Lake Hozomeen, East Bank Ross Lake — Saturday, Jul. 26, 2008

I did a one day hike from Hozomeen to Lightning Creek Camp, and then headed on to Devil's Dome (another report). I'm not sure why most of these trail names are not in the WTA trail list. My hike was on a dreary day with a few light sprinkles. I didn't see any other ""hikers"" the whole day. I briefly talked to a couple at the underutilized (and surprisingly informal appearing) Hozomeen Campground, trying to get a weather forecast, but all they could report was having seen a bear the day before on the way to Hozomeen Lake. I, of course, did not see a bear. Nor anything else terribly exciting. I couldn't even see Hozomeen Mtn as it was in the clouds. There were rather a lot of trees across the trail. Mostly small dead ones, and no problem to step over or crouch under. Only about 15 up to the divide between the Hozomeen and Willow Lake drainages, but the trail is only lightly used past Hozomeen Lake, and I counted 20 between there and Nightmare Camp, and another 25 before Deer Lick, where I ran into a 2 person trail crew with chainsaw. They were on their way north, planning on clearing the whole trail. So I hope others don't need to worry about it, but in case they didn't get there, the only bad spots were a large tree across the steep hillside immediately west of Nightmare Camp, and a tree down right at the side trail to the Nightmare Stock Camp, which very effectively hid the trail heading east/south. Thanks to the trail crews for all their work! There was also a bit of washed out trail a little south of the bridge near Nightmare Camp. And lots of cobwebs... Trail is otherwise in pretty good shape. Looks like a relo is planned around the Deer Lick bridge. Ran into a youth group heading up from the lake, who were going to do some trail work with the park crew. The trail is amazingly diverse, given the negligible elevation changes. The Hozomeen end is completely different (quite a bit less dry) from the Lightning Creek end, and I saw trees including Red Cedar, White Pine, Ponderosa Pine, Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir, Birch, Alder, Cherry shrubs, etc. But most of the flowers are gone this time of year. Also, there were hardly any bugs anywhere, unlike the west side of the lake. Saw a couple pileated woodpeckers, and a couple hairy woodpeckers, and some slugs - that's about it for wildlife. I spent the night at Lightning Creek Camp, with the crowds (11 others), and the next morning hiked to Devil's Junction. Nothing to report on that bit of trail - it's in good shape, and just cobwebs in the way.