This was going to be my big birthday bash...not so much. But if your going to do a hike in the rain, this one is not so bad. To read a really long story about my adventure (but it's good...I think)click here, and keep clicking. :)http://kellbell-whywouldanyonereadthis.blogspot.com/2013/06/east-bank-trail-ross-lake-part-one.html

Wanting a long hike during this early Spring weather, I opted for the East Bank Trail on Ross Lake. I arrived at the trailhead at 12: 30 on Thursday afternoon, the 18th. I encountered a day-hiker coming out at about 1/4 mile and he was the only other person I saw on my hike. The weather was cloudy with rain in the forecast, and a possibility of snow remaining at Hidden Hand Pass. I packed accordingly, but I was prepared to scamper out if it started pouring. Shockingly, it rained almost everywhere else in western Washington except where I was - just a few light sprinkles for the next two days. Once on the trail, I found it a mostly forested hike, with some nice views of Ruby Mountain, which climbed steadily towards a nondescript, snow-free Hidden Hand Pass. (Someone has cleared the trail to the top of the pass.) Then I followed the long steady drop to Roland Creek camp on Ross Lake. The forest has some beautiful variety, mixing the large firs with maple and alder groves. The blowdowns are similarly varied - I counted 23 trees across the trail between the pass and Roland Creek. Most were smallish and easily crossed, but several were massive Doug firs, with one blocking any stock access just past the pass. I cleared about ten more small trees off the trail as I went along. I continued on along the lake, enjoying the misty mountain views, and reached Devil's Camps at about 6:30 p.m, 12.5 miles from the car. The camps were in good shape, with easy access to water in a nearby stream. All along the route water is a non-issue, with step-across and hop-across creeks constantly crossing the path. The next morning I took a side trip, about 2.5 miles up the Devil's Ridge Trail; it climbed steadily, but I never encountered snow. I stopped at a southerly view, with clouds swirling around the snowy mountains, headed back down to camp, packed up, and decided to hike out. The mosquitos were biting in the creek bottoms, but largely absent elsewhere. I did get a tick bite, probably from scampering under or around the blowdowns, so watch out for those nasty buggers. My first tick bite on the wet side... After an 18 mile day, and 30 miles total, I was wiped and ready to trade the blessings of wilderness for the benefits of civilization - and a blackberry shake in Concrete. I recommend the hike, particularly at this season, and I would have liked to have hiked all the way to the Hozomeen valley. I'd also like to appreciate the trail in clearer conditions, or during the summer months. Until next time...

Day 1: (Mile Marker 138 Parking Lot - Devil's Park) Did the loop counter-clockwise from mile marker 138 parking lot. I started at 1:00 and did three easy miles followed by four grinders as you climb up to McMillan Park. I carried too much water and the pack had 5-days food. There are TWO good water points as you climb the 4000ft from the Canyon creek so don't bother tanking up at the bottom. The water at McMillan Park is pretty stagnant but I've had worse. First night I camped in the Devil's Park near an old shelter. There was water here but a very slow stream. I had carried enough from Canyon creek that I didn't need to use it. Day 2: (Devil's Park - Devil's Pass) Climbed up on Jackita Ridge... what a gorgous day with clear skies and wonderful view of Jack Mt. I was feeling guilty for not summiting Crater Mountain... maybe next time. I was told there was no water on the ridge which was true for the first few miles but there are TWO good water points between Devil's Park and Devil's Pass. You don't need to carry more than a quart of water. There are a lot of Satan names in this hike and after day two, I felt like I understood why. There are a few areas where you will cross a lot of those funny beige lines on the map. Day 3: (Devil's Pass - Somewhere on Devil's Ridge East of Devil's Dome) Another great day. There is water in Devil's Pass down a side trail. There is also water on the ridge east of Devil's dome although you will have to drop down 500-700ft. to get it. It is visible from the trail. I saw a good sized black bear ambling up the slope here. Some clouds moved in as I climbed Devil's dome, my high point at just under 7000ft, but it was a gorgous day. Funny enough the west side of Devil's dome has an excellent late season water point right next to the trail. Grab a quart because it is the easiest water source on this ridge. I hiked down past the short 752B trail that dead-ends. I was told there was an old shelter and possible water point but saw a couple streams crossing the trail on my map further down the Devil's Ridge trail and headed that way. The trail was very overgrown here although excellent everywhere else to this point. I found a camp and water point about 1.5 miles from the National Park border. Day 4: (Devil's Ridge Trail - Out) I had planed to spend the night at Rainbow Point on Ross Lake but I was there by Noon. I didn't feel like sitting around camp all day doing nothing so I figured I'd shoot for the parking lot. The trail continued to be brushy down from Devil's Ridge until I hit the border with the National Park. It looks like a crew is working this trail but hasn't gotten all of it done this season. It is in need of attention and coming down I was glad that I was navigating the loop counter clockwise rather than fighting the brush while climbing to 7000ft. The East Bank Ross creek trail is easy.... hugs a contour line the entire way until you get to Roland Creek. Then it is an easy climb up through Hidden Hand Pass and down to the connecting trail that leads to Ruby Creek. It was my longest day at approx 16 miles but it was easy due to the trail condition and minimal elevation love. Great hike with great weather and finished on October 2nd.

