There were already some color at the TH. Thick fog hanging in the valley. Quite pretty.
The trail is rugged. Half an hour later we reached the junction to Lake Laura.
I took the short spur to snap this photo. It's very small.
Continue on, reached Lake Lillian in 20 minutes.
Found a couple of tents here.
Circling the lake has some problem. These's a faint trail going up into the trees to get around a large boulder.
We actually scrambled over on its surface. Needs care.
On the way back, we took the long detour in the trees to avoid this sketchy boulder.
At the north end of Lake Lillian, zigzag up a steep hill. Good trail, so no problem.
As we got higher, great view of the lake below and Mount Rainier in the distance.
Once reached the ridge, need to head left. Somewhat faint trail, but it'll become obvious later.
Saw a grouse here.
S.W. went over and down the ridge. Me and Aiden followed the main trail.
Took us sometime to regroup. S.W. claimed that he found a great campsites.
While waiting for S.W. to scramble back up, Aiden coached his g.f. on some of her homework on the phone!
Here, huckleberry galore.
Continued on, we met a group of 4 people at a creek crossing.
Didn't even notice the trail fork, took the left track into another small lake basin with nice fall color. Would be a nice camp spot.
Getting over and steeply down to Rampart Lakes basin.
Started seeing many backpackers. Plenty lakes to choose for the night.
So many side trails: need a GPS map here.
Passing all these lakes, continue into the trees.
A major trail junction (no signs) to Rachel Lake.
We stayed straight gaining elevation. Soon can see Rachel Lake below.
At the next junction, didn't even see the junction, almost went down to more lakes.
Back tracked, going up aggressively for a short while.
From now on, it's on a ridge with lovely fall color, view to both sides.
The peak looming head is not Alta Mountain.
After this peak, it is a fun, easy scramble. Maybe 0.5 miles. Saw quite a few people both ways.
The summit has plenty space to spread out.
Great view, so many peaks, and yes, I-90!
Interesting to see where I hiked last weekend. You can see PCT cutting into the slopes to our west.
S.W. stretched his Swaraj flag. It took some time.
He completely ignored his earlier demand of turning around at 12:30. We left at 1pm.
On our way back, we took the eastern route south of Rampart Lakes.
It is quite different, more open, better track.
More cloudy though. One section, the color was especially good.
Back to TH ~4:30pm. They decided to stop at North Bend for ice cream.
Some traffic on I-90. Back to Belltown ~6:30pm.
This is a keeper. Fabulous color. Not too many people. Plenty tarns and huckleberries. Maybe I'll come backpacking here next fall!
