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Trip Report

Royal Basin via Royal Lake — Thursday, Jul. 14, 2016

Olympic Peninsula > Hood Canal

Trip Report By

15

Type of Hike

Day hike

Trail Conditions

Trail in good condition

Road

Road rough but passable

Bugs

Bugs were an annoyance

Snow

Snow free

Trails Hiked

  • Wildflowers blooming
  • Hiked with kids
Upper Basin. Credit to Me
Best hike in Olympics! Third time to upper basin. Makes for a long day hike and bugs were annoying. Make sure to take strong Deet. I covered myself with 40% and they were still landing on me. 3/4 of the hike is good with intermittent view of surrounding mountains and peek-a-boo views of Mt Deception. The lake and upper basin is like being on another planet. Totally surreal. If you can only do one hike this year go to Royal Basin. Would like to overnight but a huge pain to drive all the way to Pt Angeles for a permit. Probably a very crowded hike on a weekend trip.
Fawns below Royal Lake
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Comments

Obtaining a permit

Too bad that's the reason (driving to Port Angeles) that has deterred you from camping up there. Because it's not true! ONP accepts reservations for Royal Basin (and some other popular areas), which you can obtain by faxing a form to them. It's all on the website. If a site is available, they simply email you the permit. We just did it this weekend, we never had to drive to Port Angeles. You do need a bear canister, but you can pick one up at Wild Birds Unlimited on the way. This is all on the park's website.

Posted by:


Foist on Jul 18, 2016 05:39 PM

obtaining a permit

You can also mail the form in; who actually has a fax machine?? Also, if you do a lot in the Olympics, you should probably have your own bear can;)

Posted by:


scooterdavis on Jul 29, 2016 04:03 AM