Took a hike up to Rampart Ridge this morning! The parking lot at the backdoor trailhead is small. However, I think that most people overstate how bad the road is leading up there. It's definitely rough and narrow (only permitting one car wide in most places) but it's not that bad compared to the Dingford Creek trailhead or the top of the Windy Pass trailhead... idk. personal opinion, I think if you're careful and comfortable on forest roads, you could get there in a sedan.
I started hiking at 7:12. The trail starts off very reasonable, brushing past some overgrown bits, then becomes much steeper about half a mile in. I'd compare it to the mailbox peak old trail or the Snoqualmie Mountain trail. This leads up past Lake Laura (don't miss the turnoff at 4500'! If you're start going downhill, you missed the turnoff up to the right!) to to Lake Lillian. The bugs here were somewhat annoying, but nothing compared to what was coming lol
The trail leads around the right side of lake lillian, requiring over a small scramble over a rock slab to continue. It turns uphill again about a quarter of the way around the lake; similar steepness to the trail right before the lake, on soft soil. This lead up to an eventual fork in the trail at 5200'. The right fork leads to the Rampart Lakes; I took the left fork, up to the ridge. This is where the bugs were truly terrible. I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and I, a fool, forgot the bug spray. All the way from the fork in the road up to the summit were the worst bugs I've had to deal with this year. Anyway, the trail here gets fainter, but it's still easy enough to follow, leading past a few small tarns in the valley. At the saddle at 5650', there's a gorgeous overlook of the Rampart Lakes (second picture), and another trail that heads down to them. Taking another left here lead up to the peak.
The trail continues moderately steeply until coming to the summit block. There are two ways up, one easier than the other. On my way up, I tackled the summit block directly. I went directly up the side of the block until coming to ledge about 5.5 feet high? I think this is maybe climbable, but I went around to the right, following a narrow ledge that skirted around the larger blocks up above. After ~30 feet of working my way along this ledge, the rock above dips down enough to step up off the ledge, up on top of the summit! If there was a summit register, I couldn't find it.
I didn't really want to go that same way back down, so after taking a few photos at the summit, I went past it, heading North, onto the slabby rock just beyond. There, I found much easier and less exposed scramble that leads down along a series of ledges below the summit block. If you want to take this route coming up, once you're face-to-face with the summit block, head right and drop down around 30 feet and continue on for about 60 feet, keeping the summit block on your left until you find some big step-ups that are less intimidating to tackle than the way I went up. I zig-zagged down this way, which is visible on my GPS route. Summitted Rampart ridge at 8:55. 1hr 45min up. From there, it was an easy enough hike back down the mountain until I reached Lake Lillian again.
I wanted to try to summit Dungeon Peak, too. I was not successful today. I followed the trail around the left side the lake until I reached a small river that was coming down the mountain from my left. I followed this draw, finding a faint bootpath to the left of the river that brought me about 400' above the lake. Then I took a left, going up a heather hillside for another ~400' (I don't have exact altitudes here). At this point, I think I lost the trail and couldn't find an obvious way to continue that want a class 4 scramble that i didn't feel comfortable doing solo. I turned around at 5280', above a mossy slab that didn't lead anywhere, that I proudly scooched back down on my butt lol. I'd like to come back to this mountain to take another stab at it after reading up on some beta for it. But I don't recommend following my GPS trail on this one~
Either way, I got back to the car at 11:47. 4hr 35min car-to-car!
Comments
Great trip report! However, I would be surprised if a sedan could clear the big long rut. All the cars at the trailhead were higher clearance SUVs or trucks. We did fine in an Outback.
Posted by:
MountainMel on Jul 27, 2025 11:35 PM
Yep, I was in an Outback too and had no trouble either. Based on your trip report, I believe I was the car that backed up for you right at the trailhead! I've gone up some very rough forest roads in my previous car, so I just think I could do it~
Thank you for the comment!
Posted by:
NewWorldVulture on Jul 28, 2025 07:29 AM
always a good idea to keep your shark leashed for everybody's safety :)
Posted by:
wafflesnfalafel on Jul 28, 2025 07:16 AM
He's a very tame shark, but I like to make sure he feels secure 🦈
Posted by:
NewWorldVulture on Jul 28, 2025 07:30 AM