We won the lottery for early permits in March so we’re lucky to spend 6 nights and 7 days hiking counter-clockwise around Ross Lake, starting at the Dam and ending at East Bank trailhead. Amazing trip - highly recommend. The trails were in great shape except between Stillwell and Perry Creek on the Little Beaver Creek trail. Amazing swimming spots around Ross Lake and at Hozomeen Lake. Details for each day/section are below!

Day 1

Many thanks to the folks who wrote the two previous trip reports, which provide extremely accurate and detailed accounts of what I found on these trails. I won’t bother repeating it here, but will add a few points unique to my experience. I myself did the loop counterclockwise in four days. Unfortunately, I dropped my phone/camera in a creek while on the second day out and it never turned back on, so I also don't have any photos to add to theirs.

Itinerary: 

Day 1: East Bank trailhead to McMillan Park. Grueling hike with little views. I collected water near the start of the Park and camped at the far end of the Park. A deer visited my camp that evening, but skittered off when I shined a light on it. Bugs were annoying, but Deet and a head net helped significantly.

Day 2: McMillan Park to .8 mile  east of Devil’s Dome. Another grueling day but with gorgeous sweeping views and wildflowers that helped keep me distracted. I originally planned on staying at Devil’s Pass, but it seemed that the only campsites with water were down a steep trail to a meadow northeast of the pass. Instead I found a very very tiny spring trickle a little ways down the trail, cooked and ate dinner there, filled up all my containers with water, and hoped to make it to the top of the dome before sunset. While the majority of the trail from Devil’s Pass to the dome is quite pleasant and flat, the last mile gets quite steep. As the sunset was imminent, a hiker passed and informed me I had another mile and over 500 foot gain, so I decided to call it quits at a little spot with a gorgeous view and a decent tree limb from which to hang my food.

Day 3: Devil’s Dome to Devil’s Creek Camp at Ross Lake. Woke up at first light and ascended the last mile to the dome to watch the sun rise. It’s breathtaking how far you can see - mountains to infinity that make you feel very very small and also incredibly lucky. I repeated to myself that a photo couldn’t possibly capture the view and certainly not the feeling, and who needs proof you’ve been to Devil’s Dome?! It sure looked to me like there weren’t many campsites at the top other than the one at the tip with the rock wall windshield. Two other groups were camped in more sensitive areas that didn’t seem established. I was glad I didn’t try to get up there the night before. Descended back to camp, packed up and went back up to enjoy another hour on the dome all to myself!

Day 4: Devil’s Creek Camp to East Bank trailhead. I really enjoyed having this last stretch of 13 miles along Ross Lake at the end of my hike, to contemplate lessons learned on this journey and take an early morning dip in the lake at a remote spot along the trail.

Personal learning experiences, for those who care:

I agree with the overall assessment of the two previous trip reporters that this trail is deceptively more difficult than the stats imply. It can be both physically and mentally challenging, especially when combined with hot weather, terrible bugs, and being solo on such a remote trail, as I was. I consider myself a pretty strong hiker, and I go hiking alone all the time. But the loss of my phone’s map/GPS app, combined with passing only two parties the 12 miles between McMillan Park and Devil’s Dome, left me feeling sometimes a little anxious (especially when descending one or more of the ridiculously steep, slippery trails that another trip reporter described). The experience confirmed that one should ALWAYS bring a set of printed maps and compass. It was also very helpful to have a printout of a description of the hike and a Garmin mini that told me the time as well as my current elevation, which helped me locate myself on the map. I plan to learn more about the navigation options with the Garmin for the future. 

This trip also confirmed that I love water - camping near it, passing it often to replenish supply, and splashing/bathing in it frequently. This was probably more important given that the weather was so hot this week, but I always enjoy a nearby lake to enhance the view. So while the sweeping mountain views were amazing the second day of my hike, it wasn’t until Devil’s Creek Camp at Ross Lake where I really started to feel the benefits of backpacking, with a refreshing swim, ample water, and a lake view from my campsite. I was also the only camper in the entire campground, so I still had that feeling of remoteness. Never knowing where the next water supply will be on the first two days created more stress than I like to have backpacking, not to mention added weight to the pack.

I also discovered just how much I enjoy having my camera and books on my phone while backpacking, but also learned the benefits of even fewer electronic distractions for true mindfulness and rest.

We hiked the Devil's Dome Loop clockwise, from the East Bank Trailhead.

