I waited until after the busy Labor Day weekend and took a 3-day backpack trip to Lila Lake with excursions to Rampart Lakes and up Alta Mtn. from Sept 2-4, 2025. This is my 4th trip to this area over the years. I plan to stay at Lila Lake this time since the last time I was up this way, I stayed at Rampart Lakes. You can’t go wrong either way, both areas are lovely.
Trip Particulars:
- Road Condition: The gravel road (FR 4930) to the trailhead was not as bad as I expected it to be from some of the recent trip reports. The road must have been releveled and the potholes filled since those reports were written. The washboards weren’t too bad and there were only a few minor potholes which were easily avoidable. I could easily average 25-30 mph in my compact car even when I was expecting to see some rough spots (sped this up a bit on the way down).
- Trailhead Lot: There were 10 cars in the upper lot and none in the lower lot when I arrived on the 2nd at about 9:45am. There were 20 cars in the upper lot and 2 in the lower lot when I departed on the 4th at 1:20pm.
- Trailhead Privy: The two privies at the TH only had about a half a roll of TP in each when I departed on the 4th. Note also, that they were absolutely filled with flies. Never seen so many flies in one place in my life.
- Trail Condition: The trail was in basically good shape with the consideration of the known steep, rocky, rooty section between about 3,500 and 4,700 feet. There were a few blowdowns, but none were too difficult to cross over or around.
- Berry Condition: This is the time to go for Blue/Huckleberries. These are found along the Rampart Ridge between the Rampart Lakes and Lila Lake ridge and all over at the campsites at these lakes. They are perfect right now. Don’t miss out! Enough said about that. There are also a few Thimble berries remaining in the several clearings on the main trail between 3,300 and 3,400 feet. I may have eaten the last few good ones though… sorry - not sorry.
- Fall Foliage Condition: The autumn colors are starting to emerge including the aforementioned Blue/Huckleberries and what I believe are mountain ash bushes. Also, the fungi are starting to emerge.
- Bug Condition: No bugs, basically. I say basically, since there were a few hardy mossys and gnats here and there, but they were very few and so didn’t even rise to the “Bugs were not too bad” category.
- Smoke Condition: High smoke came in both late afternoons/evenings on the 2nd and 3rd. It even totally blocked out the sun for quite a while. I didn’t smell any smoke until the morning of the 4th when it was all over and remained for the rest of the time I was at camp and on trail.
Main Trip Report:
Arrived at the trailhead at 9:45 am and headed up just before 10:00. The trail seems to start kinda aggressively for the first half mile, but basically levels off for the next couple of miles until the big climbing starts. On the way, there are a few interesting places to take a break along the Box Canyon Creek to look at what intricate rock designs the water can create given the time to carve.
The real meat of the climb starts at about 3,500 feet after crossing a creek and relentlessly continues until basically reaching pretty Rachel Lake at 4,700 ft. As mentioned in other reports, there are several spots where the trail diverges and it’s difficult to know if you’re on the main trail, but they all crisscross and meet up again and again. So, no worries. Just to provide a little trail beta, at one point in your big climb, you cross in front of a huge cascade waterfall where a creek flows over a sloping cliffside. I estimate that this is pretty close to the halfway point of the steep section of the hike both elevationwise and timewise.
On arriving at Rachel Lake, there were quite a few folks swimming around. The main trail can be a little difficult to follow since there are many social trails in the area. But the main trail is to the right (north) with an unmarked post. It is next to the trail that has a post with a toilet sign on it. The main trail first goes north then quickly to the west. You know you’re on the main trial if you keep going up. But speaking of the toilet at Rachel Lake. I used this toilet on my return on the 4th and this privy needs a bit of work, some of the cross boards have broken, so it’s a bit of a challenge to… ah, balance, while doing your business, so to speak.
The trail continues west and then starts switchbacking steeply (again) up to the ridge about 400 feet above Rachel Lake. About half way up, I stopped at a switchback and had lunch overlooking Rachel Lake, Hi Box Mtn, Box Ridge and the Box Canyon Valley I just came up. Upon gaining the ridge, I turned right (north) and continued onward to Lila Lake. Upon arriving at Lila Lake, there was one group of 2 camped on the west side. I went over to the northeast side and found a nice small spot for my single tent and took a chilly dip in the lake. A few hours later, a group of 5 came and camped at a large spot. As mentioned above, high level smoke started coming in from the south. It was a bit of an ominous sight since it slowly turned the sun orange and then it totally blocked out the sun. It had been a very warm and totally calm day, but as soon as the sun started to become blocked, a wind came in and the temperature dropped about 8 degrees. Later, as the smoke cleared away from the sun somewhat, the wind calmed down and it warmed back up. A very strange phenomenon, not sure if these were related. High level smoke remained which affected the star gazing. Since it was still warm, and there was no threat of rain, I didn’t bother putting on my rainfly. I did wake up at 2:45am for a potty break and it seemed like some of the smoke dissipated somewhat since I could see more of the stars including the Milky Way, but the stars still weren't as bright as I’ve seen them being this remote. But I did stay up for about a half hour watching the stars and seeing a few meteors.
On the 3rd, it seemed like the smoke had all drifted away and was a bright blue jay day. I saw that the group of 2 were packing to depart and the group of 5 was starting to pack up. After breakfast, I departed for an adventure to Rampart Lakes. Upon arriving at Rampart Lakes, I noticed that the group of 2 that was at Lila Lake was setting up camp at Rampart Lakes. I used the privy at Rampart Lakes since there is none at Lila. I walked around Rampart lakes for about an hour stopping at one point and chatted with the group of 2 that I saw at Lila about various trails in the area. I then had lunch at the north end of the lakes. I had been debating to myself if I was going to hike up Alta Mtn, which I had only done on one of my previous trips to this area. Of course, since I was even thinking about it, I did hike up it again. This time I was well aware of the false summits so as not to get discouraged. However, the last false summit still got me since, even though it looked like you could easily walk to the true summit from a spot along the trail near the end, there was this final false summit where you had to drop down a bit and climb back up again. But the 360 degree view from the top was worth it. My main panorama photo in this report is from the summit of Alta Mtn. looking from the Kendall Catwalk to Three Queens with Mt. Daniel in the background where you can see a good portion of the PCT in this area before the PCT drops over the ridge down to Park Lakes and Spectacle Lake. Looking south, it looks like I could see the source of the smoke that was coming from the south (after getting home, it looked like the smoke was coming from the Wildcat Fire). I hung out at the summit for about an hour then went back to Lila lake camp via the shortcut trail that drops from the ridge down to tarn that is just west of Lila Lake. After arriving back at Lila Lk, it looks like there was just one other single camper staying the night. The high level smoke came back in from the south and soon blocked out the sun again, but this time the temperature didn’t drop and there was no change in the wind. Took another swim to cool down from the hike. The smoke never did clear out at all, so the stars were totally blocked all night.
On waking up on the 4th, I could immediately smell smoke. And as I gaze out the tent, smokey haze was all over. The sun was very orangey as it rose up from behind Hi Box Mtn. The other single camper left early and I left a bit before 10am. The smokey hike down was uneventful (with the exception of the Rachel Lake privy experience). I ran into quite a few dayhikers and backpackers coming in, so many that I lost count. I hope the air clears for them, but at least they got the yummy Blue/Huckleberries.
I’m hoping to get out again this season, but if I don’t make it out again, this was a nice closing trip of 2025.
Have fun out there,
OMG
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