A lovely day hike that reminds us of why we are so lucky to live in the glorious PNW. Road in decent shape, and Google Maps stayed live all the way to the trailhead. Got nearly the last spot in the lot at 10a on a sunny summer Saturday. Trail didn’t feel crowded. Although not technical nor too strenuous, hiking poles appreciated. Good to download an offline map to avoid going down the wrong boot path. Go to WTA trail description for Margaret Lake and you’ll get the key details. The few others on this part of the trail were pushing on to Lake Lillian, so we had lovely solitude for a lakeside lunch. Bugs are out in force but heavy-duty bug spray kept them at bay. And then The Mountain dazzled us on the way down. Took us just under five hours at an easy pace and with a nice lunch break. 

A beautiful, blissfully quiet set of hikes out from this trailhead, and well-worth the little extra time it takes to get over the pass and up here.

Hiked from the Rampart Backdoor Trailhead to Lake Lillian and then on to Twin Lakes and Mount Margaret. About 6 hours round trip. The forest road leading to the trailhead is narrow (bushes are creeping in) and has a few deep ruts/potholes. The trail itself is in good condition. It's easy to miss the connection to the Lake Lillian - Twin Lakes segment of the trail, so pay attention (use GPS). Likewise, past Twin Lakes, the turnoff to the top of Mount Margaret can be elusive. It's marked by a cairn that is easy to see if you expect it. We didn't expect it, so we walked right past (it's easy to miss especially since the trail is flat and you're going at a good clip). Highly recommend you come prepared with bug spray. Bugs were pretty annoying both near lakes (Lillian, Twin) as well as on top of Mt. Margaret. On the bright side, lots of flowers are in bloom. Excellent views on top of Mt. Margaret, you see about 7-8 lakes around you (and the ever-present Mt. Rainier, of course).

Hi, We're the Mountain Goats (Terrence) and today we hiked Lake Lillian and Twin Lakes. We were on a bit of a time crunch today, so we decided to head up to the Alpine Lakes and knock off Lake Lillian.

We left the trailhead just after 7 AM and began heading up on an old logging road. Half a mile in we left the logging trail as the trail narrows and steepens, and we began to ascend the lower slopes of Mount Margret. We were rewarded for our efforts with brief views of the surrounding mountains and THE MOUNTAIN (Mount Ranier). At about 4,700 feet we shot up a series of short steep switchbacks onto the ridgeline under Mount Margret. Once on the ridgeline, we continued to ascend the ridgeline heading N. At 5,200 feet the trail flattened as we left the ridgeline and began to traverse the upper slopes of Mount Margret passing its cutoff. 

At this point, we began the descent down to Twin Lakes. We were greeted with great views of Hi-box Mountain and Rampart Ridge in the distance. We hit a few mini snowfields on the way down but even the most novice hiker would have no problem navigating them.

Twin Lakes and the meadows surrounding them were beyond beautiful and were glowing in the morning light. After hitting Twin Lakes (4,650 feet) we quickly gained 200 feet up to 4,850' before steeply dropping all the way down to 4,500' right under Lake Lillian. Before we knew it we had made it to Lake Lillian and its turquoise water. It took us just over 2 hours to get there. Point 5,870' definitely steels show as it looms over Lake Lillian to the N. 

Overall, due to the recent snow weather, I'd consider this hike accessible for any level of hiker. There were like 4 spots where we hopped on the snow but the snow's soft and didn't pose any problems. Also, WTA update your info on Lake Lillian y'all aren't even close. Stay safe out there and Happy Hiking!

Final Stats: 8.4 Miles - 2,700 Elev Gain - 4:45 Car to Car 

We came out to hike Lake Lillian on Monday after reading someone else's recent trip report. We definitely came unprepared for how much snow and ice we needed to cover!
We did not make it all the way to Lake Lilian (we turned back after Twin Lakes) because we ran out of time (we still ended up getting off the trail a couple hours after expected). I did get a nice swim in at Twin Lakes - I reckon first swim of the season. :)
Tips: Definitely have the trail map loaded on Gaia; it was easy to get turned around on the large snowfields and lose track of the trail. Definitely pack spikes and poles and be ready to slide down and punch through the soft slush. The bugs really bothered my hiking partner, but I found the mosquitos were not too bad. I'm sure that will change quickly though. There were some trees down on the trail that weren't too bad to get over. The biggest challenge was the intermittent snowfields and ice on the trail. Some little lovely patches of wildflowers but I wouldn't consider this a wildflower trail. all in all a great trail and we will be back later in the season to get all the way to Lake Lillian.

On the eve of my birthday, this senior hiker wanted to try a solo hike to the top of Mt Margaret. Here’s my impressions. 

First the road to the trailhead is bumpy but do able with just a few potholes. That said I’m glad I had my 4Runner and not my Prius.

About 4 miles up this road there is an un signed junction- stay LEFT. Trailhead parking is 1/2 mile further. NO privy at parking. Only six cars in the lot on this Friday morning at 10.

I think this hike is hard for the first third. It’s a relentless climb up and I disagree with the WTA description saying it doesn’t seem steep. Yes it does. Be prepared. 
Once you hit the forest section it’s fabulous, quiet, serene, easy. Favorite part of the hike. 

My plan was to get to the top of Mt Margaret again (bern there three other times) and that section is steep and a killer too. Almost straight up! That said I made it and had the top to lunch and enjoy the well earned views by myself for about 20 minutes before four other hikers arrived. 

I left the top to them and decided to explore the trail to Twin Lakes as I’d never been there before. The WTA description is misleading again IMO. It’s a pretty big descent to the lakes meaning a big ASCENT on the way back. So after scaling Mt Margaret, tackling this climb just to get back from Twin Lakes to the Mt Margaret trail, had me questioning my choices for the day. It was tough. The lakes are kinda pretty and it so still and quiet there I’m glad in retrospect I checked em out. 

Once on the main trail it was a pretty nice stroll back ( except when for some reason I got off the main trail on a side spur and had to scramble back and re find the correct trail  Has this happened to anybody else here?)

Near the end, the final walk along the decommissioned road seemed long going back but it thankfully was all downhill. Made it back to the car after five tough hours and drove home in unusually bad traffic. Long day but glad I did it!
Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me….