Short summary: this is a stunning loop that took me to parts of the North Cascades I have not seen, but trail conditions make it more difficult than the stats would imply.

Day 1: East Bank to Devil's Creek
Picked up permits from the WIC in Marblemount. Permit pickups are in the same queue as people seeking new permits or changes, so this took about 50 minutes - I do wish the park service would go back to email-issuing them or having a separate line for people picking up permits without change. 

The East Bank Trail is straightforward and pretty fast to hike; we camped at Devil's Creek (about 12.7 miles for us). One heads up is that the digital map I was referring to had the junction for the East Bank and Hidden Hand further along than the East Bank / Little Jack junction, so we originally blew past the junction, forcing some backtracking. 

The last few miles of this stretch were the most interesting and right along the lake. 

Devil's Creek is sort of an odd layout - four sites, but two of them are smack on the way to others, so we set up in a way that others had to walk through often. The site was a bit buggy but not bad. No real views from camp, but the dock and lakeside provided a nice place to cool off. The creek, accessed through the stock camp, was otherwise our water source.

Day 2: Devil's Creek to Devil's Dome
From the junction with Devil's Creek and the East Bank Trail, the trail to Devil's Dome stars climbing steadily. The grade was never bad despite the thousands of feet of gain, and the miles would have passed quickly except for the many blowdowns, starting about 1/2 mile before the recreation area boundary. With those, it felt like we had to do an obstacle every time we got up momentum.

The creek at 4100' (~3 miles from junction) was flowing well, the following two creeks had water in them but were not flowing well.

At Dry Creek Pass, there's a four way junction. Left seems to lead out to a long ridge (it looked, from later viewpoints, very walkable), straight to campsites (?), and right to Devil's Dome. 

We continued toward Devil's Dome, turning off to visit Bear Skull Shelter. Our goal was to hike to Spratt Mountain. We dropped some weight and followed the boot path to where it ended in a stream bed and steep hill covered with wildflowers; from there we went up and then over thinking we'd hit a boot path somewhere on the ridge. We never did, so going was slow, and often required ascending or descending to get through rows of trees. The views were great, but we turned around about 3/4 mile short of the summit due to time and wanting to preserve some energy. On the way back, I thought we could descent gradually (avoiding the steep descent down the wildflower stream-slope), but instead I brought us through several successive rows of trees that were difficult to pass through. 

Back at Bear Skull Shelter, wildflowers were nice and bugs were bad. We filled up water for the night and next morning. As we prepared to depart, three others arrived and told us that the water was flowing great in the basin before Devil's Dome -- perhaps we should have dumped water, but, sunk cost fallacy and all, we chose to carry it.

Another 1.2 miles or so brought us to Devil's Dome (~11.4 miles and 6200' gain including the side trip), passing the basin where water was indeed flowing well. We set up a little off the summit.

Sunset was fantastic, with just enough clouds to add color but wonderful 360º view. I loved how one side is classic North Cascades views and the other side is classic Pasayten views.

Day 3: Devil's Dome to Devil's Park
Sunrise was equally great - with even fewer clouds so we could see all surrounding peaks. This made it hard to leave.

Once we did leave, the first part of the day was wonderful - meadows or thin forests kept the views coming all the way to Devil's Pass and the following two miles. Blowdowns continued to slow progress.

For those needing water, the basin after Devil's Dome (where the trail does a broad, descending U) had a good amount though not as readily as accessible as the basin on our ascent. We did not investigate the water at Devil's Pass.

The descent into North Fork Devils Creek was challenging: steep, slippery (because of dry dust), slippery (because of mud), blowdowns, and brushy enough to make it hard to see where you were stepping. The same trail conditions persisted on the steep climb out, albeit drier. This is probably one of the harder stretches of official trail I've done in the PNW.

After this, a descent and ascent brought us to the scree field. It's completely snow free, and, after the previous steep climbs, felt mostly like a respite. There's only a short stretch of finer screen that felt like one step forward and half a step back.

From there, the going is again easy for the descent into Devil's Park. We debated whether to camp at Devil's Park. It was buggy (mosquitoes and horse flies) and views were limited -- there are tantalizing views through the trees of Jack and Crater, as well as to the west and east. If there are sites that open up to expansive views, though, we didn't find them despite lots of exploring (though, now looking at a map, I wonder if I should have looked further to the east end of the park, where the trail turns?). Hikers traveling the other way had warned us that Macmillan Park was even buggier and similar with respect to reviews.

