Three days camping on Ross lake, via boat, not boots. We had bad luck with views, the smoke from the Carlton complex fire blew in the first two days, only to get pushed out by rain and clouds on the third day. But still beautiful! Side trips up Ruby arm, Devils creek, and Lightning creek were all super great! First night was at Devil's Junction. This is a nice site in that there is only one camp site, but the outhouse is unfortunately close to the camp and the odor was strong. Sometimes the wind blew it away but not often enough. There were black flies and horse flies during the day, and mosquitos at night. Not terrible, but definitely a nuisance. Second night was at cougar island. We were at the far camp, on the south side of the island. That camp is nice because it is away from the dock which provides some solitude, but the typical afternoon/evening winds blow from the south and this site is pretty unprotected. It was cold and windy on our side of the island while at the same time, the north camp was warm and calm. The other campers were still frolicking in the water after we had long put on our long sleeves. We had to cook dinner hiding behind the bear locker, and here was not even a thought about trying to have a camp fire in those winds. But all in all, still a great spot, and the wind kept the bugs away! Water temperatures are great for swimming. We couldn't get enough of it!

Three days camping on Ross lake, via boat, not boots. We had bad luck with views, the smoke from the Carlton complex fire blew in the first two days, only to get pushed out by rain and clouds on the third day. But still beautiful! Side trips up Ruby arm, Devils creek, and Lightning creek were all super great! First night was at Devil's Junction. This is a nice site in that there is only one camp site, but the outhouse is unfortunately close to the camp and the odor was strong. Sometimes the wind blew it away but not often enough. Second night was at cougar island. We were at the far camp, on the south side of the island. That camp is nice because it is away from the dock which provides some solitude, but the typical afternoon/evening winds blow from the south and this site is pretty unprotected. It was cold and windy on our side of the island while at the same time, the north camp was warm and calm. The other campers were still frolicking in the water after we had long put on our long sleeves. We had to cook dinner hiding behind the bear locker, and here was not even a thought about trying to have a camp fire in those winds. But all in all, still a great spot. Water temperatures are great for swimming. We couldn't get enough of it!

Every year I like to get out in the mountains for my birthday and I try to make it an overnight somewhere. With my birthday falling on a Monday I was able to combine it with a weekend and get enough time for the Devils Dome loop. And even convince someone to go along! With only two of us we opted to drop a bicycle at the Ross Dam trailhead and park at Canyon Creek. Our plan would omit the walk back along the East Bank trail in favor of tagging Desolation Peak, which had been high on both our lists, then ride the water taxi out. After an initial wrong turn leaving Canyon Creek we were on our way uphill towards Crater Lake. We made good time going up the hill and set up camp at a nice hanging site just off trail near the Crater Lake outlet. The lake itself was little more than a muddy tarn, though the setting was pretty. After setting up camp we headed up Crater Mountain. What a nice little trail! Surprisingly easy to follow all the way until the scramble of the summit block. We made it to about 7700 ft, scrambling up a sandy gully and following cairns and yellow paint markers, before reaching turnaround point. Views were great! On a return I'd like to camp in the high areas below the summit. Back at camp we found we had a neighbor. We cooked a nice dinner, watched the supermoon rise, and turned in for a long day. 9.7 miles, 5900 ft gain. In the morning we packed out through McMillan Park and into Devils Park. Nice trail the whole way with plentiful water. Some annoying bugs too. We had lunch at the Devils Park shelter before heading up onto Jackita Ridge. In the sun the steep rocky trail was draining. Views had also faded with the calm air and incoming smoke from the Methow fires. At times we could barely see Jack Mountain! Still we pushed on and even found the energy for a short side trip up to Pt7248 on Jackita. Then it was a long walk down into drainages on rough trail, climbing back out, down again, back up towards Anacortes Crossing, and then a very scenic long traverse out to Devils Park. We'd hoped to find a nice camp with water somewhere along this stretch but sadly found neither. Very dry and no suitable camps. We rolled into Devils Pass to find a solo hiker setup here and a very large group down by the spring. We debated a bit and finally just decided to stay rather than backtrack with limited daylight remaining. Bugs were quite annoying here. 12.4 miles, 4000 ft gain. Rough trail in places. Sunday morning we packed up and headed out through nice trail towards Devils Dome. The basin below Pt6881 was especially scenic and we found a fantastic campsite on the shoulder where the trail crosses. If only we could have stayed! We took a nice break, many photos of Jack Mountain, then pushed on to Devils Dome. The Dome was very cool. Wide open summit with a tundra-like feel. Views were a little limited due to continued fire smoke. Also our stay wasn't as long as we'd have liked due to biting flies. We moved on with a swim in Ross Lake on our minds. Our original plan had us camped at one of boat-in sites on Ross but the rangers would not issue us a permit, so we were scheduled for the Devils Crossing hiker-camp. The descent was steep and humid but not too difficult. No real blow-down the whole way to the lake! Partway down we surprised a large black-bear chowing down on berries on trail. He took off quickly before either of us could get a camera out. We arrived at Devils Crossing to find an empty camp. After claiming a fantastic site with views of the lake, surprisingly far below us, we hiked down to the boat dock for a swim. The water was fantastic! Perfect temperature for swimming and diving. Lindsey made one hell of a nice jump off the dock while I, less adventurous when it comes to water, sort of flopped in like a walrus. As we sat in the water tiny fish would swim up and pick at our dirty feet. Temperatures were perfect overnight and we left the fly off my Tarptent for the first time. Calm winds, bright moon, loons singing - perfection. 10.6 miles, 1100 ft gain. Mostly downhill with about 5000 ft elevation loss. Monday would be our long day so we woke early. We were on the move before 7 and made short work of the trail to Lightning Creek. The camp was surprisingly full and also was host to a camp of Border Patrol agents. The family in the group-site paddled away as we arrived, their kids having some kind of bad bug-bite reaction. We claimed a site close to the water and setup camp. And amazingly the beer I had left at the Ross Dam trailhead made its way into the bear lockers! Three days earlier I had left a six-pack along that trail with a silly note asking anyone heading to Lightning Creek to carry it to the bear locker in exchange for taking two cans. Well, four cans did not survive the trip but two did so that's a win in my book! Hooray for good people! We left camp around 930 aiming for Desolation, carrying as much water as possible but little else. The air was again dead calm and smokey. We made good time and were at the tower a little after 1. Views were a bit limited but still fantastic! Even better a lookout was manning the tower so we could go inside. He had been there a week and was on schedule for an additional week. We poked around and ate lunch in the shade below the tower. Lindsey surprised me with a few tiny brownie cakes - awesome way to celebrate! We offered the third brownie to the ranger before departing. There was a small seep of water at 4000 ft that was extremely helpful. Both of us were fairly dehydrated and low on water. We continued all the way down the trail and down to the dock for another swim in Ross before finishing the final 2 miles back to Lightning creek ... where we immediately went swimming again. The campground was full yet again. Another very nice evening. Amazingly we were the last two people awake at 10 pm! 16.7 miles, 5300 ft gain. We set our alarms to make sure we didn't miss our water taxi but as it happened we wouln't even get to sleep that late. The very large group of canoers in the group site woke up before 6 to cook an elaborate breakfast. We heard mention of sausage and hash browns and orange juice, not to mention the smells, as we tried to keep dozing and also not to think about it as we ate our granola and powdered milk. The taxi was just a bit late but we were happy to learn it would pick up two more hikers at the stock camp, lowering the per-person cost for all of us. Two very beat-up looking hikers hopped aboard after an all night brush-bash from the PCT through Three Fools and down to Lightning Creek. The taxi ride was quite fast and we were soon paying our bills at the resort and then walking our way up to Hwy20. I sat around the parking lot while Lindsey biked the highway back to retrieve her car, returning much more quickly than I'd expected. Then a nice drive out, good lunch at Skagit Brewing, and back to civilization! What an amazing trip. High rocky peak. Long meadow walks. Bear sightings. Lake swimming. Fire lookout. Surprise birthday cake. Good friend. Fun boat ride. Best birthday trip yet!

