What a gorgeous hike, but boy do you have to earn the view! I planned a one night backpack trip to the Rachel Lake/Rampart Lakes area. I was nervous about backpacking on a weekend on a trail close to the city (nervous about finding a spot to pitch a tent). When we arrived, around 11:00am the lot was full and cars were parked down the road. The road itself was totally fine to drive- I am a little confused about other reviews saying it is bad. If you have experience with other forest service roads in the state, this one seems totally fine.
The hike begins at a slight incline to get you warm. After about a mile it gets more flat. Most of the way up you hike along a gorgeous creek that provides many good spots for a rest or snack break/picnic. The forest is gorgeous- especially on the second day when it rained. The forest will provide you with plenty of time to soak in the views of old growth trees, song birds, fungi, small squirrels, and more.
At about the 2 mile mark, the elevation picks up. With a backpack on, this was a really tough climb. I would compare it to the old trail at Mailbox Peak (not quite as bad, but similar in that you have some big steps up on roots and rocks pretty consistently). After a little over 2 miles slugging uphill, we were relieved to see Rachel Lake. It is gorgeous and was worth the pain. We had made it up in decent time, so we decided to take a snack break at the lake and continue to Rampart Lakes in hopes of a camping spot there. I will write a separate review for Rampart Lakes, but we did find a good spot at around 3:00pm and there were still others to choose from. Keep in mind, rain was in the forecast so that may have kept the numbers of backpackers down. There were many up there, but everyone seemed to find a designated spot. Please do not camp on the meadows!
Overall, we wish we had set up camp at Rachel and left our things to go explore Rampart Lakes. I think others would disagree, Rampart is definitely more scenic, but we had to deal with crazy high winds all night and I think we would have slept better at Rachel. Plus it would have meant one less mile to hike out! In the future, if we do this again, I think we would camp at Rachel and use that as a point to explore the other nearby areas leaving our big heavy packs behind.
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