End-of-summer overnighter at Rampart Lakes with my adult son, starting at the Lake Lillian/Margaret trailhead.

A few Lake Lillian warnings:

1) Signage around the Lake Laura//Lake Lillian interchange could use some improvement.  On the way to Lillian from Twin Lakes - when in doubt, lean up & right :)

2) Dog owners and backpackers: at the Southern “entrance” to Lake Lillian (where it first comes into view) don’t try to navigate North via the trail near the water. That rock scramble can be a real challenge, especially if it’s slick from rain. From that entrance, go back a few paces towards Twin Lakes and look up & East for a trail around the massive rock face.  

Overall - Lot was full by 10am (we got the last spot), and had no issues following a few folks up the road, to the first Lake Margaret turnoff, then to the smaller hand-etched Lillian/Margaret sign.  Signage at the Margaret/Twin lakes intersection was spot-on.

Enjoyed great views and our first hint at blueberries on our way to Twin Lakes.  Lots of places to sit and enjoy a quick break or lunch; we pushed on for lunch at Lillian.  Absolutely gorgeous, once we navigated the rock face near the south edge of Lillian.

We continued on to Rampart Lakes, taking the very steep NE path from Lillian.  At the top we went left instead of right; oops, now we’re on Rampart Ridge.  Amazing views to the West but our thighs were not happy with the heavy extra workload.  Thankfully blueberries, blueberries everywhere softened the burn :)

Scrambled from the top down to the Southern edge of Rampart Lakes; there is a trail if you generally stay to the right going down toward Rampart Lakes.

Rampart Lakes were beautiful on a warm sunny Saturday, and the chilly water was refreshing. Lots of campers and tents, but everyone (and every dog) was polite and respected the space.  Every campsite had great sunset and nighttime views. The toilet was higher up the marked trail than I thought and in better-than-expected condition.  Be sure to bring a boot/hat/something for the approach trail to mark the toilet as occupied.

Lake Lila and Alta Mountain were as advertised, and the trail could also use a little signage help.  

Hike back on Sunday was very wet, but we stayed to the normal trail this time so it was pretty and uneventful. A sizable rock with a small overhang between Twin and Lillian Lakes made for a nice break from the rain!

I did a loop from a path just across the road from the Mount Catherine trailhead, to Twin Lakes, the Cold Creek Trail, Mirror Lake, Cottonwood Lake, and back along the PCT to Windy Pass, then down the road to the car. I did not go up to Mount Catherine, but I’ve tagged it for notes on the road. 

Road: this was the roughest I’ve seen this year. Please do not take this road unless your car can handle a lot of unavoidable potholes, plus very uneven sections of rocks much too large to be called gravel. 

Trailhead: no signs, no bathrooms, just a slightly wider section of road. Would have missed it if I weren’t tracking the distance. Just me at 8 AM; 13 cars between there and Windy Pass at 1 PM.

Cold Creek Trail: starting very slightly downhill and across the road from the Mt. Catherine trailhead is a narrow, brushy trail that connects in 1 mile to the Cold Creek Trail near Twin Lakes. I could only see one of the Twins; pretty, but honestly probably not worth the effort from there to the PCT. 

I kept thinking, “This isn’t so bad.” Then the trail got steeper and brushier. I thought, “This still isn’t that bad,” and it got steeper and brushier again. Ok, ok, the trail description was accurate. 🙂 I’m glad I went up rather than down; more likely to get tired, but less likely to get injured, and I’d rather be tired than injured. Thankfully the brushy parts were in patches, but the final mile or so was very steep and narrow, all dirt, needles and pinecones. 

PCT and Cottonwood trail: in great shape. Cottonwood was my favorite. Small, green, quiet, lovely reflections of trees and rocky ridges above, and much less effort!

Berries: so many everywhere! Fall foliage up there is going to be amazing.

People: 10 times, all on the PCT, all but once between 11:30 and 1. Didn’t see tents; sites available at each lake. I bet you’d have a lot of peace and quiet at Twin, just one brushy mile from the trailhead. 

I might try Mirror and Cottonwood from their own trailhead for upcoming fall colors, but I don’t think I’d take this particular route again. I enjoyed the one-time challenge, though!

We arrived at the Margaret Lake trailhead parking lot this morning a little bit before 10am on a sunny Wednesday - with much cooler temperatures than the last few days!  However, instead of heading up the road to the Margaret Lake trail, we headed down the hill and turned right to hike to the Lake Laura/Rampart Ridge backdoor trailhead.  The road walk was a bit more than 2 miles but there was no traffic on a weekday, the road was smooth and mostly shady, and we snacked on thimbleberries along the way.  

