Alta Mountain — Saturday, Jul. 29, 2023

Off the freeway, you follow a paved road the ~5 miles to a T intersection and turn left toward Trail #1313 (does not specifically say Rachel Lake). Follow this gravel road for the next ~4 miles until you come up to the marked trailhead (right) and parking lots (left). We drive a 99 sedan and had no issue on the road, so it truly was suitable for all vehicles aka us. There was a decent privy at the trailhead. We arrived at 7:30am on a sunny summer Saturday and the first lot was nearly full.

The hike to Rachel Lake was nice. We continued onward to Alta Mountain but turned around a bit after the false summit because I was pushing my comfort zone with the dropoff to the side of the ridge. Still wonderful views, even if you make it only to the false summit. From previous trip reports I was nervous that we would make wrong turns, but I felt the trails were easily identifiable (clear signage to Rampart Lakes vs Lila Lake, then at the cairn it was an obvious T intersection).

The trail is very exposed and full sun after Rachel Lake, so on the way back down we stopped at Rachel Lake to swim. The water was chilly at first, but felt very refreshing on a hot day! Definitely recommend taking a dip.

Flies were very bitey on the way down - drove me insane. Deet didn't seem to help much.

Got back to the trailhead around 3:15pm. Total time on the trail was 7.5 hours, though we took our time on the downhill at the steep portions and took longer breaks at Rachel Lake. My partner and I each drank 3.5-4 L water/electrolytes so definitely bring plenty of water. There were many creek crossings before Rachel Lake, but no water source after that if you're headed to Alta.

Fun hike, wonderful views. Tried not to get too down on myself for not getting to the end goal.