The trail is in good condition. There are a few muddy spots, a few brushy spots and a few windfalls between the trailhead and Rachel Lake. From Rachel Lake to the trail junction on Rampart Ridge, there are areas where erosion has claimed much of the trail. This part of the trail is steep. From the junction to Rampart Lakes, the trail is brushy in places and muddy in places. From the junction to Lila Lakes, the trail is brushy in places. There are also moments of steepness. Just as Lila Lake emerges into view, the way up to Alta Mountain is straight ahead. The way to Lila Lakes takes a u-turn down the ridge. There were broken clouds Saturday with rain starting at about 8 pm yielding to scattered clouds about 10 am Sunday. There were marmots whistling above Lila Lakes. A lot of wildflowers of the aster family are out. The berries were lean pickings. There are three campsites at Lila, three at Rampart and several at Rachel. All were dry until the rain started. No fires at any of the lakes and above 5000 feet elevation. The freezing level was forecast to drop to 6000 feet Sunday night. This is the time of year when it can get cold and wet (maybe snow) in a hurry.

The trail up to Rachel Lake was its usual rooted/rocky staircase. But the weather was fine and everything looked lush from all the rain we've been having. The lake looked beautiful, but the real pleasure for me on this hike is the trail continuing upwards and then to the left to Rampart Lakes. Since there was so much snow this year the lakes were larger than I have seen them in past years. We wandered as far as the last lake towards the ridge and then decided not to try to climb it since the afternoon was getting late and we knew we had to climb down that long ""staircase"" on the way out. The bugs are still awful!

We tried to arrive early to beat the bugs and crowds, but did not get to trailhead until 9am. The first three miles are really nice- flat, waterfalls, and quite a variety of wildflowers that had me flipping through Pojar and MacKinnon. The trail gets serious at 3 miles. The lake was beautiful, nearly transparent until a wind started. Around the lake, hikers have worn hundreds of trails into the dirt, making finding the correct path up the ridge (or anywhere) difficult. After several diminishing goat (boot) trails, we finally reemerged onto the main trail. Not paying attention (and not signed), we went to Rampart Lakes instead of heading to Rampart Ridge.Heading towards Lila lake, we missed the nearly invisible trail up to Alta mountain. The upper lakes are very serene, but I wanted to go up the mountain. We picked up a faint tread over a ridge, and stumbled onto Alta Peak Trail ""Proper"". The tread goes over 6 or 7 false rock peaks. The view from the top was great, and my faith in Alpine Lakes area renewed. Looked for Pilar's name on register, but did not see it. I am afraid we were the 2nd to last signitures on the register, so bring your own paper to sign! The way down Alta Peak Trail ""Proper"" is BRUTAL ball bearing sliding in the dust. Going straight from the peak to below Rachel Lake takes you down nearly 3300 ft in 3 miles. 4/5 way down, my partner blew her knee out. Thanks to the folks who gave her ibupropin and codeine! To make matters worse, moving slow meant we were prime targets for the expanding mosquito clouds (at one point I had 7 on my face alone). After 14 or so meandering trail miles, we made it out before dark. Remember to pack some first aid supplies when you hit the trails- they can make a big difference!

We camped overnight at Rachel Lake after visiting Rampart Lakes and wandering up the way trail toward Lake Lillian as far as the top of the ridge. The trail is in decent shape though several blowdowns remain. Beautiful scenery and weather were marred only by hordes and hordes of mosquitoes, starting halfway up to Rachel Lake and continuing as high as we went. Our headnets inspired envious comments from other hikers, but we could have used bodynets -- the mosquitoes were drilling through everything short of hiking boots and DEET only slowed them down.

The hike to Rachel Lake was lovely. four miles, lots of water, through trees, wildflowers, and a climb. The ten year olds did just fine although we carried their packs. The flys were horrid. We got to the lake and were greeted my many campers and a zillion mosquitos. We spent the entire time either moving quickly, submerged in the icy lake or in our tents. The bugs were really nasty horrid and memorable. Left the kids with their Dad and up up up to the top of the world, through more wildflowers, snowy ponds, up the rocks to unforgetable views. 2 men were sitting high on a rock overlooking the world reading latin to each other. Nice touch. Back to Rachel lake, home of 1,000,001 mosquitoes and black flies for the night. Sunday the bugs got up before we did so we hiked out early and headed to XXX Rootbeer in Issaquah. We earned it! [Webmesiter note: I have long suspected that the Rachel Lake area was infested by ancient Romans!]

Ah, another lovely day in the woods. Trail is in good shape, save for loads o' blowdown. Trees seem to be broken off this season rather than uprooted. An easy hike led us to Rachel Lake, after pausing for a bit of water we trudged up to Rampart Lakes. For an area obviously heavily used, the meadows here are pristine. Saw a little, snow, hardly got to walk on any. Sorry to report, no naked man sightings on this hike, see Yellow Aster Butte and Blanca Lake reports if you want to know what I am talking about. I really even mention this for the amusement of our Web'meister... Rampart Lakes are stunning in the classic Alpine Lakes way. We then continued along the ridgeline to Lila Lakes, nice but no match for the other lakes we'd seen. I'd camp there if I were dumb enough to go up on the weekend. Today's frolics were relatively bug-free compared to last week's Yellow Aster Butte-bugfest. I still had to put on Jungle Juice Plus three times. If you see a lovely lady drinking beer in Fremont with a big bite on her cheekbone, that would be me. I'm going to try very hard not to scratch it!!! All in all a nice 14-mile day. The Ble Angels buzzed us twice, I feel so 'connected' with Seafair being 7 miles from the car watching the airshow...harumph. See you in line buying more bug juice for next week. [Webmesiter: The webmesiter is un-amussed by the lack of nudity in your report, but since I live in Fremont I'll keep my eyes open for bug-biten babes guzzling beer.]