This hike is the circumambulation of Gold Creek. I started at the Gold Cr. Pond TH at 7pm. Hiked up the road to the Mt. Margaret TH where I made camp for the night. I followed the next day up the trail past Twin Lakes, up to Lillian, over the Ramparts Backdoor, past the Ramparts and Lake Lila to the northern most tarn above Lila where I followed a small track I noticed last summer going up East Alta Mtn. I then dropped into Park Lakes where I camp for the night. The next day I followed the PCT from Park Lakes down towards Snoqualmie pass where I got a ride back to my car at Gold Cr. Pond TH. In total this hike was about 30 miles and 10,000 feet elevation gain in 48 hours.
There is a very rough trail connecting the Ramparts/Alta/Rachel Lake area with Park Lakes and the PCT. I spotted this on a clear day last year, but when I hiked this I only had 50 yards of visibility so route finding was more difficult. I referred to my GPS tracks that I got from http://runningwildwa.blogspot.com/2015/08/gold-creek-crest-loop.html .In finding the route up East Alta I was aiming 47°26'20.63"N, 121°19'10.69"W which gets you up the correct shoot up the mountain. From there you can follow a rough boot track taking you to the top. Going down the other side was more difficult due to about 4 inches of snow that was left from last week's storm. Again, the tracks from the site were very helpful for route finding. I passed the occasional cairn on my way down from East Alta traversing below the ridge towards Park Lakes and the PCT.
My original plan was to follow the PCT past the Catwalk and then drop into Kendall Lakes to end closer to my car at Gold Cr. Pond, but I was lucky to find a kind hiker that was happy to drive me back from the PCT trail head. I also considered bailing out and taking the Gold Cr. Trail back to the car, but the routes from Joe Lake or Alaska Lake did not look lake they would save me any effort.
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