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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 509 | TRs | Pics
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I'd been wanting to make a loop from the Upper Dungeness TH to some of the nearby basins for a couple years now, so you'd think I would've been a little more prepared for this trip than I was. Alas... as usual I forgot a few pieces of route info... about half of the route info actually...
We originally planned for 3 nights going counterclockwise, but got spooked by the forecast and decided to scale back to 2 nights and do the loop in reverse in an attempt to hit our two summits on the best weather days. That part didn't quite work out. The weather ended up being mostly better than expected and we might have been a little better off sticking to the original plan. But this area is gorgeous from every direction so no big deal.
After making the last minute change to our permit, we caught the Edmonds ferry on Friday morning. We left the trailhead TH around 10:30am under sunny skies and reached Upper Royal Basin around 2. Clouds descended shortly thereafter. We set up camp in the large gravelly football field near Upper Royal Lake and lounged around for a few hours. Mosquitoes were present. A large goat visited. Said tried to convince me that the clouds were going to clear and we should climb Mt Clark. I was feeling pretty lazy and not buying it but eventually agreed to go along.
royal lake lush views climbing above the meadow upper royal lake
We climbed up through Surprise basin to the Johnson-Clark saddle and worked our way up the south ledge and over the 7350' notch in a drizzly whiteout. The route is described well in previous reports by Fletcher and Matt. We turned around at the top of the class 3 crack, not wanting to deal with the tricky exit move at the bottom for no payoff/views. On our descent we noticed a pile of poo and tp in a divot in the Surprise basin snowfield. Whoever left that there: you are a jackass. The clouds began to clear once we got back to camp, and we had excellent moonlit views of the upper basin for dinner entertainment.
cloudy deception looking toward suprise basin above the lake, heading to surprise basin surprise basin tarn johnson-clark saddle
On Saturday morning we woke up to partly sunny skies. We debated whether to climb Mt Deception or skip it, but the clouds started to clear so we decided to go for it. The main snowfield was a little more firm than my approach shoes liked and the rock was a little more loose than my brain liked but eventually we got up to the Deception-Martin col. From there it was a pretty easy stroll around Gilhooley tower and up the summit ridge on snow and scree. We hung out for a long while taking in the spectacular views of the surrounding peaks and basins and clouds, then headed back to camp. I found the descent to be much less nerve-racking.
deception + tarns near camp upper royal camp martin mt. clark clark + tarn petunia tarn reflection tarn from above climbing looking back to upper basin view from west of the col, standard route left of gilhooley tower easier route right of gilhooley tower summit ridge climbing the summit ridge upper royal basin from deception summit mystery, little mystery clouds gilhooley tower downclimbing in clouds more clouds martin, lake, clouds
Back at camp I realized I had not brought any information about the rest of our intended route. I could remember vague descriptions from the reports I had read but nothing particularly helpful. But we still had a couple hours of daylight and were not completely exhausted yet, so decided to head for Deception basin. And the way to Deception basin seems pretty obvious on the map. Except I was pretty certain I remembered that the way to deception basin was NOT over the first saddle east of Mt Deception that looks so obvious (spoiler alert: ) so I led Said on a tour de far reaches of upper royal basin and we climbed over the saddle east of the normal route. Took longer, but went fine. And we got awesome views of Mt Mystery and lake shrouded in clouds on our descent. Then we stumbled around in the near-dark until we found a suitable flat spot for camp below the Mystery moraine.
upper royal basin wandering upper royal basin wandering mystery + lake mt deception from camp
The morning was glorious and we took our time getting moving. I wandered around taking photos for awhile and then climbed up to the lake. Deception basin is so beautiful. Will definitely be back some day.
tent view mt deception meadow right way / wrong way - deception pass (l) and the chute we descended (r) deception + lake mystery hal foss, mystery
We meandered up the basin to Fricaba pass and down to Fricaba basin. Again we had no beta except I thought maybe we wanted to stay climbers right of the stream in the basin, traverse northeast-ish, and descend in the treeless area on the USGS map. That's essentially what we did, with a few minor mishaps. We stuck a bit too close to the stream at first and had to weave our way though a little cliffy section. Then it was pretty smooth sailing through steep meadows for a long while. Then we hit a few schwacky sections but they were short and not terrible (well, Said thought they were pretty terrible but my standards are lower than his). The bugs were pretty bad in this area though.
