Deception and Mystery

[yellowdog]

If I wanted to get both Deception and Mystery in one trip, which would be the best way in: Royal Basin or via Dosewallips? I understand the road to the Dose traihead is still washed out adding 5.5 miles to the hike in and out if you go that way. Appreciate any advice from those who have been in there. Thanks.

[Distel32]

I've made the hike in to royal basin, think it's about 8-9miles?? It's not bad at all.

 

I've been meaning to get out and do deception car-car, but have yet to. Good luck if you go do it!

[Norman_Clyde]

Via Royal Basin it's 6 miles from trailhead to Royal Lake. Via Dosewallips it's 8 miles to just past Bear Creek where one takes a right turn and begins bushwacking for a western approach to Deception. But now that the Dose road is washed out, it would be extra miles (I thought it was only 3 but I am not sure how many) to there. So, it's fewer trail miles to Deception via Royal Basin. HOWEVER, if you hike the Dose to the Constance Pass trail, then head toward Mystery via Del Monte Ridge, it's only 5.5 miles (i.e. approx. 8.5 miles now) to Sunnybrook Meadows, which is an excellent camp spot with water and sweeping views. From there you can access Del Monte Ridge and proceed that way to Mt. Mystery. Del Monte Ridge is fun alpine terrain, intermittently class 3, with fine views in all directions. I believe it gets very little travel. In July 2000 I took Del Monte Ridge to Mystery, and didn't see another soul all day. I had hoped to go straight up the S. ridge of Mystery to the summit, but could not see a route, so I dropped about 2000 feet into the Dungeness drainage and climbed laboriously up to the E. ridge, which was made up of interesting untraveled (LOTS of loose rock) class 3 rock and snow.

 

If you then climb Deception from Mystery, you will also have to drop down about 2000 feet to Deception creek, then cross it, which may be a task if you're far enough downstream. Deception is pretty non-technical if there is any snow. Rock is unimaginably loose, more like mud in some places: heaps of shale that shatter with a kick.

 

To sum it up, Royal Basin is definitely shorter, but more crowded. Del Monte Ridge is longer, more work, but less traveled and more interesting. You could camp the first night at Sunnybrook Meadows, then a second night in Deception Basin. Or you might want to camp in the valley below Gunsight Pass, because although unglaciated, it's very dramatic and more scenic. You could then climb Deception from the West, and hike out the Dosewallips trail. That would get my vote over Royal Basin. Good luck!

Edited April 26, 2003 by Norman_Clyde

[PONCHO&LEFTY]

Olympics es bueno. THat is all. Out.

[chucK]

I climbed Mt. Mystery from the ridge above Sunnybrook Meadows. I bivied up on top of the ridge one Labor Day weekend. There were hoardes at Sunnybrook. There's a pretty easy scramble route up Mystery but it's not obvious (I hit one dead end and had to turn around). I think the key was to head up the spine then drop down just a bit to traverse on the west side. It was a long time ago though. This was the South summit of Mystery by the way. I remember the N summit looking less easy. Climbed Deception another time via the West side. Don't know about the traverse between the two. Both are cool . Have fun.

[Norman_Clyde]

There were 2 other people at Sunnybrook when I was there, plus one other party that went up toward Constance Pass, but no one at all on Del Monte Ridge or Mystery. Judging from all the rock debris on the East ridge approach, it doesn't get climbed very often. There is supposed to be a route directly up from Gunsight Pass, if you choose not to take Del Monte Ridge and instead contour NW and N. from Sunnybrook. I tried to descend the S. ridge from the summit and got cliffed out a couple of times, so I went back the way I had come. The N. summit of Mystery is a block of basalt columns tilted so they lay horizontally. It's very exposed looking, probably 5th class, though the traverse over to it wasn't all bad looking.

[Distel32]

Norman did they extend road 2860??

 

On my map from the farthest point south on 2860 where the trail starts for royal basin it's exactly 8 miles to royal lake, starting at 2500 and ending at 5100ft.

[Lazyboy]

Mystery could probably also be approached from Heather Creek.

 

The trailhead for the Dungeness and Royal Basin are still in the same spot as they always have been as far as I know.

 

In the old days the preferred approach for Deception was the Dosewallips. That is because in those days it was a 10 mile hike just to get to where the trail to Royal Basin starts now.

[Norman_Clyde]

My trail guide, vintage 1984, says 7 miles total to Royal Lake. I remembered the 6 mile figure, but this is the length of the Royal Basin trail, which starts 1 mile from the Dungeness trailhead. From Royal Lake it's another mile or two to Surprise Basin at the base of Deception. In July Royal Lake was swarming with mosquitoes, the worst I have encountered in the mountains of this state (though not as bad as one hellish coastal marsh).

 

Heather Creek does not have a trail marked on Topo, but my trail guide says one exists. According to this book it's about 7.5 miles to trail end in the upper Heather Creek basin. If this is true, then it's the shortest approach to Mystery.

[Off_Route]

2003.04.26

Deception and Mystery

 

I've connected a climb over Mystery with a route taken up the West side of Deception. When I did this, it began with a late start up the Constance Pass trail and an arrival at SunnyBrook meadows by flashlight. Unsure where to get out the bivy bag, I simply stopped when the altimeter read 5500' and I was standing by a little pond.

 

At first light, Gunsight Pass made a beautiful target, and instead of ascending north to get on the Delmonte Ridge, I went ahead and took a chance at traversing directly over to the gap. Even though I recall taking a real butt plunge at first, the traverse proved to be an expeditious approach over a series of benches and open woody areas that linked up conveniently by way of short scrambles culminating at the highly visible gully that provides the final ascent into the Gunsight Pass.

