Rachel Lake — Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022

This was our first time to hike this trail and I must say it's going to be one of my favorite hikes to a lake. I liked the character of the trail, the frequent encounters with the Box Canyon Creek, the views of the Hibox Mountain, and the beautiful lake with comfortable entry points. A beautiful sunny day though a bit of smoke was still around, but much better than at home. Good exercise, too.

The road was awesome, bit dusty but no serious potholes so anyone can make it. It was relatively easy to park even though we came at around 11am on Sunday. Met lots of backpackers going back on the way up, and when we returned to the parking lot after 5pm, there were much fewer cars.

GPS shows that it was about 7.61 miles roundtrip and 1850 feet ascent altogether. The watch shows 8.73 miles total and 2,034 feet ascent. Most ascent was concentrated in the last mile on the way to the lake, which really warmed us all up. Our dog had tougher time crossing a few of the tree trunks (maybe 2 were on a tougher side even for a pretty big Golden Retriever) and I was sometimes concerned also about the roots and rocks, but he managed to get through without much help. The good news was that the trail was very close to the creek so there was plenty water on the way along the trail for the dog. He was super tired after the hike, lot of jumping up or down.

There are a few splits that lead to fake trails, so I kept looking at the GPS quite a bit. Also, while the trail was super dry and dusty today, I can imagine that after a rain it can be muddy.

The lake was beautiful, it was pretty easy to get down to the water, and the dog enjoyed a nice swim. I dipped a few times and so did a few others but I think none of us stayed in the water for more than a minute at a time, it was already pretty cold. The entry was super easy though so I dipped 3 or 4 times. I was surprised to see so many people get into water, but it made me happy to not do it alone this time.

Our dog found the way back a bit more challenging than up, but it was doable. A beautiful day and a great hike, will do this one again and maybe go see some other lakes around there (Rampart Lakes, Lila Lakes).

It took us about 4:30 hours total (moving), with about 2:40 up. I guess we were not too fast but we were not in a rush. Some ripe blueberries on the way but mostly picked so we just had a few. An awesome hike. I count it as one of my favorite Alpine Lakes hikes, along with Melakwa Lake, Snow Lake, and Mason Lake (via Ira Springs Trail).