climbing up to fricaba pass ascent route deception tarn upper deception basin warrior, constance fricaba basin fricaba basin, fricaba basin view across the valley traversing where we came from
Eventually we arrived in Heather basin and from there it was an easy walk to the car in the lovely mossy forest. I switched in to my fake crocs for the last ~6 miles of trail hiking which was apparently a little premature based on the condition of my feet at the end of the day. Also could be due to practically running the last few miles in said crocs to reach car beers. Totally worth it.
heather basin dungeness moss rules
~30 miles and 9400'
Gear used: ice axe
Carried but not needed: crampons
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HermitThrush Member
Joined: 14 Jan 2016 Posts: 384 | TRs | Pics Location: Brainerd Lakes Area, MN |
I regret not going past the first Royal Lake. Great shots.
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Gabep Member
Joined: 03 Aug 2016 Posts: 31 | TRs | Pics Location: Kenmore |
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Gabep
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Fri Jul 19, 2019 8:39 am
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Nancyann Member
Joined: 28 Jul 2013 Posts: 2314 | TRs | Pics Location: Sultan Basin |
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Nancyann
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Fri Jul 19, 2019 10:07 am
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Great photos and interesting trip report, rubywrangler, looks like you got kind of lucky with the weather for the most part!
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ZakG Member
Joined: 12 May 2017 Posts: 2 | TRs | Pics Location: Ballard WA |
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ZakG
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Fri Jul 19, 2019 6:18 pm
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Looks like quite an adventure! We climbed the north ridge and descended the scramble route on Clark on Flag Day (June 14th). As we were hiking the snow down Surprise basin, I heard my brother yell, "Oh, come ON!" He had happened across that same piece of poop with the toilet paper. We both marveled at that one....
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RAW-dad Member
Joined: 07 Jul 2017 Posts: 119 | TRs | Pics Location: Oregon |
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RAW-dad
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Sat Jul 20, 2019 11:53 am
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Great route and photos - especially like the "mystery, little mystery" one showing the sight in Gunsight Pass! Deception Basin is a special spot!
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RichP Member
Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5628 | TRs | Pics Location: here |
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RichP
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Sun Jul 21, 2019 6:48 am
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Very nice. That's some of the best of The Olympics.
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Bernardo Member
Joined: 08 Feb 2010 Posts: 2174 | TRs | Pics Location: out and about in the world |
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Bernardo
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Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:44 am
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Nice trip indeed. Great photos.
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silence Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 4420 | TRs | Pics
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silence
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Sun Jul 21, 2019 1:51 pm
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Great loop plan ... piling on some of the best in the Olys!
PHOTOS
FILMS
Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
PHOTOS
FILMS
Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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cascadetraverser Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 1407 | TRs | Pics
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Did this one the reverse way in June; loads more snow. Looks better when u went. Did it solo so will have to return to climb Deception and Mystery! Great off trail trip and nice TR...
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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 509 | TRs | Pics
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Thanks everyone! Good eye, RAW-dad! Hadn't even noticed the sight.
cascadetraverser, how was it going up from Heather creek? I noticed a little trail shooting off (up) right near the end of the Heather creek trail, but we didn't come down that way.
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cascadetraverser Member
Joined: 16 Sep 2007 Posts: 1407 | TRs | Pics
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RW: After reaching the heather creek camp u take a right immediately out of camp and catch a game/climbing trail up to a steep Scree and then a boulder field to a good view over to Fricaba basin and then it was an easy traverse to Fricaba and thence on to Deception basin. It was a steep but manageable hike to the correct notch over to Upper Royal basin and fairly steep snow down for about 50-100 feet then smooth sailing to the upper basin and hike out
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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 509 | TRs | Pics
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ok, thanks - that's the route we used. hmm, I wonder where that other trail goes.
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Abert Member
Joined: 02 Sep 2010 Posts: 588 | TRs | Pics Location: Sequim |
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Abert
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Mon Jul 22, 2019 5:16 am
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There's a noticeable trail at the park boundary sign that goes up the ridge before you traverse across to Fricaba Basin above most of the vegetation. From your photo it looks like you were close to that line, maybe just dropped down a little sooner than the trail does. It's just braided game trails in its upper reaches anyway. One of my photos from the traverse on the right. There's a few photos on the way up to there at the start of this album.
Pass to Deception Basin
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rubywrangler Member
Joined: 04 Aug 2015 Posts: 509 | TRs | Pics
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Thanks, Abert. I think you're probably right. We did find a clearly defined bootpath exactly where that photo was taken, but we lost it pretty quickly.
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