Rachel Lake, Rampart Ridge - Rampart Lakes — Friday, Aug. 18, 2006

Snoqualmie Region > Snoqualmie Pass

Left the trailhead at about 10 am, beautiful weather, nice valley hike to the ""wall"", which is not nearly as bad as people have indicated here. I would have left about an hour earlier as it was pretty hot going from Rachel to Rampart. Even if you basecamp at Rachel you should check out Rampart Lakes, very pretty even though the water levels are fairly low this time of year. People were telling us that the bugs were worse at Rampart but we had a nice breeze most of the time to keep them off. Regardless, there were many everywhere, mostly mosquitos, so take repellent and head nets if you want to be comfortable. Mayflies were hatching in the morning at Rachel, would have been nice for dry fly fishing, but had to get moving.