Rampart Ridge Backdoor (with Lakes Laura and Lillian)

It had been 2 months since we attempted this exact route.  It was like a completely different hike.  The meadows were blossomed with flowers, the then bare bushes were overgrown to give us a real bushwacking experience.  It was every bit of beauty I expected it to be back when I first saw the landscape in March.  The trail was much easier to recognize, even in the bountiful, fresh growth.  The road to the parking lot still has one area of washout.

The parking lot was a full one on Sunday, though the trail was quite quiet.  Upon starting we ran into some campers coming down who said that Lillian was almost completely thawed, as opposed to the week prior when there still remained a great deal frozen.  I was relieved.  We initially said we wouldn't go up there again until August, because we wanted to go up to the ridges, which would be very difficult to do with frozen lake areas below it.  So we eagerly climbed up to Lake Lillian; and when I say "eagerly" I mean that we made it up there in 45 minutes.  I did mention, though, how I forgot how steep it really was.  Up to Lake Lillian, it is about P3's ridge equivalent on steepness, minus the loose terrain.  There is a point where the trail will split -- left takes you to Lake Laura, and right continues the climb to Lake Lillian.  From the Lake Lillian fork, there exists another fork further ahead -- to the right I believe is the trail to Mt. Catherine, straight ahead is to Lillian.  Moving past this we reached the entrance plateau to Lillian.  From before the entrance you can look to the left side and see Lake Laura below.

Lake Laura below

So I hear there are two ways to make up to Rampart Ridge behind Lake Lillian.  We did see a faint trail to the left of the lake, which looks like it will tackle Dungeon Peak first, then Rampart Ridge Highpoint.  We took the trail to the right, which climbs up a rock face slightly and then walks along the right side of the lake until you hit the backside of it for a loose rock/dirt climb.

Getting around Lake Lillian 

Once you get up that loose rock/dirt area on the backside of Lake Lillian, the ridge climb is not that back.  The backside is forgiving if there is a fall.  There are many bushes that keep the scrambling exposure to a less nervous level, but ample bushwacking.  Once you get past the first prominence, there is a trail that spurs left along the ridge, with the one on the right continuing to Rampart Lakes (from what it appears to be on maps).  We went left and up the ridge.

Left and up 

Left and up 

Second point, Lake Lillian below.  What a lookout. 

Last good push before a scramble.

Mt. Rainier in the distance.

The view of Lake Lillian below.

The beautiful ridge we just got through climbing.

From that backside, though, you catch glimpse of rolling hills and what looks like a very fun ridgeline that extends even further than you imagined.  I could see why people camp here.  I could hike here the rest of the year and maybe, just maybe, touch ground on the full ridgeline and the
gullies.  It reminded me of Europe.  I could almost hear, "The hills are alive with the sound of music."

We made excellent timing, and after sitting down for lunch, we took some snapshots and went back down, making it a 4.5 hour hike with a roundtrip distance (parking lot to Rampart Ridge Highpoint) of less than 5 miles.  It was enjoyed by the whole family.  Make sure you check out the waterfalls below Lake Laura and between Lake Lillian and Lake Laura.  We filled up our water bottles from their streams.

Lakes Laura and Lillian, Rampart Ridge Attempt

Coming off this particular hike, after much research the day before, I thought how much I wished someone would write a report on it as it pertains to families, those that hiked with children would give acccurate reports of doing so (which is totally different than hiking solo or in adult groups/pairs, as most reporters), and so I figured why not give a family report myself.

When I checked the forecast with the coordinates, I saw beautiful hiking weather (though slightly cloudy).  All reports gave us the verdict that it was perfectly fine as a family.  One nice soul even gave a picture of multiple coordinates along the way to both parts of Snoqualmie's Rampart Ridge (not to be confused with Rainier's RR).  It seemed like a no-brainer; the hike was beckoning us.

