Ross Lake East Bank Trail (North Cascades National Park, Washington)

 

My next adventure in the Seattle area takes me to North Cascades National Park and the associated National Recreation Areas. This is going to be a short overnight backpack with the local REI team. When I saw the even on their calendar I thought it would be a great way to explore parts of a new park and relieve me from having to pack and fly with all of my gear. Meeting up with the crew in Darrington, WA, we choose our gear, our meals, and make plans to reconvene at the trailhead about an hour away.

While the gear they provided isn't as lightweight as my personal backpacking setup, it will do fine for a short hike into the woods and a quick overnight. Once we reconvene, we quickly do some last minute checks and then enter the woods. After a short descent, we cross over a small suspension bridge spanning the confluence of Ruby and Panther Creeks, which further down flow into the Ruby Arm of Ross Lake, which we'll hike alongside for most of our trip. The waters of this creek are a gorgeous transparent turquoise color and generated mostly by the melting snows of the tall jagged mountains of the Northern Cascade Range, which surround us.

We make our way to the Hidden Hand Campground, which will be our accommodations for the night. Along the way, I chat with and get to know my guides and fellow hikers. For a couple of the participants, this is their first backpacking experience, but for others, they are simply wanting to enjoy a new location, like myself.

Though we aren't moving at a crazy pace by any stretch of the imagination, we do make pretty good time. We discuss the damming of the Skagit River and the formation of Ross Lake, which runs some 23 miles and cross the border into Canada. We also chat about some of the local flora and fauna, which is of particular interest to me, as I have not spent much time in this area previously.

When we reach our campsite, we find another family has squatted on the site we had reserved. They are very friendly about the situation and offer to move, but we decide to scout out the other campsites before asking them to uproot. Unfortunately, the remaining single sites are just not big enough to accommodate our group of eight and so, we give the family a some time to move their tents. 

While we wait, we begin playing some lateral thinking puzzles, which is something that I had done with my nephew a couple of weeks ago. As there are some highly educated individuals with this group, including an attorney and a bio-chemist, it turns out to be great fun. For those unfamiliar with these types of puzzles, let me explain. One person, who knows the answer, describes a specific situation and then poses a related question to the group to solve. The group takes turns asking the storyteller a series of 'yes or no' questions until they have figured out the puzzle. Some are quite complex and require several rounds of questions before the mystery is revealed. That said though, the entire group seems to enjoy these puzzles and between myself and one of the guides, we keep the group entertained with these brainteasers through the evening.

Once the family has moved on, we take a break from our puzzles to set up our individual tents and bedding arrangements. I'm able to get my tent up fairly quickly and decide to leave the rain-fly off for the evening. It's only suppose to be in the low fifties and there is almost no chance of rain tonight. The open air will do me good. While I wait for the others to finish their setup, I stroll down to an overlook that offers a magnificent view of Ross Lake.

When I return, there is still a little time before dinner and I decide to check out the area around our campsite including the pit toilet, which is true to its name. A winding path leads from the hilltop on which I've erected by tent down into the gully and to a large rock. On the other side of the rock, a pit has been dug and crude toilet has been constructed out of wood. No walls and just an open view of the forest is what greets the camper taking care of their business. It's perfect.

After I get back to the group, it's time to begin fixing some dinner. We enjoy a round of bourbon, which the attorney packed in while we boil water for our individual dinners and continue playing the puzzle games we had started earlier. Though one of the gentlemen decides to crash early, several of stay up well after sunset trying to solve the riddles. Eventually though, we all head to our respective tents and call it a night. As I crawl into my sleeping bag and look up, I see the tall douglas firs blowing in wind above me. The amount they sway is a bit unnerving as I realize that any one of them that came crashing down would likely end me, but the wind feels nice and if I've got to go, this seems like a nice place for it to happen. Soon I drift off into dreamland.

Several hours later, just before sunrise, I awaken to the long complicated song of the Pacific Wren. There are few ways I would rather greet a new day than in the open air and to the melodies of nature. I lay in my tent for a few minutes just enjoying the moment. Eventually though, I decide to get up and start making some tea. I seem to be the first one awake and so, I try o be as quiet as possible, but soon two other members of our little expedition join me. Before you know it, we are deep in a conversation about the pandemic. I appreciate good conversation and other points of view and these gentlemen offer both. It's very pleasant and a great way to get the gears turning. Soon others join us and we begin to make some breakfast before breaking down our camps.

After we have completed packing up our backpacks and doing our last minute checks around the area to ensure we aren't leaving any trash, we begin the short hike out and back to our cars. In total, we hike about 7.7 miles and it was great to enjoy a new area with new friends. I was especially nice to not have to worry about packing and unpacking all of my personal gear. I will definitely need to visit this area again. There are many more trails to explore.