Paddling in Ross Lake National Recreation Area

Ross Lake National Recreation Area occupies a long, narrow corridor through the North Cascades, threading between the north and south units of North Cascades National Park.

The paddling here is almost entirely flatwater — a 23-mile reservoir flanked by steep, glacier-carved peaks — with a stretch of moving water on the Skagit River below the dam. These are two very different experiences, and the park holds both.

Ross Lake itself was formed by Ross Dam on the Skagit River and runs north from the dam to the Canadian border, where it meets British Columbia's Skagit Valley Provincial Park.

It is deep, cold, and mountain-flanked — genuine backcountry water that is accessible almost entirely by boat. Nineteen boat-in campsites are scattered along both shores, each with a fire ring, picnic table, vault toilet, and bear-resistant food storage.

A backcountry permit is required for any overnight stay at these sites. The lake sits at full pool from roughly July through September; outside that window, water levels drop significantly and docks and ramps may not be usable.

Two boat ramps at Hozomeen, accessed via a gravel road from Hope, British Columbia, are the northern entry point and are normally usable from mid-June through September. Getting onto the lake from the south requires some logistics.

Ross Lake Resort sits below the highway and is reached by a water taxi from a dock below the dam, or by a roughly one-mile portage from Diablo Lake — about 800 vertical feet of uphill gravel road.

The resort rents canoes, kayaks, and paddleboards, and operates a water taxi for those who need shuttling to trailheads or camps along the lake. All motorboats operating within the NRA are required to use four-stroke or direct-injection two-stroke engines.

Wind is the dominant hazard on the lake. Afternoon winds can build quickly in the valley, and the water is cold enough that a capsize carries real hypothermia risk. Paddling early in the day is standard practice here.

The southern end of the lake sees some motorboat traffic; farther north, the valley narrows and the lake quiets considerably. Cat Island is one named camp that paddlers have used as a destination or waypoint.

The Upper Skagit River, running through the NRA near Newhalem, is a different kind of water — Class 2–3 moving water over a 10-mile stretch, with a season that runs from late June through Labor Day.

The Skagit is a whitewater run, not a touring route, and it carries its own hazards including wood and a wave that has flipped rafts at flows between 2,600 and 3,200 cfs. Ross Lake rewards the paddler who does the planning.

The access is unusual, the permit system is real, and the water demands respect — but the 19 shoreline camps, the solitude north of the resort, and the scale of the peaks above the eastern shore make it one of the more serious paddle-camping destinations in the Pacific Northwest.