So - we had so much fun in hiking in the north cascades the last time that we decided to go back, this time with Kayaks. The plan was to drop our kayaks off just below Ross lake dam, right at the end of the Diablo lake trail, and then hike the Diablo lake trail to get to them and kayak across Diablo lake back to the Van - traveling down the long arm of the Diablo lake from Ross dam. It was an amazing trip and went, mostly, as planned. Definitiely in the top 5 van trips we have done and it was really hard to rip me away when it was time to head back to Seattle.
We left Seattle on Friday night (knowning that our Saturday kayak would be a full day thing) and stopped off in Darington at a fun brewery for dinner & a beer. Sara didn’t discover the magnets until we were about to leave, but boy were they fun while they lasted. She was down there for a good 20 min while other people came and picked up orders right on top of her.
We made it into camp late but, having already eaten, it was an easy camp setup and we were in bed before we knew it. The next morning, I tried out a new setup with a colapseable table where I can cook from inside the van. It was a nice improvement and make for a fun breakfast view from inside the van. We ate and headed out reasonably early, getting to the trailhead for the first part of our hike by 8 am.
The first part of our hike was to drop the kayak off - I had anticipated this being a little less than a mile, but it ended up being closer to 2 1/4 mi. This wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but the kayak weights probably 40 lbs so it was quite tiring. Thankfully, the trip was downhill to the water and
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Here’s some pictures of us on the way. We dropped the kayak off at this small pier (the same one used by the Diablo lake ferry when it’s running - it’s out of season now). The trip back up was light and free (for me) but a bit of a bummer for Sara as we brought limited snacks/water since I thought it would be a lot shorter than it was.
After the hike back to the van, we got a snack - well more like a second breakfast for Sara - and headed to the Diablo lake trailhead about 30 min away. We got loaded up and headed out on our hike. We had done this same hike a few weekends before so we knew what to expect - big hike up in the begining, flat hike along the cliff in the middle with great views, and downhill at the end back to the dam.
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Some picures from our hike:
About halfway through the hike, we saw a group of deer (~16 of them) walking along the steep face grazing. Pretty cool.
Right before we made it back to the kayak, we went through a tunnel that must have been built to support the dam construction - it looked like it needed constant maintenance with the rock ceiling reinforced with rebar and netting and, in several places, the rock was held up be netting alone. We went through it pretty quickly… :)
Now came the fun part and the reason this trip made it into the top 5. We inflated the kayak on a small platform and got ready for a trip down a long arm of the lake (~4.5 miles I think) back to the main lake and our car. Sara had a snack and we loaded everything up into the kayak. It was a bit windy (which made things interesting when we got to the main lake) but the sun was out and it was only a littly chilly. I made a quick video once we were ready to go - embark!
We went up to the bridge to take a look before we headed back down the arm. The start of the trip was such a good sign of the types of amazing views we were going to see on our way.
Sara did hike the whole way (I didn’t end up using the backpack) which meant she walked over 6 miles in the day. Still - she was awake for probably the first 15 min of the trip and got to see some of the amazing views before the gentle rocking took over and she was out. Sometimes I feel guilty about Sara missing so much, but it just means she gets to enjoy this entire trip again someday and see it all again for the first time… :)
After kayaking back to the van, we packed up and headed back to the campsite. We debated going back to Seattle that night, but Sara begged to “campout” another night so we stayed. We had tasty pasta for dinner and it tasted amazing after the very active day we had. The best tasting food has very little to do with the food itself (in my opinion).
After dinner, we went down to the river and threw rocks. Practice for T-ball :)
Sara told me some stories about her day and all the advetures she had -
And finally we were blessed with an amazing sunset to close out the day. We headed back the next morning, so this was the closure of an amazing weekend.
