[alexsidles]

I see someone recently posted a good trip report for Royal Lake, so I won't go into too much detail here. My brother and I hiked up to Royal Lake last Sunday on the hottest day of the year so far. There were a lot of overnighters hiking out, but only a handful of dayhikers like us going up. A ranger at the lake confirmed that every campsite was taken last weekend. We had the trail mostly to ourselves. We did very well on wildlife: five species of mammal, including mule deer, snowshoe hare, Douglas squirrel, Townsend's Chipmunk, and an unidentified species of vole. We also found trout in the lake, and a Cascades frog lurking in one of the small streams across the trail. Early in the hike, we met a baby sooty grouse who tried to hide from us by lying down flat on its stomach right in the middle of the trail. The mother was nearby, and she puffed herself up and made threatening gestures at us to distract us from the chick. Rather than fly away, she would run up the trail ahead of us, trying to lure us into pursuing her instead of the chick. Such a good, brava mama grouse!

The tree species composition was also excellent, with lots of grand fir and Pacific yew, two of my favorite trees. Perhaps due to the dryness of this side of the Olympics, there were only a handful of western redcedar and yellow cedar. The lake itself was dominated by subalpine fir, one of our most handsome trees. We only went halfway past the lake to the upper basin before turning around. We were already feeling tired, and the steep slopes were increasingly covered in snow. We returned to the lake to soak our feet for a while before heading back home. The skies were blue, the breeze was cool, and the forest was deep and old. This is a beautiful hike at any time of year. Alex

[FungiFan]

Thanks for the update, heading up there this week hopefully if we can secure permits. Nice collection of wildlife for a single day hike . FF

[HermitThrush]

Thanks for the report, was just up there last week. Great pictures.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I've been bluff charged by a grouse, I assumed it was a momma with chicks nearby. She didn't play the "chase me" game. I was able to get by her and continue down the trail without having to get in a fight with her thankfully.

[meck]

Love the critter pics, thanks for the conditions update. Grouse are great aren't they! (never have I been so surprised as by a dog-gone grouse flying out of the brush just in front of me... its like they practice trying to scare unsuspecting hikers)

[Eeyore]

[jask]

I enjoyed reading your report and appreciate the attention you gave to describing wildlife, both big & small. A question though about the deer. Are mule deer found in the Olympics? I thought the only species in that mountain range is the black tailed deer. Maybe somebody can clarify.

[Foist]

Oh man, I once had the exact same experience on the Quartz Creek trail. I was hiking alone, saw no one on the trail all day, and then this grouse came lurching out of the brush making that weird noise they make. I literally SCREAMED at the top of my lungs. I then felt really embarrassed even though absolutely no one heard me.