Camping!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Keller boys went to Ross Lake for 3 days of camping, swimming, exploring, boating, and fishing: Ryland, Ethan, Aidan, Chad (me), and Joe (my bro) Keller.

We had a great time. The days were hot and the lake was cold. A good mix! But the water was too cold for real swimming - just quick dips and dangling our toes in the water off our dock (and let the thousands of tiny minnows come and nibble them!).

Ross Lake is in the North Cascades area of Washington state. The lake is 25 miles long and the upper reaches make it just past the Canadian border.

There is a dam on the south end, and then a few more dams until the mighty Skagit river finally flows free and beautiful to the Puget Sound.

The lake offers hiking and has a trail that borders the entire western shore. There are also other loop hikes and destination type hikes to summits and alpine lakes.

All along the shore are boat-in and hike-in + boat-in camping sites. Some sites are on islands too. The boat in sites have nice docks you tie your boat off to, and you can also use them for swimming and fishing.

Besides the dam, the only other buildings on the lake are part of Ross Lake Resort. This is a neat little place where you can rent out cabins of various sizes. It is fairly rustic, but nice enough for those who don't care for the real camping experience. They rent boats, canoes, kayaks, and other things for the guests or for visitors to the lake.

We came for the camping and fishing. We did a mile and half hike from a parking lot well above the dam. It is a steep rocky trail but has some great views and some bridges crossing cascading streams.

We hiked down to the base of the dam where a phone just happens to be. We just dialed up the resort and had a boat come over and ferry us across to the resort. We then rented a small motor boat that we took up the lake to our campground (we had to register that morning at the ranger station to reserve our camp site and get our camping permit). It was located on a small island - probably about an acre or so in size. We loved the location and the boys had a blast exploring their own island and watching the resident deer. The day was sunny and hot. No bugs to speak of - just a few horse flies, but nothing bad. I never even broke out the insect repellent I stocked up on. The night brought a few sprinkles followed by crystal clear skies revealing layer upon layer of stars.

The next day we moved to a new camp site closer to the resort. We stopped in to treat the boys to some soda and candy bars before roughing it again at camp.

We made a big fire and Joe told stories about various adventures he and I were involved in growing up.

Aidan and Ryland shared a tent right next to me and Ethan. Joe had his own tent a few yards away. That night we drifted off into a deep sound sleep to the soft splashing of tiny waves along the shore and a gentle breeze rustling through the tree tops. Around midnight I was looking up at the top of the tent as I shifted in my sleeping bag - possibly woken up by the hooting of another owl. Suddenly I was blinded by a white light followed by a deep thundering sound. Then a few seconds later another flash and low rumbling thunder. Then another and another - eacher getting closer and louder. It was like we were caught in the middle of a battle zone. The boys handled it great. Ryland and Aidan woke up. We decided we better take a quick potty break before the rains came. As we came out of our tents, we noticed Joe and other campers in the area scrambling to get their rain flies on their tents. Luckily I decided to put mine on "just in case"...

Aidan and Ry went right back to bed. Actually, Ry did remember that we forgot our bedtime prayers, so he asked if he could pray. He did, and then Aidan followed. But that was the only sign of fear. The storm was pretty intense. At times the wind was so strong my tent was flattened to my head and I was afraid the rain fly or poles might start to break apart. Then the rain began pelting us with a vengeance. And through it all, the flashes of lightning and earth shaking thunder echoed back and forth through the valleys, mountains, and canyons. But morning arrived and all was well again. The sun came out and started to dry things out.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned Ethan in this thunder storm story... well, he slept right through it!

We packed up after warming up to a quick fire and round of instant oatmeal. We returned the boat and made the 1.5 mile climb back up to the car. The boys were quite impressive. Each carrying a respectable load in a back pack suited well to each one. I did promise them a milk shake if they could make it with minimal whining and no crying :)

Over all it was an amazing trip. The fishing wasn't great. But with the boys, it was hard to really focus on that - which is fine. But we did get a few nice rainbows with vivid red stripes down their silvery bodies. And Joe had a little dolly varden (or bull trout) chase his spinner around right in front of us for a good minute or so but never quite got the lure in it's mouth.

The 3 boys together are always trouble. So we had to deal with the usual bickering and other nonsense. But they also had so much fun doing various adventures and exploring some off the trail spots I took them to. One time we found a 'secret' valley passage off the main trail that lead us down a magical game (deer) trail through moss covered boulders the size of small houses and trees of all shapes and sizes. We eventually came to small boulder rimmed pond with odd chunks of white granite and others rocks and logs decorating the clear blue green water. It looked like something from a King Author legend. After the enchanted pond, we found a massive rock slide under the shadow of a looming cliff. The rock field lead down to an arm of the lake (what I had been looking for on this particular adventure). This section of the lake was covered in a mass of logs - probably 50 yards long and 50 yards wide. We climbed along the boulders and rocks and I did a little fishing in an opening between the logs before letting the boys start dropping big rocks off a 12 foot ledge above the water. We bombed some ships (sticks we threw in) and had a good time before making the journey back to camp.

Anyway, on to the pictures!!
Ethan is greeted by a local resident at our first camp. She shared our camp a few times before the boys finally chased her off the island as they watched her swim away....

This is the three legged toad "Stumpy" that Ryland caught near the dock while I was fishing. He was so excited!
Nothing like instant oatmeal and a campfire to draw sleepy little campers out of their tents!
Ryland (with his trusty sword) navigates the tiny island trying to hide from the fierce hunter who is trying to track him down....
A home-made see-saw. Gotta get creative when there are no toys or TV :)
....until next time....