East Bank Ross Lake — Saturday, Aug. 4, 2001

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20

Did a nice hike today in new territory for me as I headed up the East Bank Trail via Ruby Creek. The new bridge over Ruby Creek is rather impressive, and still smelled like fresh cut cedar from it's completion just weeks ago. A peaceful forest hike at all times, there were excellent areas for stopping at rocky outcroppings for photography out and over Ross Lake as well. Some magical sunbreaks made for outstanding lighting to shoot in. Wildlife highlights include a huge toad along the trail hopping away from my feet into the wild ginger growing along the trail. There was also a Pileated Woodpecker family hollering in the trees that made it a challange to locate them. I finally saw at least three individuals including one who was only hopping on branches, thus a likely newbie who wasn't yet ready to do the big dive! The lake was beautiful, and quiet...maybe it gets more active on Sunday afternoons, but being on the trail before 7am made it a day of complete solitude---amazing to me, as just four miles sooner along highway 20 the Ross Lake trailhead had over 30 cars packed in it!!!