Western Pasayten Wilderness/Ross Lake Loop Epic Sufferfest!! That phrase would best describe my trip through the entirety of the Western Pasayten Wilderness. Douglas Loraine, in his guidebook “Backpacking Washington,” recommends doing this loop in 7-10 days. I’d had my eye on this trip for a while and didn’t have any extra vacation time, so I chose to do it in 3 days. I can’t blame anyone other than myself ☺. Night 1: Arrived by car at the Canyon Creek trailhead around 11:30pm Thursday night, and got hiking a little after midnight. The trail between Canyon Ck and Ruby Creek trailhead is in pretty good shape, surprisingly with a few YSYD (you slip, you die) exposed cliffy sections above the creek. After you reach the Ruby Creek TH the trail becomes obviously much more used and is wide and well-maintained. After meeting with the East Bank Ross Lk trail, I hiked uphill and heard a loud noise in the bushes near the trail. I expected to find a large mouse or rat, and instead encountered a large toad about 5” nose-to-tail. Great to see a large amphibian, as they always says amphibians are an excellent indicator of a healthy ecosystem! I ended up pitching my tent off the trail about 5 minutes south of Hidden Hand Pass a little after 2am and fell asleep around 2:30am. First night mileage: approx. 7 miles. Day 1: Got hiking by 8:30am and was on a mission to cover serious ground along the E Bank Ross Lk trail. Caught up with a horse team who had passed me back at my camp and they asked if I had been stung by the bees (they said they had stirred up a bee hive and the bees had stung their horses). Luckily, I hadn’t seen any bees. The trail up the E Bank is frequently traveled, very well-maintained, well-shaded, and with lots of streams and creeks for filtering water. I made great time and arrived at Lightning Creek stock camp on the lake shore around 2pm. The temperate was warm and the lake looked very inviting, so I stopped for a while and swam in the cool water. Being a Friday afternoon in late September, I had only seen a few boats on the entire lake and while I swam there was only one little boat far off in the distance. I felt like I had the entire lake to myself, and opening my eyes under the water gave me crystal clear views! I reluctantly threw my gear back on and said farewell to the lake, as I knew at this point I would leave the warmer lowlands for good. The trail leaving Lightning Creek heading inland is in good shape with plenty of YSYD cliff sections. I passed a couple guys who had taken the boat ferry up to Hozomeen and were hiking back south along the lake. Eventually I reached the creek crossing and encountered a backpacking group that I have to assume were also hiking south from Hozomeen, as I have serious doubts they had come west down the Three Fools Trail. After snacking and resting for a bit, I prepared myself for what I expected to be the most difficult section of the trip. The Three Fools/Castle Pass trail was in decent shape until you arrive at the Ross Lake NRA/Pasayten Wilderness boundary. To quote “Sir-Hikes-A-Lot” from a previous trip report in August of this year, once you pass this invisible boundary line “the nightmare begins.” There are literally thousands of deadfall and blowdowns covering the trail. At one point for probably 30 yards or so I simply catwalked along fallen tree trunks while my feet never once touch the ground! I am not exaggerating. Then when the trail finally drops down to creek level, you have to deal with the thickets of slide alder. This section has become so overgrown its like you’re a rock star without bodyguards who’s trying to walk through a mob of screaming fans groping you from all sides. Needless to say, my pace slowed to a crawl. At one point I passed a very nice pool in the creek and decided to skinny-dip in the frigid water to wash off some of the frustration. It worked….for about 5 minutes. By the time I started the relentless uphill climb to the top of the ridge, it was already getting dark. So, I hammered on for another 90 minutes or so losing the “trail” here, finding it there, losing it again, finding it again, and so forth until I had been hiking again for a while in the dark, and then out of sheer exhaustion pitched by tent right in the middle of the “trail” (aka, overgrown flat spot between some trees). I lost the trail so many times I lost count. I knew there was virtually 0% chance of inconveniencing any other hikers by placing my tent there. I made a quick dinner, chugged one of the four 16-ounze cans of Fat Tire “Pale Pilsner” beers I had packed, and then quickly fell asleep around 10:30pm. Total Mileage for Day 1: Approximately 22 miles Day 2: Got hiking by 7:45am in a moderately dense fog. Within 20 minutes or so the fog had retreated a little ways downslope and I was looking down upon an “ocean of clouds.” I ended up having to climb longer than I expected to reach the ridge top, as I was certain I had camped around 6,000ft and thought the