I should have known by the road up that I didn't receive such accurate reports.  Even our car got a hike LOL.  The trailhead was the Hyak exit off of I-90 E, then left, then right after you pass under the freeway, and forward a couple of miles.  On the kind soul's map, the left turn we took was called NFD 136.  The road had seen some wash-out, but the mini-van made it up.  It would not have if my hubby hadn't lifted the car back up to factory height.  I can't say that I didn't look into my passenger mirror to make sure parts of my muffler could be seen trailing behind, since there were still patches of icy snow that scraped us a bit.  Not for economy cars this time of year, that's for sure.  We took this almost 2 miles up until it did a switchback with a sign saying "Mount Margaret" to the right.  The parking is right there, and the trailhead is very apparent.

Right off the bat, this trail let me know that I couldn't be a lady with it.  When we did Rattlesnake's 3 ledges last week, I could be a lady about it:  stain-free and didn't break a face sweat.  This would be different.  We were immediately crossing over mini-streams and moving up on roots that marked boot paths.  Finding the trail is a bit difficult and a couple of times (especially at and after Lake Laura) we lost the trail, but using logic and just heading up.

Though it wasn't our goal, we ended up crossing both lakes.  First of all, someone should make it quite clear that this isn't a forest hike to the lake.  Lake Lillian is more of a crater between the ridges where rain and snow has a chance to gather.  As you approach the first lake (Lake Laura), the trail forks.  This fork is marked by rusty wire (as of now) on a small fir to the left, and a huge cut into a tall tree stump precisely at the fork.  To the right of this will continue up straight into Lillian.  To the left will go to the flowing, but partly frozen, stream going into Laura, which is at your immediate left.  This is the part when Bam stepped into what he thought was snow covered ground, but sank his whole leg.  At that point, the boy that loved the snow thought it was alive and fed on legs.  That alone made the rest of the trip challenging and an adventure.

It was snow-covered at this point and losing the trail, we just continued up.  Eventually we found the trail as it went over some firm rock formations and plateaued to Lillian, where we met 2 hikers at the lake's entrance.  As we saw footprints going about 50 feet into the frozen lake, they proceeded to tell us that they tested it but decided to come back.  We saw other footprints that went around the side of the lake into the ridge's entrance from the lake (about 2 o'clock when standing in front of Lillian).  We said we'd take it one step at a time.  One step at a time quickly had us realizing that although it didn't at first appear like it, we were still walking upon the actual lake.  Sketchy, to say the least.  Mind you, we were following others' footprints, even at this point, so we did not second guess it at first.  Figuring we could not scramble through the icy snow to the high end, we decided to turn back.  However, I was leery on walking back upon an icy lake so I suggested that we climb to a flat path under a ledge about 30 feet above the lake.  I figured we'd get out of the ice and snow, and it looked like we could put 2 feet on the ground up there.

When we went up there it was not at all what we thought and we realized we had to turn around.  It was the sketchiest part of the trip, mainly because at this point in the middle of needing to use all of our limbs, we had a cold boy and a hungry baby.  You just can't rush some things though, and went as slow as we could in the cold going down.  We took a picture at the Lake Lillian entrance from the trail below, our initial goal of Rampart Ridge's High End behind us.

Lake Lillian itself is a goal of a hike.  I underestimated the continuation into Rampart Ridge from the reports we read, but upon that ledge submitting to calling it a day, it is a such a reminder of personal responsiblity.  From where you climb to, you have to get down.  Today I heard a song on the radio, saying, "I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb."  My children are adventurous and daring, and we are matched well for them as parents, but we were not prepared for snow.  Brant and I thanked God we made it that far and that we were humbled.  Gaining that humility of the majestic land formations is just as much the goal as the views...to us anyway.  Hence, we are not satisfied taking cable cars to summits or car rides up old log roads.  Hiking with your family, especially, brings that humility, and awareness of personal responsibility; and at the end of the day, we all could use some of each.  A family hike?  To only the lakes when there is still snow, it is about as much of an adventure I am comfortable to take my children upon.  In the late summer, early autumn, I am sure the ridge is attainable as a family, carefully, though perhaps better to accept any of the ridge rather than a must-summit mentality.  We will not try it again until that time.

It is the most diverse hike I've been on to this day.  There are options for waterfall hiking, options for bouldering, then of course there is trekking, traditional elevation hiking and mountaineering, ridgeline and scrambling (if you continue) and my new favorite:  butt-scooting.