Trip Details:
|
Arrive Parking lot |
08:27AM |
|
Main trailhead |
08:45AM |
|
Slab area |
09:10AM |
|
Rachel Lake |
10:47AM |
|
Rampart/Lila-Alta junction |
11:12PM |
|
Alta junction |
11:25PM |
|
Turnaround near summit |
12:18PM |
|
Fork down to Lila |
12:58PM |
|
High point lunch stop |
13:19PM |
|
Leave lunch spot |
13:13PM |
|
Rampart/Lila junction |
13:36PM |
|
Rachel Lake |
13:53PM |
|
Leave Rachel Lake |
13:55PM |
|
Back to flatter trail |
14:54PM |
|
Slabs |
15:35PM |
|
Trailhead |
16:03PM |
|
Snow |
Nope, finally all gone. |
|
Bugs |
Annoying, especially near lakes and on ridge to Alta. Mostly mosquitoes/gnat types. |
|
Weather |
Mostly sunny. Clouds over Alta. Clouds kept rolling through near Alta. Clear down below. Obstructed peak views to west mostly. Weather pleasant, not to hot, not too cold. |
| Crowds | Saw a few leave before me at trailhead. Met a guy coming down from Alta on upper ridge. Saw various people on way out hiking up mostly to camp. |
| Scenic Value | For the effort this is a great summit. Pure 360 degree views. You can even see you car below in the valley. Views of Hawkins, Ingalls, Stuart and many others. Stuart's upper portions played peekaboo in some clouds while we were hiking. |
| Difficulty | First part easy. The last mile or so to lake roots and rocks and in this case some muddy slippery spots. Trail above to Alta in places steep but not too bad. Rock deal near summit (at my turnaround point more because of fog/clouds). required something besides walking a trail to get around but I would have figured it out if I could have seen the summit. While the route to Alta is described by some as airy, at least as far as I got it was comfortable. A couple of narrower trail sections require a little caution. Basically just a walk on a boot path/climbers path or whatever you want to call it. |
Route map:
Narrative:
Well nothing new I got about an hour later start than I wanted. In the end I probably should have started even an hour later due to the fog/clouds in the Alta summit area. Oh well, the summit is still there.
Arrived and was surprised at the lack of cars. In fact I parked right by the restroom. There were maybe 3 other cars by me, various people preparing to leave. Most seem to have larger backpacks indicating camping. I didn't see anything broken into but I suspect a lot of that happens overnight to campers (thus I wouldn't park overnight here). At any rate after getting ready and bugging up when I saw a few skeeters bothering me in the parking lot. I departed.
After a bit you hit a slab area where people sometimes just hike up to hang out. A mile or so from the trailhead. These pictures are actually from last year.
The trail continues up with a few views/waterfalls along the way. The last mile or so is the infamous roots/rocks section. Today it was wet more than occasionally thus required a little more caution than usual for this time of year.
Not soon enough Rachel Lake is reached. On this trip would be just a brief stop. A few campers but not brimming with crowds.
After a few pictures a turn right to head up to rampart ridge. Various points on the ridge afford some nice views down to Rachel lake or out the valley.
The junction to Rampart/Lila lakes is reached. This sign is high up on the tree on the left. In fact this is the first time I ever noticed it. Right to Alta/Lila, left to Rampart lakes area.
Shortly some rocky areas are reached, which make nice lunch/sitting spots with nice views out to the east. I would later on the return stop to eat here.
Shortly after you hit the junction. Left Alta route/straight Lila. You can also go straight and cut up to Alta later just before Lila Lakes.
Just after you turn left you start climbing up a rather steep (somewhat loose) climbers path. Once you reach the first high point, the trail gets better and the views start to open up.
The trail continues through various meadow sections and what some call false summits. They didn't seem significant enough to me to really be called false summits. More like bumps on the ridge. The views just get better and better although clouds kept rolling in from the west area at times blocking that direction.
A bit further up the trail gets a bit more rocky in places. It appeared I was heading in the clouds as I got closer to the summit.
According to GPS .17 miles from the actual summit you reach a spot with a rock below that you have to negotiate. It is maybe 8-10 feet down to the trail continuation. Since the 2nd picture below is all I could see towards the summit I decided to turn around and look for a nice spot to eat lunch. It didn't look like the clouds would lift soon and I really didn't want to sit up on a cold summit waiting/hoping it would clear.
Naturally as you head down it starts to look nicer, although it was still foggy up towards the Alta summit and clouds were still kind of rolling by higher up.
A ways down you reach a fork where you can head back down towards Lila. I think this is actually an easier trail although you will brush some scrub trees that intrude on the tread. The tread however is smooth underneath for the most part. The blocked left path goes down towards Lila. Straight back down the way I came up. I took the fork.
I didn't really go back towards Lila but headed back towards Rachel soon reaching my lunch stop on some nice rock areas with views.
My attempt at a left to right pano from my lunch stop rocks above Rachel Lake.
With the bugs it wasn't conducive to sitting around so I ate and ran so to speak. Speaking of bugs found a few spots with some ants. This doesn't really show them well.
A few more shots on the way down. The "fun" section seemed to take forever as usual, but tue bugs weren't nearly as bad below the lake and the weather was just superb.
All in all a great trip despite the fog near Alta summit. I shall return.
Last Updated 09/08/2008