ridge was around 6,500ft (I did not bring my altimeter or a topo map, just the NF map and guidebook). Nevertheless, once I hit the ridge top the trail was no longer ensnared by fallen trees and the views had become absolutely stunning! The only downside was a little haziness from the monster fires burning near Leavenworth and Wenatchee (which also made my eyes and lungs burn just slightly), but other than that the views were spectacular. The ridge is fairly easy going until you drop down to Big Face Creek, which is a very steep descent down an avalanche gully and quite literally through an “Alice in Wonderland” tunnel through the thickets of slide alder. I have no doubt that this section of trail will be completely overgrown and virtually impassable if it is not cut back within the next couple years. In addition, at one point I could not walk more than 10 feet without seeing large mounds of bear scat on the trail. Douglas Loraine mentions that there is a healthy bruin population in this particular valley (including a few grizzlies), and I couldn’t help but feel a bit on edge as I thrashed through undergrowth higher than my head, never knowing what was waiting for me on the other side! After climbing the steep trail east out of Big Face Basin, I gained the ridge and noticed that a strong wind was blowing from out of the canyons from the West. Suddenly and without warning, a fog bank had materialized on the slopes beneath me and was rising up the banks straight toward me at a speed of about 40mph! Before I knew it, I crossed a saddle in clear air and as I turned back I saw the fog shooting the gap through the saddle as if it was a mini tidal wave crashing over the mountain! It was a spectacular elemental display for sure, which helped keep me going as my legs were now starting to get very fatigued. After a lot of up and downs, I finally made it to Castle Pass. There I chatted with a PCT thru-hiker from London named John who had made it to the Canadian border and was on his way back south to Hart’s Pass to catch a ridge with a fellow to Bellingham. John and I hiked together for a while, and it was nice to have some company as I had not passed a sing soul for over 21 “trail” miles. After the ordeal I had been through on the Three Fools’ trail, the PCT felt like a freshly paved super-highway! Everything from the grade to the width to the smoothness of the trail was just luxurious. I passed several more thru-hikers on my way south and also passed the “Hiking Mamas,” Joanne and Jennifer, who inspired me to post this trail report (nice meeting you guys!). I made it to Woody Pass just as it was getting dark, and decided to push on a couple more miles to Rock Creek Pass and pitched my tent there at about 9pm. I made dinner, chugged another 16oz pale pilsner and fell asleep by 10:30pm Total Mileage for Day 2: Approximately 24 miles Day 3: Got hiking by 7am as this was going to be the longest and most brutal day yet. The winds had shifted a bit north to south and the smoke from the fires was at its thinnest today versus the previous two days. The views in all directions were quite superb. I passed a few PCT thru-hikers on my way south and made good time to Holman Pass. Turning West at the pass to head towards Sky Pilot Pass made me wonder what kind of “adventure” I would be in for on the trail. Luckily, the trail was in pretty good shape. Surprisingly, I would say the trail was in the best shape between Sky Pilot Pass and Deception Pass (seems like there must have been some maintenance work done specifically on this portion of the trail in the past couple years for it be smoother than the adjacent sections of trail). I made good time to Devil’s Pass, where I filtered water, ate lunch and chugged the last of my pale pilsners. The whole time I was dreading the final push across Jackita Ridge and back down to my car at Canyon Creek trailhead. When I drove to the trailhead on Thursday night, my original plan was to turn south back at Sky Pilot Pass and follow the Chancellor Trail down Canyon Creek. However, a sign posted at the trailead informed me that the Chancellor Trail was closed at Boulder Creek due to a slide, and anyone found along that section of Chancellor Trail “would be prosecuted by the authorities.” So, I instead had to take the brutally up-and-down return route across Jackita Ridge. Yes the views were awesome (I did the Devil’s Dome Loop a couple Octobers ago), but man was it rough on my trail-weary legs. And here’s the best part. I’m sitting in the middle basin (of 3) along Jackita Ridge filtering water, and I haven’t seen a single soul for over 20 miles when out of nowhere this dude comes bounding down the trail with nothing more than running shoes and a small daypack! We exchange some quick hellos and he tells me he’s doing a “day run” from Canyon Creek trailhead to Devil’s Pass AND BACK! I have a buddy who recently got into running ultra marathons, so I knew these types of people existed, but this was