O'er the Ramparts, Rampart Lakes/Alta Mountain, 7.21.13-7.23.13

After a rough start to the summer season, I needed to clear my head and what better way than to go backpacking. Andrew had a pretty full schedule with work so Bridgit and I decided to go out for a few days on our own. For many years I have wanted to explore an area called Rampart Lakes so that's where we headed.

Rampart Lakes is actually many lakes of various sizes and shapes all tucked nicely into a secluded high basin. It was our hope to find one small enough and shallow enough to be slightly warmer and provide us with swimming opportunities.

After a two hour drive over Snoqualmie Pass to the trailhead, we donned our packs for the first time this year and headed up the trail. The weather was just right, warm but with a bit of a breeze, We hiked about three miles on a gradual ascent through lovely forest alongside Box Canyon Creek. The next mile was a brutally steep, rocky, rooty and unforgiving. Luckily there were a couple of nice waterfalls along the way to stop at for respite. At four miles we arrived at the very pretty Rachel Lake, which is quite large and has many excellent campsites along the shoreline but we only stopped for a short rest as even greater glory lay above.

**It felt good to get in the spray on a warm day**

Once my hips stopped screaming from the last mile to Rachel Lake we shouldered our packs again and headed up another very steep trail to get to a ridge about five hundred feet above Rachel Lake. The views back down to the lake were outstanding. We met a couple of day hikers that were coming down from the Ramparts and when they saw our packs they told us that the nicest campsite in the Ramparts was found by hiking through the basin bearing left at a major stream and at the last lake at the left of the basin was a nice knoll overlooking the lake with a great back country camp site.

**Looking back down to Rachel Lake from up on the ridge**

Though steep, the trail to the ridge top was only about a half mile and soon we came to a junction. To the right was a trail leading to another set of lakes called Lila Lakes and also to a fork that led to the summit of Alta Mountain which we hoped to climb the following day. We headed left and after a short half mile of gentle ups and downs we came to a dried up mud pond and another one just beyond. Not to be deterred we pressed on and climbed over several little humps until we came to the stream the day hikers had mentioned. We followed the stream up to where it poured from a lake. Crossing the lake outlet on some rocks we climbed up out of the stream bed, over another hump and there we hit pay dirt. Two glorious lakes with little creeks lay in front of us. We followed one stream around a corner and found the large lake the day hikers had mentioned nestled in splendid isolation beneath Rampart Ridge. Sure enough, at the far end of the lake was a very nice spot and we set up camp for the night. The site had some really nice rocks overlooking the lake and by 4PM it appeared we were the only ones in the Ramparts. Luckily we had a good breeze which kept any mosquitos away and had a very relaxing afternoon and evening just enjoying the peace and quiet.

Freeze dried foods have come a long way. Last Christmas Neighbor Greg found a great place to get some different options and gave me a cheeseburger kit. It consisted of freeze-dried ground beef which you placed in a pouch and added a small amount of boiling water. After shaking up the pouch you let it sit for ten minutes or so and then add the cheese, mustard, ketchup, mayo and pepper packets, mash it all together and then roll it up in a tortilla like a burrito. It was quite tasty.

As beautiful as this spot was, I felt like I was camping at a lake I could find in a hundred places and I was convinced there had to be unique and special places in this area so we decided to pack up camp in the morning and look around the basin before climbing Alta. We were up early and after coffee, toasted bagels and cream cheese we broke camp and started basically wandering. What we found was an incredible network of lakes, some large, some small, some connected by hidden inlets, some with secluded coves. One lake in particular caught my eye as it had a nice sloped rock wall rising out of one side of the lake that looked like it might be a nice place to jump off of for swimming.

The lake with the sloped wall looked cool so we hiked around the top side of it to see if there might be a camp site. What we found was a thousand times better than we even hoped for. Hidden above the rock wall was another small tarn about ten feet above the other lake! It was about seventy feet long and maybe ten feet wide and about seven or eight feet deep, surrounded by rock. It had no inlet or outlet so it existed on snowmelt and rainwater. At one end of the little lake was a small clump of trees and the prettiest campsite you ever saw. Essentially we had our own little lake tucked slightly above and in between two larger lakes and we knew we'd found our special spot. We quickly set up camp and prepared to climb Alta Mountain.

After establishing our new campsite, we set off to climb Alta Mountain. It was Bridgit's birthday and a more perfect day we could not have asked for. The summit of Alta was probably about two and a half miles from our camp but hiking without full packs seemed luxurious. We worked our way back to the junction and followed the trail as it headed up the spine of Alta. With each step the views grew. To the south we could see the ski areas around Snoqualmie Pass and soon Mount Rainier poked up right over Rampart Ridge above where we were camped. The flowers were out in full force and photo stops made it slow going but we were in no hurry.

**Looking up at the first of four false summits of Alta Mountain**

**Mount Rainier above Rampart Ridge. You can see Rampart Lakes below the ridge**

**With each step Rainier came out more and more**

As we climbed higher we could see Upper and Lower Lila Lakes down in the basin on the north side of the ridge. This looked like another tremendous spot to camp.

**Zoom of Rampart Lakes. Our camp was by the tiny tarn in the center of the photo.**

After several false summits we finally arrived at the true summit of Alta Mountain, marked by a large rock cairn. So far we hadn't seen a soul since the previous afternoon and we stayed on the summit well over an hour and had the whole place to ourselves.

**Across Gold Creek to Huckleberry Mountain. The Pacific Crest Trail runs underneath.**

We got back to our camp in the early afternoon and it was getting pretty warm. Being Bridgit's birthday and with nobody else anywhere around we donned our birthday suits and plunged into the lake. Much to our delight, the water was a perfect temperature - refreshingly cool but totally swimable! I don't know of too many things in this world I like more than swimming in wilderness lakes. it was sheer bliss!

**Our private lake. Our tent is in the left hand trees**

The following morning we had to leave but it had been a perfect few days. We said goodbye to our little slice of Eden and made our way back down to Rachel Lake and all the way back to our car. We actually extended our mini vacation by staying for two nights in a really cozy bed and breakfast outside of the Bavarian town of Leavenworth. Our room looked out to a wildlife refuge where we saw does with spotted fawns, great blue herons, bald eagles and even a very large black bear, all right from our porch. Finally it was back to reality but we're already thinking about when our next trip might be.

O'er the Ramparts, Rampart Lakes/Alta Mountain, 7.21.13-7.23.13

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