23 miles
Pumpkin Mountain Camp on Ross Lake
PNT Waypoint 741

I had some nice lake views walking toward the southern end of the lake.

I walked this section in 2010 with my friend Dan and brother Johnny. Good memories of being here before…. We met up with some people Dan knew and they lent us their canoe for a short paddle up a side creek. Sign for Little Jack peak.

In 2010 Dan, Johnny and I paddled up this creek. There lake it’s down 36 feet this year so it looked very different.

In 2010 we hiked up Little Jack Peak.

Once I got to Hwy 20 I was seriously tempted to go into Newhalen for some town food. But I resisted the urge just as I had resisted going into Mazama. But if I could replan this section I would have carried less food and gone into one of these towns.

Near Hwy 20.

The walk from hwy 20 to the Ross Lake Dam was viewless and seemed to take forever. But finally I got to the dam and then to the Ross Lake Resort.

Ross Lake Resort. Guests and our packages get boated across. Hikers walk around and over the dam.

Ross Lake Dam

View south from the dam.

The resort has 12 floating cabins that are rented out a year in advance. They hold resupply packages for $20. Except for some candy bars there is no food to buy here. They have a nice deck to hang out on which was great for sorting out my food and stuffing it into my pack.

They have wifi and I stayed for 2 hours. The time went by quickly. Another PNT hiker showed up… Oleg, originally from Russia now from Vancouver, Canada.

I then hiked the 6 miles to our reserved campsite at Pumpkin Mountain. Later 2 more PNT hikers showed up. Sean that I had met in Polebridge and Beer Goddess that I had met in Oroville. Both are doing big mile days. They only caught up to me because we skipped the section between Republic and Oroville.

From the campsite in the trees I walked down to the lake for water and a nice view.