hilarious! Just when I thought I was getting ready to complete a hardcore 3-day trip, my ego gets crushed by a dude doing a 33+ mile “run” with probably 10,000ft+ elevation gain and he left the trailhead “around 12:30 or 1pm.” Nice! At any rate, I pushed the pace pretty good and did a brief side trip at the high point of Jackita Ridge to a summit about 500ft above the trail and took in the glorious views in all directions. After that I high-tailed it down through Devil’s Park where a camper named “Roger” told me I had passed by a 400lb black bear as he was foraging in the meadow, and then cruised through McMillan Park as it was getting dark (and saw a salamander walking along the trail at about 5,500ft elevation (once again, sign of a healthy ecosystem!). I was about halfway down when the ultramarathoner caught up with me and asked if I could give me a ride back to his car because he had mistakenly parked at the E Bank trailhead (about 3-4 miles east of Canyon Creek), had crossed the creek and started running off-trail up the mountainside, and then realizing the error of his ways had regained Hwy 20 and ran 3-4 miles down the road before coming to Canyon Creek. This dude had put in some serious mileage that day! We made it back to Canyon Creek around 10:20pm, in just over 70 hours since I had left my car on Thursday night. I dropped off the ultra-runner at his car and cruised back to Seattle for a well-deserved hot shower and a deep, deep sleep. I’ll post some pics in a few days if anyone is curious to see the beauty of the Western Pasayten. Would I do this trip again? Yes. Would I do it in 3 days. No. This was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure that I’m glad I did now, because in 10 years my knees and back wouldn’t be able to hack it (I calculated that this trip was the equivalent of hiking to the Enchantments from Snow Creek TH and back for 3 consecutive days, back-to-back-to-back!). But when all was said and done, this is one heck of a fun hike through some of the most beautiful terrain the Pasayten Wilderness has to offer. And if you can find any other trails in the Washington Cascades where you can go for 20+ mile stretches and not see a single soul, write me and tell me about them, because I don’t think those places exist, especially on a gorgeously sunny weekend in September. The level of solitude you can experience on this trip makes it worth all the effort. Good hiking! Day 3 mileage: Approximately 27 miles Total 3-day mileage: 81 miles Total elevation gain: 18,000ft

For our yearly anniversary backpacking trip, Paul, Lucy T. Dog, and I headed up to Ross Lake's East Bank Trail. We arrived at the Marblemount Ranger Station to make our backpacking reservation and pick up our free pass at about 9:30am on Saturday. Luckily, we secured the last spot at Devil's Creek hiker camp, exactly where we wanted to go. The 13 mile hike took us about 4 hours, including a lovely stop for lunch at an open picnic table at Rainbow camp. Although it rained most of the day, the trail is fairly level, well-cared for, and soft on the feet, making for quick and easy hiking. We decided to take our shoes off to walk across Roland Creek, as the logs going over looked a little too sketchy. Aside from that one ford, no trail issues to speak of. Just make sure to put on your bug dope before using the privy. The mosquitoes swarmed at a few inopportune times, but were easily kept at bay with a little deet. The last 6 miles to Devil's Creek Camp were the most scenic. This is where the trail lives up to its name and actually follows along the bank of the lake. Great views of the mountains, ducky families, and big fish. Devil's hiker spots are good, but, aside from the one closest to the lake, lack any views to speak of. We walked down to the boat camp, which was appealing because there is only one camp site at this location. Made our way up a short trail to a lookout point just to the east of the boat camp. The sun finally came out and we enjoyed warming on the rock and watching fish jump. We made plans to come back to rent kayaks and check out the lake from another angle in the near future. While cooking dinner, a deer walked right up to our camp. Apparently liked the smell of soy sauce. Mmmm, salt. Luckily, Lucy is a really bad guard dog and spotted the deer long after we'd already seen it coming. The deer seemed unfazed by her barking. Slept in on Sunday and had a pleasant lunch at Roland Creek. Shortly after, we noticed it was getting darker and colder, the prelude to thunderstorms for the rest of the day. Terrified, Lucy tried to sprint back to the car. Eventually she got used to the thunder or she just got too tired to care. We were soaked through by the time we reached the car 2 hours later and looking forward to our special "car clothes" bag. Unfortunately, left that 11th essential at home, so ended up with the heat cranked to 85. Great early season hike and solid way to celebrate our love for one another!