Boat Camping at Ross Lake

The mystical and elusive Ross Lake, located on the Washington border with Canada deep in the North Cascades National Park, holds a special place in our hearts. The floating cabins that we stayed in with my parents (Tim & Anne) in 2022 and when I was a kid, are so hard to book that this year we decided to rough it. We booked backcountry permits to camp on the lake, which does mean some serious organization and planning is needed, but it also means absolute seclusion. This will probably be a yearly trip.

Here were the travel steps to get to our campsite:

1. Drive from Hillsboro on the 5 freeway through Seattle to Concrete, WA (5hrs)
2. Park at Lake Diablo dock to get ferried (plus all food and gear) to the end of the lake
3. Load all our gear and food onto the truck that takes us up to the Ross Lake dock
4. Load all our gear and food onto the boat that takes us to the Ross Lake Resort
5. Load all our gear and food onto our small motorboat that we rented for the weekend
6. Pilot our rental motorboat two miles up the lake to our campsite at May Creek
7. Set up our tent and CHILL