The WTA trail description for the backdoor trail is spot on - extremely steep in places.  However, we took our time and after a little more than a mile, we reached the left turn for the Lake Laura trail.  The trail descends steeply but in a very short distance we arrived at Lake Laura.  It's a charming U-shaped lake but the center of the "U" looks like a small island from this vantage point and the mountain backdrop was stunning!  As a bonus, there was a nice patch of columbian monkshood and some monkey flowers growing right next to the trail.

After a quick break at Lake Laura, we retraced our steps and continued the steep climb to Lake Lillian.   After about a half a mile, there is a nice viewpoint near the trail that provides a nice overlook of Lake Laura.  Just a few steps after that we arrived at Lake Lillian - approximately 4 miles and 1,700 feet elevation from the Margaret Lake trailhead.  Lake Lillian is much larger but just as scenic as Lake Laura.  We stopped here for lunch and a quick swim in the lake to cool off after the steep climb.

After retracing our steps partway back down the hill, we veered to the left and we began climbing again up the main Lake Lillian trail towards Twin Lakes.  This trail is steep and rocky in places but we were rewarded for our efforts with the lovely meadows below Twin Lakes, scattered wildflowers (including lupine, tiger lilies, spirea) and plentiful, delicious blueberries!  The Twin Lakes are smaller and shallower but still beautiful and peaceful.

After Twin Lakes, the trail kicked up yet again but this time our reward at the top of the hill was the view behind us - wide open views of the surrounding mountains including Snoqualmie Mountain, Mount Thomson and Dungeon Peak.  At this point the trail flattened, reentered the trees and we arrived in a short while at the bottom of the short spur up to Mount Margaret.  This is a very steep trail and I took full advantage of my trekking poles here - especially on the descent.  The views at the top are amazing - looking down on one side at Margaret Lake and on the other at countless mountain peaks (and all of the lakes we hiked past earlier in the day)!  As an added bonus, we came across some red paintbrush, red columbine and even an orange mountain dandelion just below the summit.

After briefly considering one last stop at Margaret Lake, we decided that we had seen plenty of lakes in one day and headed back down from the Mount Margaret summit to our car.   Despite the 2 mile road walk in the beginning, this was a fantastic loop hike and I will definitely be doing this one again in the future!

10 miles, 6 hours, 2,900 feet of elevation gain

Short version: I was curious to compare hiking to Lake Lillian on the normal trail vs the "backdoor" route. I loved the normal trail and it's a beautiful hike if your destination is Lake Lillian, but if you're headed to Rampart Ridge and beyond, the backdoor route is probably the way to go.

More details: 

The road in is okay, but beware of potholes/waves on a couple of the switchback turns. Compared to the backdoor route's road, this is a piece of cake.

Don't be too put off by the trail description about hiking into a clearcut. It's pretty filled in and that part doesn't last that long. By the time you get to the ridge, you're in more mature and beautiful forest.

Today the trail was clouded in on the ridge, which made for a nice cool hike. The only bugs I encountered were after I descended to Twin Lakes. Around the lakes you're hiking for a bit through wetlands - mountain meadows with several tarns and creeks. That said, the bugs there were fairly minimal. 

After Twin Lakes there's a fairly substantial climb up to Lake Lillian. It's so worth the extra hike though. This is an amazing lake. As the trail description says, it is surrounded by steep slopes and rock, but there are several places to sit and a couple of places to access the water. Today was cold, so I did not go in. Best part was there were no bugs whatsoever. Was is just because it was a cool day? I don't know. I sat at the lake for about a half hour until I got cold and needed to move.

Roundtrip from the Margaret/Lillian trailhead to Lake Lillian was a little over 9 miles. Elevation was almost exactly 3000'. So if you used this route to hit Rampart Ridge, you'd be adding 6 miles and 2000' to your trip compared to the backdoor route. Since all the peaks today were in the clouds, I was happy I'd taken the long route in since Lillian alone made a great destination.

A couple of other details: parking lot was half full at 12:30. Saw about 15 people total, including one party of 6 heading in for an overnight. There's no bathroom at the trailhead - I usually stop at the Laconia Market at the pass. There was a nice box full of wilderness permits at the trailhead with no pen or pencil to fill them out with.

Let's just say this trail was much easier 10 years ago, whether because of my relative youth or because the trail from the Margaret Lake spur to Twin Lakes had degraded, it's hard to say. The beginning of the trail was steeper and more U-shaped than I recalled and not really that much "fun." Once we got into the woods, though, the trail improved. My party did not make it all the way to Twin Lakes because the descent from the open area about a mile or so past the turnoff to Margaret Lake was so eroded, steep, and difficult that we opted to turn around. Having reexamined the maps after returning home, I am certain we were within 1/4 mile of the lakes. The way back up the nasty part of that trail was much easier than the way down.

Lots of people on the trail, mostly younger and faster than my party (always the case, as it turns out). The parking area was already full when we arrived at about 9:00, so we parked safely on the side of the road near the trailhead.