In October of 2021 I went for a hike with some of my pals that was somewhat difficult. I chalked this up to the fact that I was in peak fatigue week of my cycle, and I have been wanting to revisit this trail ever since. I had to show it who was boss after all. I managed to wrangle my pal Caitlin into doing this trail with me, and in typical Brittany fashion I wanted to do more than I had done the first time.
The trail starts at the Rachel Lake trail head. From here you hike to Rachel Lake (duh) where you can either decide to stop, or to continue on. If you decide to continue on you will eventually come to a fork in the road. Go to the left and you hit Rampart Lakes (this I what I did the first time, and then went back down.) Go to the right and you hit Lila Lake. I was unaware of Lila Lake the first time I did this hike, but once I knew she was an option I knew I wanted to go to Lila AND Rampart.
And of course Rachel, she is the first real beauty along the way.
I made sure to hike this trail during a high energy week of my cycle, but little did I know this would not make a difference. This was just as hard as it was the first time I hiked it, and it will be another couple years before I go again. The trail from the parking lot to Rachel Lake is non stop climbing over roots and stumps and big steps that were rough on the entire body going up and going down.
Parkour hiking aside, this was one of my favorite hikes of the season. We decided to go to Lila after Rachel, and this was all new terrain for me. The weather was perfect, the trail was quiet, and once we hit Rachel the rest was pretty easy. There was a bit more climbing, but overall the hard part was done.
The trail continues even further past Lila Lake, but this was a perfect spot for us to stop and eat lunch before continuing on. We dabbled with the idea of swimming at some point in the day, but we never ended up making that happen. We saw a few other hikers while sitting at Lila, but overall we had most of the trail to ourselves.
I typically preface the option of adding extra side quests to my hikes with a psychological spin. I say something like “let’s just get to X and if we are still feeling good we can shoot for Y too.” I say this knowing damn well the likelihood of us doing both are very high. Since Caitlin is my main hiking partner, she’s the one I usually say this too.
It’s typically more of a mind game thinking of the whole hike as one option, and breaking it up like this makes it easier to digest. Hence the psychological spin.
Most of the time Caitlin is game for whatever, but once in a while she is a bit more hesitant. She felt the fatigue after the climb up and was less enthusiastic than I was about continuing on to see Rampart Lakes (a network of many smaller lakes.) After it was all said and done she thanked me for pushing her because Rampart Lakes are equally beautiful.
We clocked 13 miles for the day with a little over 3000ft of elevation. The side quest to Lila Lake added about 3 miles to the total for the day, but it was more than worth it. I think of all the lakes for the day Lila was my favorite. I could have sat there all day snacking. After a full day we finally made our way back down.
My desire to do “just one more thing” is not restricted to hiking. When I am traveling I try to do as much as I can in one visit as well. I figure if I am visiting somewhere far from home I won’t likely return for a while (if ever), therefor I might as well maximize my time and see ALL THE THINGS.
Another perfect summer hike (we did this one mid September, I am way behind on my hike posts.) Thankful for all the beautiful places to explore just a few hours away from home.
Q: Are you like me when it comes to maximizing as many things possible in one trip?
Blissfulbritt 
18 thoughts on “Lake Tour: Rachel to Lila to Rampart”
Sheree
Fab scenery
Brittany
I couldn’t have dreamt better views!
mariezhuikov
What a wonderful hike! I totally with you on seeing ALL THE THINGS during trips (and then blogging about them). Great photos.
Brittany
Some days I feel overwhelmed about blogging things, but then I remember I LOVE referring back to old posts. It’s my online diary in a way. And blogging things lets us relive them.
Duncan
That looks like a gorgeous hike I missed out on. 13 miles and 3000 feet of gain seems like a good days work, that’s for sure. Maybe next time I will tag along. The “one more thing” is a good trait to maximize experiences and Lord knows I do my best to keep up!
xoxo
Brittany
This one worries me with your knee. But we can always give it a try! We missed you. Thanks for always being willing to keep up. XxxXOooO
Charlie
What a fabulous hike. I love how you captured the scenery. Yes, I’ll take in as many things as time allows on long hikes. I have to admit our scenery isn’t quite as breathtaking as yours, over there, unless we travel up to Scotland or down to Wales. It’s still soul feeding to be out there though.
Brittany
I beg to differ! You have some beautiful landscapes by you. Perhaps not as towering and vast as some of the bigger mountains near me, but the parks near you are equally breathtaking. I’ve only been to the Peak District, and the Lake District, but both were WONDERFUL.
Perhaps some of the magic is being somewhere far from home.
Charlie
Aye, I guess you’re right. Maybe I take it for granted. And, I do like being away from home.
Diana
Oh I’m 100% a person who maximizes as many things as possible on one trip. So I definitely can relate. And I would have wanted to do all the lakes as well!
Brittany
Yassss, it’s almost impossible not to.
If It Was Today
Lovely pictures. It sounds like you had a great time, but I think we have slightly different travel philosophies. Rather than try to maximize the things we see, we maximize the enjoyment. Sometimes that involves seeing less, and just soaking up the local ambiance – almost pretending that you live in a place for a while. Maybe it’s because of the age difference, or perhaps the fact that if we enjoy a place we will probably be back. But where we absolutely agree is that blogging creates a great diary of where we’ve been and what we’ve seen.
Enjoy.
Brittany
I spent two years living in Europe, and during this time I discovered how exhausting it was to travel just to check off as many new places as I could. I have slowed down a bit, but I do still try to see as much as I can. I hope one day I can slow down even more and appreciate less like you’ve described here. I do think that’s a lovely philosophy. A lot of places I’ve been to more than once I can do this, but if it’s new I tend to turn into the energizer bunny!
Thanks for sharing!
If It Was Today
Taking it slow and just enjoying the ambience is definitely a luxury that not everyone has. It’s one of the benefits of being retired…
Rosie
Ooh, those are some stunning views! I am very much in the ‘Well, I’m here, so if I’m going to see this, I might as well see this, this and this too’. When my now-husband and I visited San Francisco in 2015, we booked a day tour to Yosemite. Everyone thought we were mad – but we didn’t know if we’d ever find ourselves in that part of the world again, so to us it was 100% worth it. (And as things have turned out, we’ve not made it back to the USA since!)
Brittany
I think your day trip to Yosemite was a great choice! And you’re right, sometimes you don’t know when or if you’ll be back! If you have the time, energy, and desire it’s so worth it.
I’ve yet to visit Yosemite myself, but it’s definitely on my list.
stewedpears.com
In all the photos you take, I am always captivated by the colours. You said it was quiet, was there much wildlife?
Brittany
The colors really are stunning. They’re even better in real life. There were plenty of birds, but otherwise we didn’t see any wildlife. Thankfully we don’t often see wildlife. I say thankful because the wildlife we have here in these types of mountains are not friends. 😅
Cougars terrify me, and black bears are mostly harmless, but I still don’t want to encounter them. I don’t mind the squirrels and deer though. I also enjoy seeing pika and marmots, but none of those on this adventure. So I guess they’re not all scary.