The stream was flowing well, which made getting water easy and I found a nice pool to soak my feet. Total: ~11.9 miles, 2800', but it felt harder than the previous day despite being less than half the elevation gain.

Day 4: Devil's Dome to Devil's Park
We woke up and tried to get moving before the bugs woke up. We'd heard deer throughout the night, but didn't see any - just lots of ground squirrels. 

The descent out of Devil's Park again offered nice views, especially of Jack and Crater. The site at Nickol Creek had a nice view of Jack and we could see and hear water, though the creek was underground at the most obvious access point. Macmillan Park had lots of water (and lots of standing water - easy to see how the bugs would be bad), a view of the side of crater, and a couple of spots that had nice views back to Jackita Ridge.

After Macmillan, the descent begins. Switchbacks keep the grade reasonable, but, as before, blowdowns slow progress.

Back at Ruby Creek, we followed the trail back to the East Bank trailhead. Immediately after where you would ford to get to Canyon Creek, there's a large landslide that requires climbing over/through, with the assistance of some stone steps. The next 1.5 miles or so a a brushy, blowdown filled mess -- definitely not the easy, stream side stroll I had imagined to end the loop. Conditions improve the further west you get.

Total: ~11 miles, 800' gain.

Takeways
This is a spectacular loop, but it also really made me feel like I worked for it in a way that distance and elevation gain alone would suggest, largely because of trail conditions.

Devil's Dome, Devil's Ridge, Jackita Ridge, and Ruby Creek are all in need of maintenance, a state that is particularly frustrating as you can often tell there's a well-built trail under there -- but sections of Jackita Ridge and Ruby Creek in particular are well on their way to being Lost Trails, despite the traffic they get. In many places, the blowdown detours are now more prominent than the original trail, but in places that contribute to erosion. I don't like encouraging people to take more cars to the mountains, but a car spot would be worth it to avoid using Ruby Creek, in its current condition, to complete the loop.

We did see two trail runners (and many other backpackers) on this loop, so I don't want to overstate its difficulty or the conditions while I also don't want to understate it. 

If I were to do to this again, I might:

• Indulge in the water taxi to Devil's Junction / Devil's Creek (especially we had a second car to make logistics easier). There's nothing wrong with the East Bank trail, it just felt a lot like a "positioning" day rather than a true part of the trip.
• Perhaps use the time saved to add a night at Crater Lake and time to do either the summit or Lookout #2.
• Would love to find a site with more open views on the last night - perhaps   some more exploring around Devil's Park?

We started our long awaited multi-day backpack at Ross Lake with a water-taxi to Hozomeen.  Unfortunately, the worst part of our hike was the first two hours.  The signs to the Hozomeen Lake trailhead were either difficult to see or had fallen down (see photo).  Also, the map we used didn't show the trail leaving from the dock but quite a way down the road which was also not true.  The mosquitoes are terrible this year due to the wet spring. 

Once we found the trail, we were off and to Lake Hozomeen in no time.  The Lake was gorgeous, quite warm and the bugs were a bit better, especially right by the lake.  We had a wonderful campsite and were even allowed to have a campfire which seems like a luxury at this point in the season.   

Day two we headed to Lightning Creek which was beautiful and bustling compared to the very quiet trails and camps we had come from.  The only thing to note is one of the large bridges is somewhat damaged and there is both a sign instructing you not to cross and then a handwritten note that you should cross at your own risk.  We did and it was fine.  

Day three we left our packs at camp and headed up Desolation Peak.  It was quite a strenuous hike on a warm day.  We were pleasantly surprised to find water still trickling in a creek halfway up the hike.  Jim was at the top to great us as the Forest Service they had asked him to stay one an additional night with the lightning storm coming through.  He donned us with chocolate, stickers for our water bottles, pictures of cinnamon bears and a science lesson on lightning.  It was totally worth it.  

Day four we hiked from Lightning creek to Rainbow point where we were picked up by a wonderfully friendly lad from Kentucky driving the water-taxi.  It was such a fabulous trip and aside from some annoying mosquitoes and poor signage initially, we couldn't complain about a thing.

Backpacked the loop counterclockwise from East Bank Trailhead (Canyon Creek bridge is out) to Ross Lake over course of 3 days, then returned to highway at Ross Dam via water taxi on day 4, a total of around 30 miles on foot. This was a very challenging backpack that pushed my limits physically and mentally, and required a faster pace than I was comfortable with to cover the requisite miles each day.

