Ross Lake

The North Cascades are one of the largest protected mountain ranges in the United States. Even just driving through these "American Alpes" you'll get the since of how wild this territory is. Over 300 icy blue glaciers crown alpine peaks that give this National Park it's name. Between ancient conifer forests are several giant emerald colored lakes that hold small islands with extremely remote camp spots. We knew this would be an excellent place to have a three day Scenic Boy Adventure.

Our roommate, Kyle and his boyfriend, James joined us on our drive to Bellingham where we met up with Ranger Mike (a Ranger for the North Cascades NP) and a new friend, Alex. We all got to the Ross Lake parking lot at about 8am, from the highway we had to hike a mile down to the shore for Ross Lake. From the banks of this green reservoir we had to call the Ross Lake Resort to send a motorboat to ferry us across. Prior to our arrival we had made reservations for some canoes to play with for a few days. The resort is very quant, with a handful of floating cabins and boat rentals this is the ideal spot to start a North Cascades camp trip. 

Once we all got to the middle of the lake, we had to pause and take in the overwhelming beauty of our surroundings. The glaciers and snow caped mountains dominated the sky, and millions of trees filled the space between the alpine and the lake. As we paddled on small coves came into sight, with tunnels make of tree lims and waterfalls filling the lake with ice cold water. 

Our first camp spot was four miles from the resort on a small spit that formed a private bay. After camp was set up and we all had a bite to eat, we set out to explore our little piece of heaven. We found and examined friendly Alligator Lizards and Western Toads, played a few games with rocks and drift wood, and braved the chilly water for a refreshing dip.

The next morning we continued up the lake to another amazing camp spot, this time on an island. We were eager to keep exploring so we quickly set up camp and hopped back in our canoes to paddle a mile across to lake to the Big Beaver trailhead. It took us a bit to get across due to the wind and choppy water, but we all eventually made it across safely. We followed Big Beaver Creek a few miles up the canyon, passing giant hemlock and fir trees. Feeling like there was more fun and fewer people on our side of the lake, we turned around and headed back.

An hour and a half later we make it back to our island, completely tuckered out from the strenuous paddle across the lake. The wind had pickup and blowing against us. It seemed as though every time we paused, our canoe would drift farther and farther the opposite way we wanted to go. Thankfully the water behind our island was calm and smooth. The 6 of us spent the rest of the day practicing our fly fishing and gathering firewood. 

The third and final day of this canoe adventure, we took our time paddling back to the resort. It turned out to be the nicest day of the trip, so we soaked up some sun and enjoyed the views. Sadly when we returned home we realized most of the video we recored was lost. So this post is videoless. We hope you all can still get the since of how spectacular and fun this trip was for us, and hopefully we can make it back there with a new camera.

Scenic Boys: Ross Lake from scenicboys on Vimeo.

Comments

[A. Lewis]

And I'm going to be damned lucky to even be able to get one single overnight camping trip in this year -- a whole storage shed full of camping stuff that never gets used! I'm in total love, perhaps lust!, with the North Cascades!

[Gary]

What an incredibly beauitful spot. I've never had the pleasure of visiting Ross Lake, but I'm in awe of it just from looking at your wonderful pictures. Looks like you all had a good time. That's great.

[mark]

The greatest "single hit" ever in my book (Take on Me)......and great scenery to go with it.

[Brenton]

Looks like another stunning spot in the scenic boys repertoire. What happened to the footage?

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawk3ZIjq4umnkIQ8340IezQtRH49frIeJLc]

You guys sure know how to pick some great spots! Great scenery. I already have the Cascades on my list of places to go, but maybe I'll have to move it up.

[sean]

You guys rock! It's great to see other people enjoying Washington state. I think it's so beautiful here!