East Bank Ross Lake — Friday, Jun. 10, 2011

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

The Ross lake area is absolutely breathtaking. Some friends and I decided to make it a backpacking trip, and we were very glad we did. We first arrived on friday evening at the Colonial Creek Campground were we stayed the first night. The next day we got up, had breakfast and got our stuff together and headed to Panther's creek where we started our hike at around 10:00 AM. The hike was easy to moderate, we crossed many creeks. We were very surprised at how peaceful it was. We only encounter 2 hikers on saturday morning coming in, it must've been cause it was so early in the season. We reached Rainbow Campground at 2 pm, where we set our tents. We walk down to Ross lake where we took lots of pics, and saw some fresh bear prints. The sun was brightly shining and there were a few kayakers out, it was a very beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60's. Next day, we set out to hike along the east bank of Ross lake. The trail is in very good condition. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. We pretty much had the whole area to our selves (except for the kayakers that came from what we assume is Ross Lake Resort). We did not see any one else till we headed back that afternoon. Overall it was a beautiful experience, and we are all looking foward to going back and maybe getting some kayaks up there too!.