[KarlK]

Sensing that I would transmogrify into my Grumpmeister General persona if not parolled for the weekend, El Wifo shooed me out the door early Saturday morning with instructions to not feel guilty about abandoning my loving family and myriad responsibilities, if possible. Not a problem, I thought, as I mouthed the inverse proposition. The official weather forecast promised hot and sunny weather, while my unofficial people forecast predicted the presence of just a few humans north of Rainbow Point at about the 9 mile mark on the East Bank trail, as this is about as far as most folks care to hike for a weekend overnight, the boat ramp at the Hozomeen campground at the north end of the lake remains out of service until the lake reaches full pool, and because the fare for the Ross Resort boat taxi is uber steep. So that all works to my advantage. Cat Island is about 15 miles north of Ross Dam, with three very nice campsites. I got my permit at the Marblemount ranger station from Anton Gabrielson, a cheerful ranger who also loaned me pen so I could record stuff as I went (I returned the pen on Sunday; Thanks Anton!). Oh Boy, oh boy oh boy: perfect weather, a packraft, a comfy pair of Hoka One-Ones, and an unquenchable need for self-propelled travel by a 64 year old guy who never really quit being 12. On the hike down to the Ross lake upper portage site I encountered three guys with alpine gear who allowed as how they were headed for May Creek via boat taxi to climb Jack -- one asked me how I liked my McHale SARC (very much, I said) and then deduced that I was (and still am) KarlK. Turns out that the question came from none other than Cartman, and that his companions were Neek and Roald. Very cool to meet those guys, and I am eagerly awaiting a quality beta-heavy trip report (I'm especially curious about the approach from May creek -- might be fun to do as a trip in and of itself).

Neek, Cartman & Roald, headed for Jack via May Creek

I also had the pleasure of meeting Marcel Ray, an intern NPS ranger with a folding kayak and a permit for May creek, one of the premium lower Ross lake boat-in campsites.

Marcel's folding boat

Marcel Ray in his folding kayak

When I was an (actual) kid, I wanted to be a ranger when I grew up, and I got to thinking out loud, in so many words, "hell, you're only 64 once, I wonder if there's still a way in for a guy that likes to hike a lot, can still do lots of pullups etc. and likes to interact with people," at which point Marcel passed on some information that suggested that maybe, just maybe, there might be a way to do that. I am definitely going to look into that. Good grief, how cool would that be? Oldish guy reinvents himself as a ranger. So uplake I paddled in my Yukon Yak, comfortably averaging about 2.5 mph against a mild headwind to May creek, located 4.4 miles from the put-in. After chatting with Marcel for a bit (he got there a bit after me owing to the setup time for his kayak), I hoofed it 9 miles to the Lighting Creek boat camp, and there re-deployed the Yak for a quick one mile paddle to Cat Island.

I always enjoy this

Footlog Over Dry Creek

Devils Creek Bridge

Lightning Creek Bridge

Cat Island

There I met a blacktail doe that insisted on licking my raft for the salt on its surface. Ms. Deer managed to layor quite a veneer of slobber on my trusty boat before I finally wised up and stowed it in a bear box.

Deer licking packraft

Deer slobber

I enjoyed a splendid evening, complete with a fine meal cooked over my 9 oz. wood burning stove, which works great, and a modest dollop of Dr. Walker's Amber Restorative.

The little wood stove that can

(the 16 oz. version is the bees knees for colder, crummier conditions, e.g. the weekend of May 28-29, 2016 with Comrad Davidovich at Devils Landing:

Dave Dailey, drying socks over bigger wood stove on May 28, 2016 at Devils Landing

) The raft 'n hike out on Sunday was great fun despite the heat (95 F in the Ross parking lot; 104 F at Newhalem). Can't wait to get out there again.

[Brushbuffalo]

Nice! Karl, I still have to get out with you on my Yukon Yak. This would be a good one!

[jdk610]

Looks fun!! Any chance you noted water temp?

[cartman]

It was great to meet you, Karl. Don't think I'll ever be a rafter, but it's cool to speak to someone doing something different. Amazing how small your raft kit packs down to. And thanks for confirming all the good things I've heard about McHale packs--I'm going to order one soon which should solve my load carrying issues.

[KarlK]

Brushbuffalo - yes indeed; howabout a mid-week trip sometime in the next two weeks or so? Also I'm thinking it would be fun to climb Cannon Mtn soon..

[KarlK]

djk610 - I didn't measure the water temperature in any formal way but a dip of the hand in the lake suggested about ~48 F, and likely colder down deeper. There were a couple guys who were splashing around in the lake at the Lightning creek boat-in campground and their dwell time in the water was short.

[KarlK]

Cartman - yikes, maybe I'll give that a pass. I got a not-so-great picture of your objective from the middle of the lake:

Jack Mtn., Nohokomeen Glacier

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip.