After our insane hike yesterday, you'd be right to assume that we were all a little sore and tired Monday morning. What was supposed to be a 7:30 a.m. start to the day ended up being more like an 8:00 or 8:15 start. There's no shame in that because, after all, our day was just as wild as the day prior.
We started off heading out of Rockport and onto the Cascade Highway, passing through Marblemount and then Newhalem. Just outside of Newhalem is the Gorge Overlook, which, as you may suspect, overlooks the Gorge Lake.
It was a cute, well-manicured trail just off the main road. We didn't get far, honestly, just enough to snag a few of the photographs above. It's beauty wasn't hard to miss, but it wasn't exactly what we had planned. So after about 15 or 20 minutes, we were back in the van and on our way to Ross Lake.
Originally, we had tossed out the idea of doing some sort of boat tour on Diablo Lake on Monday. There weren't too many options, and spots were filling up quickly. By the time we all agreed on what to do, we were out of luck with the Diablo Lake tour.
Our attention then turned to Ross Lake and doing our own boat rental. While we were a bit skeptical at first, it turned out to be equally as gorgeous as what we did yesterday. We can also assume that renting and boating yourself around Ross Lake all day is infinitely better than having somebody do it for you for two hours on Diablo Lake.
So, the way this works is that we parked the van at the Ross Lake Resort parking lot and began a roughly one- to two-mile trek downhill to a boat dock.
We crossed over a neat little nugget of a waterfall that carved itself out of rock along our descent.
About 100 feet from the boat dock is a telephone box that connects to the Ross Lake Resort on the other side of the lake. Jesse made the call and about two minutes later, a guy showed up in a speed boat at the dock to take us over to the resort where we could get everything squared away and into our own boat.
It's safe to say that in the 15 seconds it took us to drive from boat dock to the resort, we all knew that we'd be in for a special day.
Just listen to us losing it as we whip away from the boat dock and the Ross Dam:
Once at the resort, which is essentially a floating hotel on the lake that you either get to via boat taxi or a seven-mile hike, we confirmed our reservation, changed into our suits, and sunscreened up. A super friendly worker showed us the basics of operation on the boat and then we were off.
Cara was the first to take us away from the resort and onto the open waters of Ross Lake.
Jesse, Katie, and I all eventually took turns at the driver's helm. We were in a 16-foot fishing boat that comfortably fit the six of us, even if we weren't moving nearly as fast as some of the two-person boats that were cruising around on this humongous lake.
A very large portion of my photographs and videos from today came within the first 30 minutes on the lake.
As the wind slammed against your face, the crystal clear water sprayed up, and the sun shone brightly upon the lake, we couldn't help but turn around and soak in the mountains all of the time.
I'd think a few of us might have some sore jaws and cheeks from smiling so much today.
From our limited research, which was later confirmed by the resort workers, the go-to spot on Ross Lake is Devil's Creek. That's the entrance in the photograph above.
What Devil's Creek is is a branch off the lake that contains some of the clearest water I've ever seen and is dozens of feet deep at points. As you idle your way back through this mini-canyon, sharp edges of rocks shoot up and out of the water while trees try to grow however they can. With all of that within our field of vision, Devil's Creek also begins to narrow the further we went back.
Eventually, we approached a log jam and made our turnaround to leave the canyon.
Our next stop was to find a beach somewhere. Jesse wanted to jump off some rocks while the rest of us just wanted to chill and swim in the lake. Although it is a glacier lake and a pretty cool temperature (I'd estimate it to be in the mid-60s), the sun was beating down on us and the outdoor temperature rose into the upper-80s. It was time to do some swimming.
We had heard from a couple previous hikers on yesterday's hike that there is some good swimming opportunities near a spot called Devil's Junction north of Devil's Creek. However, after docking at Devil's Junction and walking around a bit, we didn't really see what we were hoping for.
We all hopped back into the boat and continued our northward trek. It was a good thing we did because we found a perfect place to spend a few hours: Ponderosa. It's a pretty small jut of land from the main mountains. There is camping available at Ponderosa, although we didn't see anybody else there.
We docked the boat and began to just take in all of the sights and sounds.
The rocks you see in the photograph above are what Jesse ended up jumping off. Like I said earlier, the rest of just waded around and swam around the shoreline. The lake had a very steep decline and we could barely stand only a few feet from the shore. I know it might not look like it from the photos above, but the water is incredibly clear and some of the rocks were further than six feet down.
So, for a few hours it was nothing but swimming and relaxing (and eating lunch). Katie brought her hammock and had one of the best spots to just chill out with the snow-capped mountains shooting toward the sky.
After getting a few more photos, mostly of us as a group, on Katie's phone, we hopped back onto the boat.
Cara got things started for us.
We thought we saw what could possibly be a waterfall directly across from Ponderosa. But as we got closer, we realized that it was more of an illusion, and it was time to start heading back south toward the resort.
We'd try to get as many different views as our northward journey.
And only a few minutes later did we find a waterfall that we were all desperately searching for.
We were able to back up close enough to hear the rushing water and feel the splashing water. It was truly a wild way to end an already wild day on the lake.
After the waterfall, and with the sun just absolutely beating down us and no shade to provide relief, we booked it back to the resort as quickly as possible.
After taking the water taxi back and making our hike uphill (in the unrelenting sun, mind you) to our van, we began our journey back to Rockport. It'd be about 45-50 minutes of driving through the North Cascades National Park before we'd be back at our place.
The only other thing on our to-do list was to check out the highly recommended Diablo Lake Overlook.
I know that you might not believe it, but that color you see in the final photo above is pretty darn close to what Diablo Lake looks like in real life. It has a strange, almost milky-blue and milky-green look to it.
After winding our way through the mountains and out of the park, we made a stop at Cascadian Farms, which is an organic home farm that grows some food you might see in your local grocery store, on our way back to our place. We all got either some sort of ice coffee and espresso from the farm store. We even got to try some homegrown, delicious blueberries.
While at Cascadian Farms as well as at various points throughout the day's travels on Ross Lake, we often commented on how much different what we were doing on the lake compared to what we did the prior day in hiking up to Thornton Lake and Trappers Peak. Both were equally exhilarating and breathtaking in their own form, which means that the North Cascades National Park has so much to offer. It's surprising that it doesn't get more love, especially considering how close it is to Seattle.
We got back a little earlier than days past, but we still couldn't help ourselves from eating dinner at the fine hour of 9 p.m. (which is really midnight Eastern Time if you think about it).
For now, we're packing up and hoping to be on the road by 8 a.m. We drop off Jesse and Maria in Seattle before the remaining four of us head into Olympic National Park. Tonight we are staying just outside the Staircase Rapids section of the park at a place called Skokomish Park on Lake Cushman. We plan to hike the Staircase Rapids loop, a two-mile trail with little elevation gain, this evening.
On Wednesday, we wake up early and continue our journey north toward Port Angeles, Hurrican Ridge, Lake Crescent, and to the Sol Duc Falls. We are staying at the Sol Duc campground Wednesday night and Thursday night before heading to Seattle on Friday.
I am not expecting great service if any at all. I'll do my best to update over the next few days, but reports may be short and sweet with little to no photos. I'll absolutely be able to get more detailed come Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment