Backpacked from East Bank TH to Rainbow Point, then to Lodgepole, then up to Desolation Camp, then down to Lightning Boat Camp, then to Hozomeen Lake, then back to Lodgepole and out to the TH.
Thankfully the one cool and drizzly day was the day we hiked up to Desolation camp since we had to carry extra water. My backpack was 50 lbs fully loaded. The trickle 1.5 miles from Desolation camp was still flowing but I was worried that it would clog my MSR water filter so we skipped it. Lookout Jim Henterly was there and gave us a great tour.
There is a much bigger stream with a waterfall about a mile before the trail starts climbing up to Desolation Camp so I would recommend collecting extra water there instead of hauling it from Lightning Creek. Just be careful of the 8" cedar tree on the SW side of that creek since it had some kind of hornet nest and I got stung. Only after that did I notice the small hornets going in and out of the hole near the base of the cedar.
We saw a young adult bear (with some light fur) at Lodgepole and heard what sounded like a bear walk through our camp at Hozomeen Lake. Huckleberries were abundant there and none of our bear canisters were disturbed. The bear wire seems to have fallen down on the side facing Hozomeen Mountain and was too low to hang bags from. The bridge over Nightmare Creek was undermined during a storm and has warnings to cross at your own risk. We did since the stream was pretty deep to ford and it looked safe enough with the main log strapped to another tree. But it might not be safe after another winter storm.
We heard what definitely sounded like wolves howling at Hozomeen Lake. (There was one howl, followed by a more distant howl, followed by an even more distant howl.)
There were only a few bugs along Ross Lake but Hozomeen Lake had a lot of flies and white faced hornets. Hozomeen Lake is beautiful and there were a lot of Loons calling in the morning and at night. I'm looking forward to the reopening of the Silver-Skagit road so I can drive to Hozomeen/Winnebago Flats and then day hike to Hozomeen Lake. While Hozomeen Lake is beautiful, it was hard to sleep between the loon calls, wolf howls, and bear visiting our camp. Most of the blue huckleberries on the trail were between Hozomeen Lake and the nearby Willow Lake. (There were also some red huckleberries, thimbleberries, and a few black raspberries.) The hike from Lightning to Hozomeen Lake has a sun-exposed section with a 800 foot climb in 0.8 miles so it's best to do that early if possible.
We met two hikers at Lightning Creek who had taken the shuttle boat to Hozomeen and then hiked from there to Hozomeen Lake followed by the longer hike to Lightning Creek. While most trail-accessible boat camps fill up on the weekends, he said that he has been able to get Sunday or Monday night reservations at Lightning Creek Boat Camp (or the nearby waterfront Lightning Stock Camp) for 10 years.
We had planned on staying at Roland Creek the last night but decided to hike directly from Lodgepole to the TH. It was worth the longer hike in the heat to get a shower and back to a real bed, but on a really hot day it is probably better to split that up into two days.
Overall it was a great trip and I definitely want to go back to Ross Lake, though next time I'll try a canoe, kayak or shuttle boat.
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