Royal Basin via Royal Lake — Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

I think every trail report for this area should mention: the directions are no longer correct in the old 100 Hikes books. They changed the name of the road to 2870. Be sure to get good directions from the ranger or from the newer book before you go. If you try to follow directions from the old books you'll probably get lost for at least an hour. Like our second car did, delaying our start from 9:30 until 11 a.m. Bummer! But they figured it out and we still made it up there with plenty of daylight. We had a one-night permit for the Upper Basin. Conditions were ideal for backpacking, being cool, dry and sunny. It took us about six hours with several breaks to hike the eight miles to the Upper Basin; it took us about 4.5 hours with three breaks to hike back out. The trail is in remarkable shape, it's very nearly perfect. We actually remarked that the forested sections in the first few miles from the car look exactly what you would expect from a photo calendar of "Classic Hikes of the Olympics." Huge trees, very little understory, and a thick carpet of moss carved by a curving pine-needle covered trail Royal Lake and Royal Basin are on a permit/quota system, but Royal Lake seems pretty crowded anyway. I'm not sure where the best of the designated camps are, but the ones that are visible from the trail aren't very private. I can't say I wouldn't recommend it, it's pretty in its own right, but it's not remarkable if you're craving alpine beauty, it's just a treed lake. If you can get the permit for the Upper Basin do it. It's well worth the extra mile and 500' of gain. It's incredibly scenic, and a rare opportunity to ascend to true alpine wilderness on a "regular" trail. When you are in the upper basin, you feel like a true mountaineer, surrounded by mountains and glacial moraine. It's fabulous. Wildflowers were lingering, especially gentian in the upper basin meadows. Marmots, deer and ptarmigans. No problem with any animals. (Bear canisters required.) Berries are just past their prime, and not plentiful on this trail anyway.