Elevation Gain: Approximately 2600 ft.
Time: 10:30 am - 6:00 pm
Weather: Cool, foggy, mostly cloudy, light snow off and on as we walked to the lake. Fog cleared off and glimpses of blue sky around 4 pm on our way out.
This weekend was another weekend out on the Olympic Peninsula. The more I go the Olympics, the more I love this park. Another beautiful thing that happens when I am out in the Olympics is for every hike I do, I learn about two or three new hikes I want to return and do later. It is the park that keeps on giving. It only takes about 2 hours to drive from my house to hikes on the east side of the park. It's an easy drive, especially if I can get an early start. And with a few friends in Port Angeles, I usually can get someone to go hiking with me. This week I was joined by Erin again. This hike that we did today was a hike I found months ago on wta.org and have wanted to do for awhile. With the weather forecast calling for rain all day in Port Angeles, we did not want to do a hike where we would find ourselves exposed at high elevation on a ridge. So instead of trying to go up to the top of Jupiter, which was also closed because of fires this summer, we came back to the hike up the Royal creek to Royal Lake in the Royal Basin. It would be safer and still provide distance and some elevation gain, a chance to stretch our legs.
I met Erin in Sequim around 9 am. I threw my gear in her truck, and she drove to the trailhead. The dirt road wasn't too bad, but it did have sections covered in a thin layer of snow. We were up at the trailhead by 9:50 am, where we met the first hiker to get to the trailhead and his beautiful golden retriever, May. He was going up the Dungeness River to Camp Handy, staying out of the national park and remaining in the national forest. I always appreciate a responsible dog owner who follows the rules. He was walking while Erin and I were still gearing up. As we were about ready to hit the trail a third car showed up with three people also heading up to the basin. We exchanged pleasantries, and Erin was able to describe the route and give a few of the cautionary details as well. We were off and walking the trail by 10:15 am. By 10:35 we were at the turnoff to the basin, and we had caught up to May and her owner. We chatted a bit enjoyed May's love and friendship. We turned to go up the Royal Creek, and shortly after we were ran down by May. We shooed her back and kept walking. Five or ten minutes later, we were again ran down by May, but this time we heard her before she came up on us. Erin stayed firm and kept her back, forcing her to run back. We were a little worried afterwards, hoping she made it back to her owner.
We hit the national park boundary around 11 am. The trail was in the woods meandering along side the Royal Creek. It climbed slowly and by 11:15, the surrounding plants were covered in a light layer of snow. As we climbed, the snow was accumulating. It was not bad enough to need the snowshoes we were carrying, but it made walking a little tougher as it was easy for my feet to slide around a bit. It started snowing as we walked, and we were both happy to have missed the rain. We took a break around 12:15 pm by a huge tree that was keeping the most of snow off of us. I ate a snack and drank some water for what Erin said would be the final push to the lake. The trail continued to climb and switchback gradually, and within about 40 minutes we hit the lower Royal Basin. The weather had stopped, the opening of the basin was magnificent, the surrounding areas was covered in snow, and the walking was nice and flat to the lake. Another 10 minutes and we were rounding a bend to the lake. The lake was beautiful, but the wind was blowing hard in our face off the lake. Little ice crystals were nailing us in the face, but we were able to walk along the right side of the lake, up to a little clearing on the far side of Royal Lake.
We stopped here for our lunch. It was cold, so the first priority was to get warmer layers on. After I layered up, Erin busted out a Thermos of hot chocolate. This was the perfect addition to warmer clothes, and I instantly felt warm. I drank some water and tried to eat a bit, but I wasn't too hungry. We enjoyed standing and staring at the lake as the wind and snow pounded our backs. We packed up after about 30 minutes and began our walk out. When we got back to the south tip of the lake, our tracks had almost been covered by the wind blown snow. We walked through the basin and down a few of the last switchbacks, when we hit the group of three we had met at the trailhead. The were planning an overnight; I was a tad jealous. We wished them safe travels and continued down the trail.
As we walked down in the twilight, the clouds were lifting off the ridges that form the Royal Creek Valley. I even saw a sliver or two of blue sky. It was a gorgeous afternoon, including the break for snow cones on the side of the trail. We used flavored beverages to make a snow slushy, it was delicious. We continued our walk and were down in the forest as it was getting dark. We stopped around 5:30pm to find our headlamps. As we were a few minutes from the trailhead, I heard a strange sound and got Erin's attention. She did not know what it was either, and it was a little scary. I thought it sounded like something breathing or snoring, after we got out Erin was worried it was a person. I was convinced it it was a person they would have said something as we were there talking about the noise. We will never know, and it ended the hike with a scary, sad note. I hope I did not leave someone in the woods.
Orchid: The views that opened up on the way down and the snow cones.
Onion: The noise we heard near the end of the trail.
Picture:
Google Map
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