Alta Mountain, Rachel Lake & Rampart Ridge - Rampart Lakes — Friday, Jul. 4, 2025

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.