Rampart Ridge - Rampart Lakes — Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024

Terrible hike. Where to start? How about the lack of noise? I noticed right away there was no reassuring drone of I-90 traffic or of any road for that matter. This led to unsettling feelings of being isolated and "solitary." (Quotes included to indicate that this word apparently has positive connotations for some people). I had to rely on occasional air traffic to retain my sense of a connection to humanity. Then, thankfully, a few loud chattering people arrived up at Rampart Lakes. Though a hundred yards away, I could still hear them plainly. Thank you whoever you are. 

Water:  Many sibilant, sussurrant waterfalls and glottal gurgling rivulets and streams repeatedly disrupted the important thoughts I was trying to have. 

Trail:  Twists and turns and rocks and roots. This caused me to be "in the moment," diverting much cognitive energy into problem solving with things like where to place my feet and how to balance my balance. Oh, and no stairs. Hello? These were invented thousands of years ago. Clamoring over the roots and rocks in steep stretches caused me to have to exert myself! 

Berries. There are lots of bunches of the bright red ones on the little trees. But  blech! These are best left to the chipmunks, which seem to adore them. Especially farther up, there were lots of the blue and purple ones. I dared not try them after my terrible experience with the red ones. Dear Forest Service, a little signage maybe? Not all of us have time to deep dive into berry Botany on these nature trails. 

Trash. At first anyway, I noticed very little trash. This started to undermine my default state of misanthropy. Fortunately, around the Rampart Lakes, I noted some accents of toilet paper. This restored at least some of my disappointment with humans. At my age it's not easy to just switch out a long curated world view. So thank you toilet paper tossers, whoever you are! 

Bugs. There weren't many, but mainly maybe because of the wind. Where I stopped for lunch at the largest lake, katabatic gusts off Rampart Ridge burst down on the lake, causing ripples and a dazzling dancing moving shimmer. You may well guess that this made me feel queasy. So maybe a few more bugs would have been ok? 

Other things:  

--a superfluity and redundancy of trees.

--views over to some peak to the south and east kept reminding me of the great ineluctable geologic forces that formed these mountains. Again, this disrupted and interfered with my important thoughts. 

So, over all:  meh.