[detekt]

What a beautiful day! Went in via the "alternate" trail, which is steep and nasty but in generally good condition all the way to the lakes. It was nice and quiet when we first arrived with only a few folks around, but of course that didn't last long on a weekend like this.

rampartpano1

rampart2

[Oren]

I like your pano detekt. Were you the coulpe I met on the trail in? Did alternate route also and camped at the lakes. Beautiful! I was just going to spend a relaxing morning around the lakes taking pictures but.... Left camp with just my camera around my neck. My feet took me to the summit of Alta. Glad I let them have there way. Skeeters bad. I had and arsenal of three types and use them all. Missed a spot on my right elbow and I'm paying for it now.

Alta & Rampart Lakes

Rampart Reflection

[detekt]

Hi Oren. It was probably us that you met on the way in on Saturday- nice to meet you. You sure picked a nice spot to camp. I really hated to leave the area, it must have been an awesome night up there. Oh, I got bit by the skeeters as well. I hate them.

[Dayhike Mike]

I went up with some co-workers on Sunday for a quick dayhike. We saw Oren coming out and said hello. Alas, one member of our party wasn't doing too well with downhill and wasn't looking forward to the steep terrain we'd come in and so I offered to let them walk out the Rachel Lake trail (lucky number 1313) while I went back, picked up the car, and then drove around to meet them at the trailhead. (Note to self: Bring a map, even if you know intimately the area you're hiking through -- not all of your party may be so lucky.) So I described the route from the Ramparts to the T-intersection where the trail heads down to Rachel, and then sent them on their way. I hoofed it back to the car, drove out and was buying a 44oz. pop from the mini-mart when who should call but one of the members of my party. They'd had little luck finding the turnoff, getting waylaid by the network of social trails around the Ramparts area, and had ended up going back to the lakes to borrow someone else's map. As such, they were just starting down at 7pm. Yikes. I drove to the trailhead and hung out there listening to music, snacking, and sipping on my 44 ouncer. Fell asleep for a sec and woke at 8:20pm, noted the light was getting low and had the realization -- they're not going to make it out before nightfall and none of them have a flashlight. Crap. For that matter, *I* didn't have a flashlight...I looked through the car and couldn't find the flashlight I thought I kept with my emergency gear to no avail, and I already knew I'd left my headlamp in Tom's truck last weekend and it was securely stowed back in Issaquah. What to do? (Note to self: Any light source is better than no light source. But cell phone backlights aren't that great of a light source. Don't depend on them.) I drove down the road to the campsite near the waterfall and asked the nice family that had set up camp if they could spare a flashlight or two. They graciously loaned me two of them and I flew back up to the trailhead to strap on boots and pack. Left the car at 8:47pm and tore up the trail in the cool evening air. A little over an hour later I found them on the rooty mess that passes for a trail to Rachel, about halfway down to the valley floor. Distributed the flashlights and headed back. One member had bad blisters, an impacted toenail, and her knee was starting to lock up, and so the going was slow. I was really wishing I'd brought along my 2.5 layer jacket -- the cool night air and my wet t-shirt were really starting to suck the warmth out of me. (Note to self: When you're sitting there thinking, "Nah, there's no way I'll need that light, light, virtually weightless piece of equipment. It's been so hot recently and nothing could possibly go wrong on such a short trip," that is precisely the time you should bite the bullet and bring said light piece of equipment along.) Four hours later, we made it back to the car. Returned the flashlights with a thank you note and $10 for replacement batteries, and headed to North Bend for food at the 24-hour Drive Thru provided by the Golden Arches. I made it home at 4am and crashed by 4:30am. They reported getting into bed at 5:30am and 6am respectively. Long day.

[Grizzy]

[Oren]

[Dayhike Mike]