Rachel Lake from Rampart Ridge
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.
Sunrise on Tinkham Peak from Mirror Lake
In May when Catherine and I were in Portland she brought up the idea of maybe doing some backpacking again but trying to go ultralight instead of dealing with the heavy gear we had before. We went to REI down there and it just so happened they were having a huge sale the next day and there is no sales tax in OR so we jumped in and bought gear. Finally yesterday we got a chance to use it for real aside from setting up the tent in the backyard and lighting the stove just to be sure we could do it.