Olympic National Park, Upper Royal Basin, 7/31-8/1. This is my first trip report, so please bear with me. The day started a little foggy. As I drove to the trailhead, the fog burned off, and out came the sun. By the time I arrived at the trailhead, the parking lot was full. Starting elevation at 2500 ft. Off to the trail…
…the first mile consists of beautiful old growth forest…
…after about a mile, there is a junction. Go to the right to go the Royal Basins…
…after another mile or so, I enter the Olympic National Park. A couple more miles of hiking, the canopy starts to open up, and you can see straight ahead my destination…
…there a few campsites along Royal Creek. Campfires are prohibited above 3500 ft. Along the way, there are some beautiful wildflowers, like columbines, tiger lilies, and lupines (I think)…
…after a few more miles and at around 4700 ft, I'm at the Lower Meadows. There are more campsites over here…
…after about another mile or less and at 5100 ft, I come across Royal Lake…
…there are trout in the lake, and I wish I had brought my Tenkara fishing gear. There are plenty of campsites, and best of all, a composting toilet (though I have yet to see or use it). There is a ranger cabin as the ranger does check to ensure that campers have permits and bear canisters. However, off I go to the Upper Basin. As I head up there, there is still some snow. An ice axe was not needed, but I still had to go up slowly. After I arrived, the scene was just beautiful…
…after making my dinner, I realized I forgot to pack some key ingredients for my next dinner, as this was supposed to be a 3 day 2 night trip. After some thinking, I decided that I would only stay for one night and leave the next day. It was pretty warm that night. However, early morning, it was terribly cold. I looked at the tarn and saw that it was partly frozen. I was expecting to see some alpenglow on Mount Deception at sunrise, however I didn't see any. As the sun rose, it wasn't a bright yellow, but rather a red or orange color. My neighbor and I discussed about it, and concluded that there must be a wildfire nearby due to the haze (and there was near Vancouver, BC). There were a few deers hanging around my campsite. I even saw some Olympic marmots duking it out for their territory. I enjoyed my trip very much. Total elevation gain was 3200 ft, about 14.5 miles roundtrip.