Route:
Day 1 - Canyon Creek is not a viable entrance to this loop since the bridge is out. Somehow we missed this in our trip planning. We instead started at East Bank Ross Lake trailhead which added another 3 miles before we could even start ascending Jackita Ridge. Switchbacked up and made it to McMillan Park just at dusk, where we made camp in the dark.
Day 2 - Jackita Ridge Trail from McMillan Park to Devil's Pass. Again arrived to camp at Devil's Pass in the dark by headlamp.
Day 3 - Devil's Ridge Trail from Devil's Pass up to Devil's Dome, then all the way down to Ross Lake. Camped at Devil's Creek Campground.
Day 4 - Scheduled water taxi 4 miles up the East Bank Trail at Lightning Creek. Were able to flag down a passing motorboat who offered us a ride to Lightning, shaving off an unwelcome 4 final miles on foot. Water taxi back to Ross Dam where it was a little over a mile hike back up the hill to the highway where we left our car.

Parking/People/Privies:
Was able to find space to leave the car at Ross Dam trailhead on a Monday morning despite it being somewhat crowded. Got shuttled by a friend to our entry point at East Bank trailhead where it was mostly empty.

We seemed to matching routes with one other party on our counterclockwise journey, though they stayed well ahead of us each day. We encountered three other parties traveling opposite on our 3rd day (Devil's Ridge). Otherwise we saw no other humans our entire time out there.

Both trailheads had good, clean, well stocked vault toilets. No backcountry privies anywhere on the high parts of the loop. The ranger at Marblemount provided us with blue bags to pack out waste if we needed to go while up on Devil's Ridge, explaining that the terrain there could not support breaking down buried waste. We held it instead. The privy at the Devil's Creek hiker camp was just an exposed box to sit upon, not even a lid, but was nice after a few days of cat holes. Very nice, clean, well stocked, enclosed vault toilets at both Devil's Junction and Lightning Creek boat camps.

Trail:
This trail has gains. We logged at least 10,000 feet of ups and downs by my estimation. While the ascent in from Ruby Creek to McMillan Park was the biggest chunk of uphill on our route, with fatigue and heavy packs the uphills (and downs and ups and downs and ups) on Jackita and final push up to Devil's Dome were plenty to contend with. The steepest uphill push by far was the approximately 1 mile gaining the ridge again from the creek basin east of Devil's Pass. It was seemingly steep coming down into it from Anacortes Crossing as well--both directions had almost no switchbacks and seemed to march straight up the ridge. Bring your poles and watch your step. The 5,000-ft descent from Devil's Dome to Ross Lake was substantial, but did not feel as steep downhill as I feared looking at the map. I'm sure it's nothing to sneeze at heading uphill though.

Contrary to some other recent trip reports, we found the trail to be extremely obstacle-ridden between blowdowns and overgrowth. While free of snow, there were frequent trees across trail that required over, under, or around almost the entire way. The only stretches without were the highest reaches of Jackita Ridge and Devil's Dome. The worst blowdown by far was along the added-on Ruby Creek stretch, with an enormous tree lying almost upside down against the steep embankment, roots in the air and the only clear path 15 feet above the trail. It involved four-legged clambering up an unstable dirt slope and through a narrow opening between the root ball and the ground to get past it. Intensely overgrown trail particularly between Ruby Creek and McMillan Park and then again between Devil's Dome and Ross Lake. These have you pushing through thick branches, bushes, and wildflowers. Advise long pants and sleeves or you will get pretty scraped up.

Apart from the grade and the obstacles, the trail was mostly solid and in good condition. Three other exceptions: First, the scree field north of the Jackita Ridge high point is, in a word, precarious. Second, on the more level section up on the ridge east of Devil's Pass there are multiple dried creekbeds/rockslides that require crossing, one of them particularly wide and unstable looking. Third, in this section again as well as along Devil's Ridge both east and west of the Dome, there are sections of trail through the meadows that are quite narrow and have a steep drop if you misstep, but you can't quite see this due to the wildflowers.

The signage at the junction with East Bank Trail was a little confusing to us. The post signed "Devil's [campsite icon]" turned out to run west from the junction to all "Devil's X" campsites. Further along it splits and there is further signage for each (boat camp aka "Devil's Junction", hiker camp aka "Devil's Creek", stock camp also "Devil's Creek").

