East Bank Ross Lake — Saturday, Jun. 24, 2017

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

Solo hiked from the trailhead to Hozomeen Lake and back, mixing in some running/jogging on the way back. It's a beautiful hike with lots of vegetation changes and a variety of views throughout the 28 miles. I used it as a test for pushing myself with a light pack to hike a long distance, and would recommend this trail to anybody wishing to so the same. There are a few blow-downs between lightning creek and Hozomeen Lake, one of which is fairly large, so just be careful going around those. Plenty of creeks and streams along the way to fill up on water. The Hozomeen Lake campsite is fantastic, especially for a group ... and there are fish in the lake. I saw a 5 or 6 inch trout swim by while I ate breakfast and others were jumping at sunset. (season opens July 1) I highly recommend this hike! There was some cougar scat on the trail above lightning creek, so make sure you're making noise through there, and I got a creepy feeling when I stopped in at Willow Lake campsite to fill up on water (which I didn't because the "campsite" is basically a mud pit) so just skip Willow and go to Hozomeen. Overall, it's a great hike, and the stretch from the trailhead to Lightning Creek is flat and well maintained, great for beginning trail runners!! The hike took me about 10 hours on the way out and just over 8 hours on the way back with some running/jogging mixed in. My pack was about 22-25lbs.