On the 17th we completed an Olympics ski traverse that exited via Royal Basin. (see www.Turns-all-year.com for that trip report)

There is about 3' to 4' of snow at Royal Lake and that continues on down to about 4400'. From there the trail is patchy (one area near the river was solid snow and a real pain to stomp through) to about 3500'. Below 3500' the trail is snow free to the trail head. You can also easily drive to the Dungeness trail head. All the snow on the road is gone now.

This area is indeed beautiful. The view from Marmot Pass was just below the cloud ceiling to the Hood Canal Bridge and Paine Field/Boeing Everett.

But, with the beauty a level of use is occurring that this area is not developed for. Specifically, there are no pit toilets developed at either Buckhorn Lake, Boulder Shelter or Camp Handy. It became obvious when we upturned rocks or went to get water, that hikers camped at these sites have not been upholding the principles and practices of good sanitation. Defecation should occur at an upland site, preferably where the ground can be dug up to bury the feces. This may mean that one will need to walk a ways (sometimes up to a quarter mile) from camp and the nearby surface and subsurface (ground and hyporheic) water. I didn't see evidence that this measure was being taken. The stream water is likely being contaminated at both the buckhorn lake and boulder shelter camp sites by human feces. My water filter eliminates microbial agents, but not viruses. Also, with the current build-up of fecal matter at these campsites, in near vicinity to cooking and sleeping activity, the possibility of personal, direct contact and subsequent, potential infection increases.

There is one mudslide that about 1.5 miles north from boulder shelter on the dungeness river trail. It has not taken out the trail yet but the trail overhangs it.

I led a Cascadian backpack to Royal Basin July 23-27. We drove from Yakima on 7/23 & camped in the Dungeness Forks Campground. This is a very nice 10-site campground, but it does not have potable water. Fri was sunny & warm as we hiked up the Dungeness River & Royal Creek through beautiful forest. The trail is in great shape top to bottom. We arrived at Royal Lake mid-afternoon & found most of the campsites already full. We had to settle for a very small one near Shelter Rock (most of the sites seem quite small). Our 3 tents were cheek-to-jowl & if we had had another tent I don't know what we would have done. The bugs were fairly bad at the lake. On Sat morning we took our camp to the upper basin. We had a lot of nice clouds in the afternoon (much better than boring blue to this photographer’s eye) & by evening the fog rolled up the valley & swirled around the peaks. Very beautiful. Sun was much like Sat afternoon with lots of sun & interesting clouds. We explored most of the basin, but I apparently did not climb high enough to find Flett’s Violet as I had when I was here in ’91. The fog rolled in by mid afternoon on this day & we were treated to another show of clouds swirling around the peaks, though by late evening the fog settled in for good. Mon dawned clear. As we had a long journey home, we packed up early & headed out. We saw lots of deer & marmots, but no goats as I had seen in ’91. The backcountry ranger told us they were dying out in the park. The flowers were wonderful throughout and the scenery & weather was spectacular. A great trip!

Dungeness; Camp Handy; Hal Foss; Mt Mystery

Two times pays for all - sort of.

The Mystery Men - a motley group of Port Townsend denizens and Seattlites - decided to make an attempt on Mystery in 2005, inspired by the stories that Richard told of his early days gamboling on this majestic peak. Why not? So in '05 we set out, about 10 of us, crossed the Dungeness on a classic log, and camped at Camp Handy. Bad idea.

Why? Because the next day the climb to the true base camp took about 3 hours and much of our energy. The day was still young, but we weren't when we headed right to the pass next to Hal Foss, planning to cross over and assault our objective. Fog in the Pass threw us off course, and when things cleared enough to see it was time to turn around, and Mystery was still a couple of hours away, a giant hulking mass of snow and ice and rock. We climbed Hal Foss as a worthy consolation, turned tail, and vowed to return.

And return we did, on May 11, 2007. This time the crossing log over the Dungeness was history, and we used the rope strung across the river to make a very cold and rather treacherous crossing-bring sneakers! And this time we carried on up to the true base camp above tree line, tired, but in good position for the morn's assault.

Up at 5, and this time half of us, led by Kees the Intrepid with the big plastic step-kickin' boots, went up the stream that drains the Mystery cirque. Straight-forward assent to the big wall of the mountain, and then steep snow and some rock to the summit pyramid. One of our party wore crampons, but the rest of us just followed Kees, as the snow softened. Roped for the last two 60 degree pitches, and then scrambled up the last rock ramp. What a glorious perch, the Olympics spread in front of us, wreathed in gossamer clouds. Leisurely lunch on top, with incredible treats hauled up by the 20 somethings to help feed the 60 somethings (especially since when I had opened my freeze-dried package the night before , all it contained was the garbage from the previous year's last back-back-curse of being too neat)

Somewhat of a mushy glissade down, and back to camp by about two, where the youts pulled out a bottle of single-malt, which we all downed , napped and proceeded back to our base camp on the river. By the way, the conservative bunch who followed Richard's admonitions to repeat 2005's assault, ended up climbing Hal Foss again, nowhere near the Mystery summit.

A great weekend, wonderful company, good food (except for the garbage) and good weather mostly. A classic Northwest Climb.

Nostradamus, also known as ""The Reverend""