Second backpack trip in June done!  This time we decided to do a shorter but steeper route to Rachel Lakes, Rampart Ridge and Rampart Lakes.   There were some early morning thunderstorms happening up at Snoqualmie Pass yesterday so we waited until about 8:30 to leave and drove up I-90 to Exit 60 and finally up along Kachess Lake to Box Canyon Road and the trailhead.    We got our packs on and headed to the trailhead.

We got started right at 10 a.m. and began the easy initial climb to the nice flat part of the trail.   This part of the trail was fun.  The tread was nice and soft, you could hear Box Canyon Creek off to the side the whole time and we were in the shade.   There were a number of nice waterfalls along the way and several little obstacles to deal with fording over small creeks and wet areas.

 

 

 

We stopped about an hour in at a nice little rest spot by the creek.  There I found a few trout underneath a fallen log in a small pool so pulled out the tenkara rod and gave it my best shot but the fish kept hiding underneath the overhanging brush and wouldn’t come out to play.    A short walk after that rest and the fun stopped and the hard uphill began.  The next mile had a 1300′ gain up the headwall to the lake.  In places the “trail” was just a water gully or a staircase made of nothing but roots.   This stretch was tiring and it was getting hot.   I don’t know how many times I wasn’t sure if I was still on the trail but ultimately we’d find the next semi-flat section and continue upwards.

We finally made it to the lake outflow which had a nice waterfall and pool at the bottom and could at least see the end in sight above us.  We took another break to ready ourselves for the last push up to the lake.    The trail actually got steeper at this point though.  We trudged up over rocks and finally got to a lookout where we could see down the entire valley we had just walked up plus the ridge to the east of us with some very nice peaks.

 

 

 

 

Soon though we crested the last steep stretch of trail and were at the lake.   It was just about 1 p.m. so it took us 3 hours to make the climb.  We had lunch and then set up camp so that we could go explore some more later in the day.   Our goal was to head up to Rampart Ridge and Rampart Lakes which was only another mile up the trail.   I fished Rachel Lake a bit and had a few fish follow and one hit but didn’t land anything.  The wind was a bit of an issue.  Around 3 p.m. we decide to don our shoes again, well, our Luna Sandals, and hit the trail up to Rampart.

Again a decent climb but with amazing views of Rachel Lake once we made the ridgeline. We took the left turn to Rampart Lakes and soon found ourselves in a bit of a Shangri-La in the Cascades.   At the outflow from the lowest section of Rampart Lakes I saw a trout rise.  Of course I carried my tenkara rod up here so I got it ready to go and quickly missed my first fish.    I fished about 10-15 minutes at the lake and got a half dozen beautiful little wild cutthroat trout out of it.

We headed back down the trail since the mosquitos were starting to attack us at the lake. We got back to our camp and were pretty hungry by then so we set up the “kitchen” and started in on dinner.   We had our typical Paleo Meals to Go dehydrated faire for dinner.    We enjoyed our meal and a few cookies on the rocks overlooking the lake.  By the time we were done the sun was about 30 minutes from sinking below the ridge line and it was only 6:30.

 

As soon as the sun went down the mosquitos came out in force and we were forced to get camp in order and head in the tent a bit early.   We chatted for a while, read for a while and finally decided to just go to sleep.  I had my usual restless night in a tent and woke up once to an amazing bright moon shining over the lake.  Catherine got up too and went outside to take in the moon, it was magnificent and worth getting up for.

 

We woke up at 5 a.m. and watched the sun slowly rise over the lake as we had a breakfast of my coconut flour blueberry muffins, tea, a banana and some Epic bars & bites.   After breakfast a few fish began to rise on the far side of the lake so I pulled out my tenkara rod and went fishing a bit while Catherine got her side of the tent packed up.  I managed to get a nice cutthroat from the lake finally,  no golden trout though.   I went back up to camp and got my side of the tent cleared out and we packed up camp all the way and got ready to head down the trail.

The headwall went a lot easier going down than going up even though there was still a lot of bracing involved in places.   We took one break about 3/4 of the way down the steep section of trail.  It ended up only taking about an hour to get down something that took us over one and a half hours to go up.   Once we got to more level trail I stopped, removed my shoes and put back on my Luna Leadvilles for the rest of the hike out.

 

Back in the nice meadow stretch we enjoyed a lot of shade and some sunny areas where we were just walking through a forest of plants, butterflies, bees and the occasional hummingbird.   We took another short break at the creek again for a light snack and some water then hit the trail figuring we had about an hour left to cover the last two miles.

 

 

Finally we began the last downhill to the parking area.   A cold kombucha awaited us and we were both ready for it.   By the time we hit the car at 11 it was getting hot and the kombucha was still cold.

Another excellent two day trip completed.   In two weeks we hope to do the Chinook Pass Loop down the PCT and back up through Mt. Rainier National Park.  This will be a challenging 3-day 50k loop for us and the longest trip we’ve done in a very long time.