“As I was hiking down the mountain with my pack I turned and knelt on the trail and said "Thank you, shack." Then I added "Blah", with a little grin, because I knew that that the shack and that mountain would understand what that meant and turned around and went on the trail back to this world” (Jack Kerouac, Dharma Bums)
We did a nice 4 day-36 mile loop trip to visit Desolation Peak.
Day 1
We parked at the East Bank trail head and took the Happy Panther trail (about 6 miles) to the Ross Lake Resort boat ramp.
Happpy Panther
Happy Panther
Happy Panther
Ross Lake Resort
There we loaded onto the speed boat with 2 other parties (only $20 a head) and zipped on over to Lightning Creek campground.
Speed boat
We lounged in camp and swam in Ross Lake.
Lightning Creek
Sunset
Day 2
14 mile hike to Desolation Peak (8hrs round trip with leisurely hour lunch on summit)
Perfect Weather. And the views!! This is one amazing summit!
Ross Lake
Getting Closer
Hozemeen
Lookout
Canada!!
Summit View
Summit Views
After a long day, we again swam in the lake and lounged in the sunshine at camp!
Celebrating Desolation as Jack would!
Day 3 (4 very leisurely hours wandering along the trail)
7 mile hike on the East Bank trail to Rainbow Point Camp
Mellow day. This section of trail wanders through forest and also contours amazingly close to the lake. The erosion control efforts are unbelievable.
Crossing Lightning Creek
East Bank
East Bank Trail
Bridge across Devils Creek
Looking up Devils Creek
Erosion control work supplied by Seattle City Light!!
Gneiss and Shist!!
East Bank Trail
Erosion control
Rainbow Point Camp
The mighty Ruby as seen from camp.
We took another swim in the lake enjoying the warm sun.
In the evening, as the sun went down we heard a sound like this...
http://www.searchingwolf.com/howl.wav
Day 4
9 mile hike out to East Bank Trail head. (3.5 hours)
A very easy hike out through old growth forest. We gradually climbed up to Hidden Hand Pass and descended to Ruby arm with ease. We cruised the last 2.8 miles of the arm in about 45 minutes.
Lots of bear scat along this trail and bear digging holes, but no sightings of a bear. We did see a paw mark in the mud.
For this trip we were in leisure mode and hiked the 18 miles in two days. But it could be hiked rather easily in one long day-maybe taking 8-9 hours.
Wonderful area! We did not run into a soul along the 18 mile East Bank Trail-but saw many hikers on Desolation. Most folks out in the area were canoeing or kayaking.
Next trip to this area will be via canoe.
And the end of all our searching shall be to return to the place where we started and know it for the first time.
- T.S. Eliot
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And the end of all our searching shall be to return to the place where we started and know it for the first time.
- T.S. Eliot
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