An enjoyable three night trip on the East Bank with stays at Devils Creek, May, and Hidden Hand camps.  This is a trail suitable for any age group --- flat, forested, and with multiple access points to the lake.  That being said, the trudge in from the trail head is too long for young kids.  Instead, you might (like we did --- without kids) use the Ross Lake Resort water taxi service.  It  got us quickly into the heart of the trail giving us maximum time in the woods --- and a nice boat trip on the lake.

Warm weather throughout the four days with the exception of one afternoon and evening of rain.  The mosquitos were out but were tolerable given the time of year. #HikingtheState

There are no warning signs when approaching the trailhead on route 20, so be careful during the approach or else you'll overshoot. The trail itself was in good condition, save for a few fallen trees. While I was out I could hear a work crew with chainsaws, so the trees I scrambled over may already be gone. 

I spent one night at Rainbow Point and two nights at Lightning Creek. Bugs will tended to hover around when I stopped moving, but a minor application of bug spray was enough to keep them at bay. There are a few deer that liked to hang around the sites and aren't terribly scared of humans. 

Streams were fairly plentiful for refilling water, although I mostly drank from the lake. There is one difficult ford at Roland Creek, but if you don't have gaiters there are some fallen logs upstream to scramble across.

Rainbow Point had plenty of driftwood for a campfire but Lightning was picked pretty clean. 

There is some lingering snow about a half mile before the Desolation summit, but it was easy to follow the tracks of those who had gone before without postholing. 

My wife was taking a class at the North Cascades Institute at Diablo Lake so I had a couple of days to explore Ross Lake.  I picked up an East Bank trail permit at the Marblemount Ranger station, was on the trail Friday at noon and zoomed through the lovely shaded forest trail to Lightning Creek Camp, 16 miles in 5 hours. Others that I passed on the trail reported bear and cub sightings but I saw only several skinny black-tail deer and a couple of aggresive grouse.  I passed a few overnight hikers and a few day hikers.

No snow except atop the peaks.  The ranger at Marblemount said that it's been extra warm and the PCT at Rainy Pass might be snow free by mid July.

Light rain Sat morning, I started the hike up Desolation Peak but was just low on gas and decided at 5000 ft that I'd had enough for the day and returned to Lightning Camp.  A large youth canoeing group had arrived during the day.

I left Lightning Camp Sunday at 8am and returned to the Hwy-20 parking lot at 1:15pm.  This trip was a lot of sweating cardio for me.

We stopped for a delicious blueberry milkshake at the Cascadian Farmstand on Hwy 20 near Rockport and returned to Seattle by way of 530 to Darrington and Hwy 9 through Arlington, which we'd not done before.

Starting Monday three of us hiked from the East Ross Lake Trail-head up the East Bank Ross Lake Trail to Lightning Creek Camp. Night one we camped at Roland Creek 6.5 miles from the trail-head and then the remaining 9.5 miles to Lightning Creek on day 2. The third day we day hiked the Desolation Peak trail up and back but that will be a separate report. We had the Ross Resort water taxi pick us up Thursday morning

The trail was in great shape to Devil Junction Camp and has been cleared of downed trees. Beyond the Junction It appears crews have not been able to clear it yet so we had a number of downed trees to climb over, but none posing any difficulty.

Of note: There are two log bridge crossings that may be problematic to persons with balance issues, fear of heights, or just carrying an awkward load. They are solid and have a relatively wide flattened tread, but have no rail. A fall from either would cause injury. The first at May Creek is a long span with a deep drop to the creek. The second  just north of Devil's junction is not as bad. Later in the season I'm sure they could both be boulder hopped. I ended up straddling the log at May Creek and scooted across.

Our favorite section was the stretch between Rainbow Point and Devils Junction where the trail is right on the water and literally blasted into the cliff in places.

Although the lake is low in early June with a "bath tub ring" we encountered few other. The docks at all the boat in camps are high and dry so we had a nice lonely time  

Hiked the East Bank trail to Lightning Creek and then up the Desolation Peak. The trail to Lightning creek is in good condition, there were several downed trees and also a couple of stream crossings, where you need to balance on rocks or take off your shoes. Hiking poles were very useful there. The hike up to Desolation peak was snow free until about 1 mile to the top (the snow started around Desolation camp). That last snowy mile wasn't too bad either, no snow equipment needed (but hiking poles were useful once again). Navigation in snow can probably be challenging in the morning, but we hiked in the afternoon and just followed the footprints of previous hikers. All in all a gorgeous hike with terrific views of the lake and snowy peaks. A lot of wildlife as well: deer, marmots, birds, etc.