Water taxi from Ross Lake Resort boat dock to May Creek. Night 1 at Lightening Creek. Night 2 at Desolation Camp. Water taxi from Desolation back to Ross Lake Resort boat dock. 25 miles total including the mile to/from the Ross Lake Trail Parking  

It rained day one, but that was fine because it was just a day for walking an East Bank Trail portion.

Day two we climbed Desolation. Amazing hike. Beautiful views. Tough climb. Really nice campground. Really nice fire staff at lookout. Beware the deer! They are not a bit afraid and will clomp clomp up to your tent in the night and drag around your boots and lick your stuff. 

We did an overnight at Roland Creek camp. This is an excellent camp! Our site was at the top of the hill. There are three large areas to camp all with great water access to the creek. Ours had a tiny waterfall. 

I must say do some looking into elevation stats in addition to WTA. My GPS clocked ~2k feet of gain round trip. We were expecting less than half of that. While the trail rolls and there isn't much steepness, we found it deceptively challenging as relatively greener and less frequent backpackers. 

We didn't see many people, and our camp was half empty. We did see a 6 inch Salamander roaming about at a point. On our return trip, we noticed there were many headed to Ruby Pasture. Once reaching the bridge over Ruby Creek, we did a quick dip. It was quite cold but extremely refreshing in the heat and incredibly clear, beautiful water. 

Overall, this trip added great context for my plans to reach Desolation one day on foot. 

RT 13.16m/2076ft

This was a three night trip to Desolation Peak and Hozomeen Lake starting at the East Bank Trailhead. TL;DR: easy hiking along the East Bank Trail. The Desolation Peak Trail is a challenge, especially if you’re camping and carrying all of your water up, but it’s worth it for the views! The stream halfway up the Desolation Trail is still flowing as of 7/29. Hozomeen Lake is lovely, and incredibly warm. All the campsites have pit toilets. Didn’t have any issues with bugs or animals. The blueberries/huckleberries are starting to get ripe!

Day 1 - East Bank Trailhead to Devil’s Creek Camp (12 miles)

The hike along the East Bank trail was nice and easy with only one minor uphill. Most of the hiking is in the woods, and not directly next to the lake, but there were occasional views and we were glad of the shade. There's lots of water flowing the whole way. We saw a mama bear and her cub only a couple miles into the hike, but didn’t have any issues with them. 

Devil’s Creek camp was nice. We had a view of the lake from our campsite and a very friendly deer to keep us company throughout the night.

Day 2 - Devils Creek to Desolation Camp + a trip to the lookout tower (11ish miles)

The final miles of the East Bank Trail stayed flat, but once you turn onto the Desolation Trail it climbs relentlessly until you get to the top. We opted to carry all of our water up for the night from the bottom because we weren’t 100% sure if the stream was still flowing halfway up. It was flowing! It seems like it might run all year, but your mileage may vary. We decided to play it safe.

After setting up camp, we hiked the rest of the way to the lookout tower. Jim wasn’t there, but you can still see into the lookout and sign the visitor log. The views up there of Ross Lake, Jack Mountain, and Hozomeen Mountain were incredible! I can imagine that the sunrise and sets are amazing from the summit. 

Desolation camp was good! The views aren’t as good as from the summit, but you can still see Jack Mountain and Ross Lake. The camp isn’t the biggest, You could probably fit five tents comfortably. Bear cans are required. 

Day 3 - Desolation Camp to Hozomeen Lake (16 miles)

We backtracked down Desolation and onto the East Bank trail before turning onto the Lightning Creek Trail. Lightning Creek takes you down a long valley and is very mellow with only a few short climbs. It was a lot wetter back there with some really big old trees and moss covering everything. There’s plenty of water the whole way. There’s a cool old cabin just before you get to Deerlick Camp/cross the creek for the first time.

We had Hozomeen Lake to ourselves and it was such a lovely camp. It had been raining on and off throughout the day, so we opted not to swim, but I kind of regret not getting in. The water was super warm, and the bottom of the lake wasn’t mucky at all. There was a loon and an owl calling throughout the night. 

Day 4 - Hozomeen Lake to Ross Lake and out via the Water Taxi ( 5 miles)

The hike from Hozomeen Lake back to Ross Lake was super easy. Flat or downhill the whole way. You pop out in the old car campground which looks pretty abandoned and eerie from lack of maintenance. We got picked up by the Ross Lake Water Taxi at the end of Silver Skagit Road. The ride back to Ross Dam was ~45ish minutes and then it was another uphill mile back to the Ross Dam trailhead. 

4 days / 3 nights of kayak camping on Ross Lake.

We launched at Colonial Creek and took the Diablo Lake channel up to the NPS Portage Pier. Shared the portage truck with a family of 3 and their canoe.

Portage fee was $80 one way for two kayaks.

By the time we launched from the Ross Lake portage area the wind was significant and the paddle to May Creek Boat Camp was tough going. The Lake seemed quite low: All the piers at the boat-in camps were high and dry.

Night 1: May Creek. Nice little camp on a low bluff with views to the south, west, and north. Lots of deer tracks, but we didn't see wildlife other than insects.

Night 2: Lightning Creek. Took about 3 hours of paddling to reach Lightning Creek from May Creek. We left before 9, so had nice glassy water for most of the paddle.

The camp was pretty crowded with a couple of groups and several backpackers.

Lots of deer, very confidently walking around and through our campsite. A couple of the deer really like our kayaks and licked them all over (I assume for the salt, as I usually paddle in Puget Sound).

Good campsite with mainly southern views. The low, rocky beach made for a bit of a repeated trek to get our gear from the kayaks to the site.

Night 3 Big Beaver. In a bit of a secluded cover with a small waterfall. Close enough to Diablo Lake Resort that lots of day hikers and boaters made it there.

It took about 2.5 hours to paddle from Lightning Creek to Big Beaver.

The way out to Colonial Creek from Big Beaver took about 4 hours, one hour of which was spent waiting for the portage truck.

Short hike to the east bank/jack mountain trail junction and past hidden hand campground to a view of the lake. Arrived at the trailhead around 1pm, about 75% full. Only saw a few other people on the trail, think most people were going further up the full 30 mile east bank trail or connecting to other trails. Well maintained and flat with a little brush - 6.5 miles round trip in about 2 hours.