Forum Index > Trip Reports > Alta (via east slope),Rampart Ridge from Rachel Lake TH 9-12
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SeanSullivan86
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SeanSullivan86
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PostSun Sep 13, 2009 6:26 pm 
I've lived in Washington for almost 3 months now and this was my 10th hike since moving here, but the first I've felt like writing a report for. I set off from Rachel Lake TH just after 9:00 and the long, flat approach trail was a nice warm up. I heard a distant buzzing sound consistently and wondered if it was chainsaws or something. Eventually the trail had to steepen as its 2000 feet up to Rachel Lake. Made it up to Rachel Lake in about 95 minutes and sat down for a bite to eat. Just as I arrived, two guys were heading up towards Alta saying "lets get going before the riffraff shows up".
After a quick break, I headed up the trail towards Alta Mountain. I ended up missing the left turn for the class 1 trail up the south ridge. For anyone who wants to take the easy way up Alta, make sure to take this left turn. It is located at 47°25.669'N, 121°19.897'W (WGS84). My trail continued on above Lila Lake and other small lakes and eventually reached a pass where the views opened up to the north. From here I could see the huge summit cairn on top of Alta and started working my way up the east slope of the mountain. Here's the route I took:
The bottom half of this off-trail ascent was miserable scree, but there was a brief, enjoyable scramble (class 2-3?) near the top before I rejoined the trail at the col between Alta and its highest false summit. Near the top:
Up at the top there were some fantastic views... here's Rainier (anyone know why the little cloud forms above its summit?)
Thomson and Alaska Lake:
Chikamin with the PCT cutting across its southern face:
Three Queens with the summit of Stuart just barely visible behind it:
Me on the summit of Alta:
After a nice break on the summit with too many ladybugs, I started down via the nice trail on the south ridge:
Views of Rampart Ridge and Rampart Lakes (where I was headed next):
I eventually made it all the way up Rampart Ridge, but was getting tired now after being in the hot sun for a few hours. The summit of Rampart Ridge is a bit tricky with a cliff on one side and a bit of a scramble on the other. Here's looking down from the summit:
Looking down on Rampart Lakes:
On the way back I took a wrong turn down by Rampart Lakes and the trail dead-ended. I found there to be a lot of trails around the lakes and a lack of signs. With a glance at the GPS I found my way back to the trail I'd taken on the way in. Further down below Rachel Lake, the buzzing sound I'd heard in the morning returned. Eventually, I felt a sharp pain in my leg and looked down. Then I felt another on my chin, heard buzzing around my head and took off running. Ended up with 3 stings but never did see what had caused the damage. I guess the buzzing I'd heard constantly in this flat section of the trail was some type of bee/hornet/wasps, but I was surprised how consistent the noise was for several minutes. Anyways, the hike was 14.5 miles and 4500' vertical in 8 hours, 20 minutes. The sun fried my brain a bit and the 3L of water I had was a bit insufficient. GPS Track and Elevation Profile More Photos (public album on facebook)

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Magellan
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Magellan
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PostSun Sep 13, 2009 8:56 pm 
You made the most of the day. Nice pictures. up.gif I hate it when the bees build their nests in the ground. They are just waiting there to sting people. rant.gif

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Slide Alder Slayer
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PostMon Sep 14, 2009 12:10 pm 
I remember viewing that large cairn from the same spot you did the previous month before I took a hard right and continued my trip over box ridge at 6,000’ and dropped down to Alta Pass on an over ambitious two day trip to Chikamin Peak. Like you I also enjoy the 60CSx but I use USGS maps and prefer NAD 27 CONUS and UTM UPS that work great with my 1:24000 grid and scale cards. Be that as it may, both the USGS Chikamin Peak map and the Garmin Topo U.S. 24K West DVD show the cut off to Alta Mountain although the trail is not highlighted all the way to the summit. Glad you had a great trip!

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tigermn
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PostMon Sep 14, 2009 12:29 pm 
SeanSullivan86 wrote:
After a quick break, I headed up the trail towards Alta Mountain. I ended up missing the left turn for the class 1 trail up the south ridge. For anyone who wants to take the easy way up Alta, make sure to take this left turn. It is located at 47°25.669'N, 121°19.897'W (WGS84).
If you miss that one there is another trail that goes up to join the trail on the alta ridge maybe 1/4 mile past the first junction you missed. N47 25.842 W121 19.763

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SeanSullivan86
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SeanSullivan86
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PostMon Sep 14, 2009 1:09 pm 
Slide Alder Slayer wrote:
Like you I also enjoy the 60CSx but I use USGS maps and prefer NAD 27 CONUS and UTM UPS that work great with my 1:24000 grid and scale cards. Be that as it may, both the USGS Chikamin Peak map and the Garmin Topo U.S. 24K West DVD show the cut off to Alta Mountain although the trail is not highlighted all the way to the summit.
Yeah, I'm beginning to see the value in UTM coordinates... seems to be very easy to go back and forth between coordinates and position on the map with those nice 1km square lines drawn on the USGS maps. I have the Chikamin Peak quad, but didn't bring it with me on the hike. I'm used to nice maps in New Hampshire that fold down to 3x5" or so... haven't figured out how to carry the USGS or Green Trails maps yet. I folded my Green Trails in quarters but its still bulky and easily bent/crinkled when jostled around inside the pack all day. I typically only use my GPS for track log purposes and only very rarely for navigation. I suppose as I get into more off-trail places in the Cascades that will change. Got the 60CSx in February and it is indeed a nice upgrade from my 9-10 year old Garmin GPS12 (which still provided enough functionality... but I wanted something with a better receiver and bigger memory).

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Slide Alder Slayer
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PostMon Sep 14, 2009 1:29 pm 
Washington State on the 24K West Garmin DVD takes up .8 Gig on my 2 Gig memory card. Good map for the 60CSx and a nice back up for the USGS maps especially when I navigate at night off trail.

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Sennin
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PostMon Sep 14, 2009 1:58 pm 
Hey Sean! You took that same route I did...a nice little scramble. (also missed the ridge trail, haha) Nice TR! https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7977420

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