Did an overnight at Roland Creek campground (about 6.7 miles in). The trail was in pretty good condition; just a few spots where the vegetation was starting to encroach. And Roland Creek is still a bit of a difficult crossing. There was a logjam right by the trail that was somewhat stable; further upstream there were a few large logs that might be crossable, but would be a long drop if you fell. The creek might also be wadeable with caution - not real deep, but still a pretty good current. The Roland Creek campground was nice - 3 or so secluded spots near the water, with some nifty firepits with rotating cooking surfaces. Used this to heat up water for dinner and save a little fuel. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were also quite fond of this camp - I think I have a least a dozen bites (some came on the trail on the way in, but on the way out a nice breeze drove them away). The other downside is that there are no significant lake views at or near the camp. Random rant: some previous tenant at our campsite saw fit to poop maybe 30 feet away from the tent spot and not even bury it. Not cool! Especially since there was a pit toilet in the camp, and in pretty good shape at that (the upland May Creek campsite's toilet was pretty bad, though). Found three kinds of berries along the trial - blackberries, red huckleberries and regular huckleberries, but not too many of each. There were a fair number of unripe blackberries that should be ready soon, but they're the trailing (close to the ground) kind and are not always easy to see. Also saw a number of very un-afraid deer that were probably hoping in vain to extract some food. After making camp at Roland Creek, we walked to the next camp - May Creek - to look at the lakeside camps and the lake. If you can get them, these camps are pretty posh with a picnic table, outhouse, and good views of the water. And on the way out, we made the 1 mile (round trip) detour to Hidden Hand camp. Did not look like as nice of a camp as Roland Creek, but it was close to an overlook with good views of the lake. Overall, a pretty nice hike, especially for early or late season, or a rainy day like we had. Hope to come out for longer some time and get further up the lake.

We hopped on the East Bank trail from the trail head on SR 20 with a camp site at Rainbow Point as our destination. 9 miles and a few hours later we made it in to camp with two hours to spare before sunset. The camp site was terrific, with a bear box and picnic table provided at each camp site (3 sites total, with two tent pads in each) and a privy. There is also a dock at this camp site. The only other group there had rented a boat from the Ross Lake Resort and tied off on the dock. The trail was in fairly good shape. There were a few muddy sections but no blowdowns. The trail starts off around 1600ft and crests at 2700ft or so before descending back down to 1600ft 2 miles or so before Rainbow Point. It's a fairly decent climb with full overnight packs. We experienced some rain while hiking in, and gaiters and recently waterproofed boots were no match for the large amounts of water rubbed off of the low plants clawing their way across the trail a few miles in; our toes were quickly soaked. Roland Creek is a large obstacle as well right now. We couldn't find a decent way across without getting our already wet socks even wetter. Overall, the camp site at Rainbow Point made this trail. We didn't see another person until we got to the camp site, and we didn't see anyone until the last mile on our way out the next day.