Trailhead to Royal Lake: 7.9 miles and 2850+ feet elevation gain one way
Royal Lake to Upper Royal Basin: 1.9 miles and 900 feet elevation gain one way
I love finding new places to explore, especially as some of the National Park areas near where we live are becoming increasingly overcrowded.
We were fortunate to get a permit to spend 2 nights at Royal Lake in Olympic National Park. It’s an 8-mile all uphill and sometimes rocky hike to get there, tiring but well worth the effort.
Some of the campsites at Royal Lake are honestly not great, in several our tent would not fit at all, but we managed to find a wonderful site with a beautiful view of the lake a few feet away. Evenings and mornings were spent sipping tea & coffee, reading, and simply letting the solitude and beauty soak in.
Exploring around Royal Lake we found massive Shelter Rock and a beautiful waterfall across the basin, where we sat and enjoyed for several minutes.
On our full day there we hiked to the Upper Royal Basin and Imperial Tarn and spent the day wandering, doing a lot of rock hopping, sitting and just taking it all in. The hike from Royal lake to the Upper Royal Basin follows a beautiful and pristine meadow before the final climb via a sometimes sketchy trail up a gully. Baby steps, baby steps, carefully watching footing. Upper Royal Basin reminded me of the beautiful alpine lake basins in the Eastern Sierra mountains, at tree line with towering peaks overhead and beautiful tarns to explore.
A tiring but amazing 3 days with solitude, Mother Nature, incredible views, morning tea/coffee stillness, and all kinds of Mother Nature treasures. Much better than staring at a screen, I’m so thankful I’m still able to do this!