Absolutely no potholes on road. Just a bit of washboard at beginning but otherwise great!
Trail starts steep then levels off for over 2 miles of mainly flat hiking. Then the last mile to Rachel Lake is rugged, steep with roots and rocks. Some pretty nice fall colors right at Rachel Lake. Then when the trail reaches the junction on top of Rampart Ridge, the colors get pretty great again. I turned right/north toward Alta Mountain. I hiked a bit on the ridge then I accidentally missed the Alta Mountain turnoff and continued on toward Lila Lake. As Adam Levine says, this turned out to be a "beautiful mistake" because I passed through some stunning meadows of fall colors! I passed a dried up pond then came to a nice big overlook of Lila Lake and turned around here, opting not to drop any further to the lake. Back near the dried up pond, I actually found an obvious boot path (not shown on Gaia) that connected up to the ridge, so I didn't have to backtrack too far and so the route actually ended up working out perfectly. I highly recommend that slight detour! Once back up on the ridge I continued on toward the summit. There are some rocky sections with some easy class 2 moves here and there, but nothing too difficult for the experienced hiker. Summit views were fantastic, especially looking across Gold Creek toward the colorful slopes of Alaska Mountain with Mt. Thomson rising behind. And looking out to Chikamin Peak and Lemah Mountain. Filtered water and then partially submerged myself in Rachel Lake to cool off before the hike out. On the hike back down the steep section below Rachel Lake I cut up my shin on a root sticking out and had to put my "WFA skills" into action to bandage it up real quick.
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