t seem much point in hiking to higher elevations, so I “called it” and returned to the trailhead. I sure hope the rain stopped and clouds lifted for the few overnight hikers that came after me.

GPS recorded 9.3 miles with 2300 feet elevation gain.

Risked the threat of rain on Wednesday and hiked to Rachel Lake. The trail wastes no time making its true nature known! The rocks and roots are there for sure! It becomes much more tranquil after you enter the wilderness with tread and a nice flowing creek to follow. Some issues through the middle section with fallen trees and brush encroaching on the trail. Not too bad from a blockage perspective but with the morning wetness it was a recipe for hiking wet. About 1 mile from the lake the trail begins to climb in earnest. The way is generally easy to follow, in a couple spots someone helpfully left tape on the correct path. Some streambed hiking in there as well - always up!

The Lake itself was beautiful and a path down wasn't too hard to find. 20 mins of dog swimming later and we retraced our steps! 

We did find one wasp nest but the weather was keeping them in so no issues. 

Warning included for parents bringing young children on this hike, or any alpine adventure. 

Took my 13 and 9 yr old boys to experience Rachel lake and the Ramparts. We arrived Saturday morning 0645 to a nearly full parking lot at the trail head. Not a suprise considering the 3 day weekend. Weather was clear and pleasantly cool at that elevation. Long sleeves and hoodies to start. Having read previous reports of hornets on the trail we knew to watchout and avoided any bee stings. I logged the nest locations by milage (see below) but there were still a few more. If you're allergic be VERY cautious with this hike. Otherwise, the bugs weren't bad after applying repellent. Despite a couple confusing switchbacks the trail was clear. I should point out that the total distance  my Garmin GPS watch tracked had this hike pegged at just over 5 miles, not 4 as listed. The trail really starts going vertical the last two miles and with full packs numerous breaks were required for the youngest. Payoff though by 11am when our spent team of three reached the lake. Beautiful!  There were a scant few spots left for pitching tents and the spots taken were conspicuously located where you had to walk very close around them to find others. Just the nature of the landscape unfortunately. Worth noting also, the "toilet" up there is litterally a small disintegrating wooden box that is overflowing. Plan to bury your business! We continued through to find an open site midway down the lake where we dropped packs and took a load off. Water was a pristine blue green and the sun was just about to clear the mountains. Would have definitely gone for a swim, but we decided to stretch our legs and explore the shoreline and boulder field further north. This is where things went sideways. A two man rock my youngest was balancing on was loose and shifted under him, causing him to lose balance. When he slipped, he came down hard on a sharp edge and fractured both bones in his arm. Its a fluke accident of course but a good reminder to be much more cautious when you're that far from civilization with young kids. I fashioned a splint for the arm back at camp; gutted his pack into mine and we packed up and hiked back out- to the ER. Hopefully I can get them to try this one again one day. Up and down 10miles with full packs was damn brutal. 

Bees/hornets
1.25 mi. Looking at the river directly in front of root ball on boulders
2.88mi., left side of trail near tree
3.85mi., roots of tree on right after a cut off trail, then again further up on right about 20-30 ft.
4.5mi. top of Boulder in trees