No snow on the drive to the trailhead. From there on out you are mostly hiking on a bit of crunchy old snow. You can do it, but it just takes more effort crunching up and down snow mounds. Most of us on the trail that day didn't go past the part where the trail just starts to climb. Two other women we saw that day did make it all the way to Rachel Lake. Allow extra time for snow hiking. Spring flowers are still melting out of the snowbanks on the day after Summer Solstice! Glacier lillies, trillium, gentian, new salal leaves, and fresh green tips on the evergreen trees. Woodpeckers were having a great time on the old snags. I thought it was really pleasant weather - about 70 degrees in the sunshine. Balance on rocks and logs to cross streams. Creek is high so waterfalls are more impressive than usual. Trillium snow picture is by my friend Barry. - Green Janine

The hike was uneventful but there is considerable snow at rachel lake proper. Also, the river crossings are becoming more challenging (bring an extra pair of socks) and the cold temperatures have made the last mile and one half of the trail seriously icy in spots. Extra care should be taken on the rock slabs - some of which were like ice rinks.

Like most intelligent people we bagged our multi day plans for a quick day trip before the monsoon set in. The trail up to Rachel Lake was brushed and in perfect shape. The maple trees were in an absolute riot of color. The first encounter with snow was at 3800' with a solid covering of 2-3"" above 4500'. This was not enough to obscure the trail along the ridge to the top of Alta. From the summit cairns we had a commanding view through the fog and mist for at least 50 feet in all directions. We saw hardly anyone on the way in. but passed solid herds of folks getting in one last hike before winter on the way out.

The hiking was gorgeous but just a warning for those who might plan to overnight. We arrived at the parking lot to start our hike around 10:30 am and noticed 3 cars with passenger windows smashed and other damage. There was also quite a bit of glass elsewhere in the parking lot indicating other recent incidents. Just something to keep in mind! I don't think day hikers are likely to have a problem.

This was a great place for a mid-week backpacking trip. Probably mobbed on the weekends. We hiked up on Thursday and found a great site-- there are many options. We saw 2 other groups but they camped far away from us. The next morning, we hiked up to Rampart Ridge and had a hard time deciding whether to head to Rampart Lakes or Alta (sadly, not enough time for both). We hiked to lovely Rampart Lakes but didn't realize we could have continued on to the crest of the ridge. Next time! The signage to the toilet could be improved. One of our group had a hard time finding it at first, what with all of the side trails, finding instead many places where others clearly hadn't found it either and had left their toilet paper. Yuck. Also, someday, it would be nice to limit the # of social trails around Rachel and Rampart Lakes.