Camps/Water:

• Found decent (but not many) camps at McMillan Park just a short walk from the creek that parallels the switchbacking trail up from Canyon Creek.
• Nickol Creek could be heard flowing but seemed a little hard to access through the brush. Some space here could make for a campsite.
• Even more camps and much more easily accessed water at Devil's Park. I would opt for the nice, large open campsites before trying the shelter as it seemed the mosquitos loved the shelter. Devil's Park too had a lovely stream which we got good water from.
• After getting up into the heights of Jackita Ridge we did not see any good obvious campsites until we got all the way to Devil's Pass at the far northern end. Most of the trail is narrow and along steep slopes. The WTA description notes a campsite in the steep creek valley south of Anacortes Crossing; I did not see it, but this valley was quite overgrown and I may have just missed it. There was decent water in this valley and even better water in the basin north of Anacortes Crossing before ascending to Devil's Pass.
• Many good campsites at Devil's Pass. No water at the Pass, but from our campsite we could see down the cliff to the pond below that is indicated on the map. Hopefully that would not be too far of a walk (.8 mile RT per the map?). We filled up at the creek below Anacortes and conserved our water up the ridge instead.
• There is a basin about 2 miles east of Devil's Dome, where the trail really starts to ascend from the ridge. Here if needed, there was some water in the basin down below the trail and I suppose a flat spot could be found for camp as well.
• Good campsites at the top of Devil's Dome, with a snowfield still that could serve as a source of water. It is pretty exposed though.
• Creeks and campsites to be found west of Devil's Dome, but east of Dry Creek Pass.
• We did not in fact see any water at Dry Creek Pass itself or in the two other creek crossings indicated on the map between it and Ross Lake.
• Once we finally made sense of it and made camp (see above), we found the Devil's Creek campsite at Ross Lake to be well provisioned but quite large and spaced out between water, privy, campsite, etc. which I suppose is proper camp design for LNT/bear safety but gave us a groan after 30 miles. A couple guys we ran into on the trail going opposite direction said that when they camped at Devil's Creek, a bear came right into their campsite looking for food while they were present just a dozen yards away. We had no such encounter.
• Water at Devil's Creek (by the stock camp) was a slow trickle. Ross Lake itself was easier to draw from though it's at Devil's Junction boat camp, a small hike from Devil's Creek camp.

Flora:
Overgrown? Yes. Wildflowers? Big yes. Berries? Not yet. It seems that with the late spring/summer this year it was a little earlier into the vegetation season than usual for early August. Aster, lupine, and paintbrush for miles and miles and miles. Some anemone, fireweed, and columbine as well, plus more one-offs here and there. There are tons of berry bushes trailside especially in the meadow reaches of Jackita and Devil's Ridge, but any berries we found were still green, if existent at all. We found a few salmonberries down low closer to the lake and Canyon Creek.

Fungus: Very little, especially higher up.

Fauna:
Primarily bugs and some scat. Bugs were bad enough, not the worst I've seen but certainly ever present with mosquitos and biting flies including the occasional big horse sucker. Some from our party thought they heard steps and rustling outside the tent at Devil's Pass, but the next morning we saw no sign of anything having messed with our food. Secondhand rumor of bear at Ross Lake, see "camps" section above. We did see bear scat and what we thought might be coyote scat at several points along Devil's Ridge in particular, but this was the most we saw along the hike. At Lightning Creek Dock on Ross Lake, while we sat on the dock and another camper sat plainly at his picnic table, several deer including two fauns came and confidently explored his campsite. I'll say, they kept a little more distance from the large group of teens that paddled up and seemed not to even notice they were there.

Views:
As good as it gets. The North Cascades truly form an impressive tapestry of dramatic, jagged mountains and ridges stretching off as far as you can see from wherever you happen to be looking. We had clear air and good vistas most of our days on Jackita Ridge and Devil's Dome, even when clouds and rain set in. This is truly a circumnavigation of Crater and Jack Mountains, letting you see them in close detail from several angles as you make your way along. Being a loop, it is neat to pick out where you are headed on that next ridge, or where you have been on that ridge behind you. Good views south/east ascending out of Devil's Park up onto the high point of Jackita. Good views north/east from Devil's Pass. Great 360 degree vista from the top of Devil's Dome and were able to pick out Washington peaks all the way up to the Canadian border (and gaze beyond into BC which our map didn't cover). On the inverse at the low point in our trip, Ross Lake offers extensive views upward and outward to dramatic heights that tempt the imagination to consider future adventures.