Saturday, July 11, 2009

Rampart Ridge

Snoqualmie Pass, WA

July 11, 2009

Rampart Ridge

Saturday, Marcus, Anastasia and Hopi joined Kirsten and I for a day hike. Marcus has been scouting out a ski line off Peak 5606 on Rampart Ridge at Snoqualmie Pass for quite some time, so he was pleasantly surprised when we proposed a hike up to one of the lakes up there. Marcus & Kirsten sleuthed out a route that started high up on the Rocky Run road, which would get us closer to the ridge and give us more options for exploring once up there. The unmaintained spur road that leads to the unmarked trailhead for the unofficial trail is in rough shape, but Plum crawled along smoothly and handled the huge rain runnels and washouts well, only suffering minor scratching from the gauntlet of brush.

From Rampart Ridge

The trail was really steep, resembled a classic climbers’ trail, obviously not put in by the Forest Service, but in very good shape, and we reached Lake Lillian after an hour or so. Hopi did a great job negotiating small stream crossings and working out moves over big rock steps. The lake was still half frozen, and snow patches lingered along the north facing slopes above the lake. After a short break, we continued beyond the lake, up the steepest part of the trail yet, and after another hour reached the top of Rampart Ridge with crystal clear views of Rainier to the south, Mt Stuart to the east, and the central Cascades to the north. We traversed the ridge north to a high point above Rampart Lakes and had lunch. Rampart Ridge is beautiful and deserving of its name. Surrounded by Glacier Lillies and nice views of Thompson, Lemah, Chikamin, Rachel Lake and Rampart Lakes, we relaxed in peace for quite a while, before heading down.

From Rampart Ridge

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