Royal Basin via Royal Lake — Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025

First time going solo and enjoyed it. I had originally planned at staying at the upper basin tarn, but when I got up there the wind was steadily blowing down the gulleys and it was cold. I had passed a beautiful spot next right next to Royal Lake on the hike up and opted to go back down 300-400ft in elevation, which I estimated was likely going to mean 2 degrees warmer overnight and hopefully no wind. Got a bit of rain and sleet as I hiked back down that thankfully stopped when I was setting up camp.

This trip was quite the variety of weather: wind, light rain, sleet, fog, then the sun came out for 10 minutes, then back into heavy cloud cover. I knew I was likely going to be cooped up in my tent for possibly many hours so I downloaded some shows and movies. Ended up watching the new superman movie and then right before turning in, went out to secure the bear canister to an amazing clear night of stars. So unexpected after the fog that I couldn't see the other side of the lake through. 

I was worried about the temps. My REI magma sleeping bag is 30 degree rated and the night was going to be close to that. On this trip, I planned my layering and was quite comfortable with a synthetic thermal base bottom, fleece pants, merino wool base top, merino wool long sleeve top, fleece top, and then the bag itself. I stuffed my sawyer squeeze filter into my down jacket and kept that inside with me to prevent its delicate filter from freezing. I awoke at 7am and found it had snowed a little overnight. It got down to 30 degrees and I ended up being quite comfortable thanks to the layering!

It was a beautiful morning with the light dusting of snow and made for a nice hike back out.

The double privy was in place and usable even at this time of year. Not a lot of privacy around it.