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In the end of May I headed out to the North Cascades for a 3-day backpacking and packrafting trip, with a bit of hammocking thrown in for good measure. I’ve decided to share the experience via photo and video.
Scroll down to the bottom of the post to watch the video.
We started above the Ross Lake Dam on the Friday evening and headed up the North West side of the lake on the Big Beaver Trail.
As is typical in Washington state, the trails were in excellent condition.
We are even borrowing the wrought iron rail idea for our living room.
We worried about starting a bit late as we knew we had a good distance to cover and we wanted to set-up camp in daylight.
Along the trail we spotted several large patches of wild ginger.
Despite the abundance of water, the lake water level was quite low.
Even the water in the lake was extremely clear.
We spent the nights in hammocks, my new favourite way to spend the night on the trail.
I was using an ENO set up of Flexfly and double deluxe (which was great for hiding from bugs!
I spoiled myself with a bit of Fishpeople’s chowder for breakfast and dinner.
Because of time, and to try out my Klymit packrafts, on day 2 we took off across the lake to meet up with the trail on the east side of the lake.
The packrafts worked really well on the flat water, although not ideally suited for rapids or waterfalls.
Check out the video to see a few minutes of what it’s like hiking and paddling around Ross Lake.
Stay tuned for part 2