 

Time-wise, the pass proved to be a halfway mark from the Constance Pass trail at Sunnybrook to the summit of Mystery-- I took a rest break to eat before the pass, and after the pass I spent time flailing around with nervous route finding decisions on the ridge. Overall, what I found was a class 3 route up the west side from Gunsight Pass, and through the upper part of Delmonte Ridge. This was accomplished by making a sharp right at the pass and ascending predictable shale until forced to contour north through pinnacles on the ridge. Once or twice I found the wrong obvious gully, correctly decided I was off route, and backed away from exposure that was creeping me out. Still, this flailing around eventually got me through to the upper east summit block, from where the summit was readily attained.

 

From the summit, given a break in the clouds (or a clear day), much of the first leg of the exit from Mystery that crosses over by a west route of Deception may viewed, down to the glacial draw below mystery, beyond which the route is concealed in the canyon through which runs Deception creek. Looking east from the upper slopes of Mystery, one may observe the saddle located between the headwaters of the Dosewallips on one side and headwaters of the Dungeness on the other. Hauling ass in the general direction of the saddle proved both fun and expedient. From the saddle, the draw below the stagnant Mystery Glacier was easily obtained by crossing over scree, rock, and glacier ice. The glacier was entirely dry, but was easily crossable in key areas with crampons on.

 

The draw below the glacier proved an impressive place to visit-- there is an enormous terminal moraine piled up here, in the vicinity of which takes one on a hike over a meandering expanse of delicate ground covered with mosses, sedge, and meandering streams. Consistent with the effort required to get here, or leave here for that matter, I observed no trace of prior human visitation.

 

Anyway, once into the Deception Basin, the route followed goes down through a mile of obstacles while desending the canyon of Deception Creek. The scramble down this headwater canyon is knarrly; it's the sort of ground where a short rapell now and then might save the traveller from knock-the-wind-out-you tumbles of the kind where one knows gratitude for being spared injury. Alternatively, one may simply flail in earnest, and with good fortune take no tumble at all. Either way, I've little doubt why Deception Basin, despite its awesome beauty, goes rarely visited.

 

On this leg of the trip, when exiting to the valley floor from either of three directions, the general target is the confluence of the two upper forks of Deception Creek-- easily identified on the ground as well as on maps as the place where one fork goes NE to Deception Basin and the other fork goes SE to Gunsight Pass. Where this landmark in the woods is reached one can look around and observe cedar trees heavily clawed by bears. If benighted, this would be a good place to stop, rather than stumbling through the woods. Given enough daylight to get anywhere, I'd continue going. By going north from the vicinity of this confluence, the main route up the west side of Deception is readily intercepted.

 

The last time I walked out of this area, I skipped doing Deception, but descended through here during an exit from Deception on another occasion. Both times, I came straggling out of the woods onto the Dosewallips trail around Cub creek.

 

For what it's worth, going over Mystery took about 24 hours car to car while coming in by way of the Constance Pass trail and then making an exit that intersected the west route of Deception on the way out. At that pace, which proved exhausting, it would take an additional day to include an ascent of Deception.

[nolanr]

Heather Creek has a decent trail for several miles beyond Camp Handy (?), then it kinda disappears. You can scramble up a little talus and brush to the right, fairly easy going, nice heathery meadows, and eventually bingo you hit a little saddle above Deception Basin. Lovely spot. Fricaba and Hal Foss immediately on either side of you, and Mystery and Deception a little further beyond. I was up there last Labor Day, I never saw a soul, God only knows how many people were swarming Royal Basin. Following Deception Creek downstream a little bit you can then ascend to the moraine lake at the foot of Mystery, w/ a fairly significant glacier draining into it. Looked like minimal crevasses. I followed the glacier staying on the lefthand edge of it (nearest to Hal Foss Peak) for most of it's length. A potential schrund problem convinced me to head up on the rock towards a ridgecrest. That has to be the most rotten, loose, chossy, shitty, pick your negative descriptive term rock I've ever been on. I eventually hit the ridge, stopped just short of a saddle between Mystery and Hal Foss, looking back down the Heather Creek drainage. No real obvious route from there, figured it would be a bunch more of the same caliber of rock, but there was no snow at that time of the year. I have to assume snow would've made it a more pleasant ascent. So anyway, yes you can definitely access that area from Heather Creek, I'm not sure of exact distance. Very nice area to camp, looks like minimal traffic in that area.

[Lazyboy]

The trail up Heather Creek ends near the park boundary. For being an unmaintained trail it is in fair shape. The hunters like that area so maybe they do some work on the it.

 

Another approach to Deception is from Gray Wolf Pass.

[Norman_Clyde]

Off Route, NolanR, very cool to hear these descriptions of Deception Basin. Having only looked down into it from either side, I now feel compelled to actually go there, this time in early season when the rock is mostly covered.

[nolanr]

Norman_Clyde said:

Off Route, NolanR, very cool to hear these descriptions of Deception Basin. Having only looked down into it from either side, I now feel compelled to actually go there, this time in early season when the rock is mostly covered.

 

Go for it, have fun!

[johndavidjr]

How often do these mountains get climbed? Deception several parties a week at very least. Mystery less. I'm guessing. Any well-informed guesses available?

[Norman_Clyde]

Both times I went to Deception I was the only climber to be seen, though in Royal Basin there were plenty of campers. The only time I went to Mystery, I not only saw no one, but I saw no evidence that anyone had taken that same route all season. Mystery is just a little harder to get to, therefore much more of a wilderness alpine experience than Deception. But if you climb Deception from the west, the experience will probably be similar.

[Off_Route]

Lots of cool high routes in the Olympics where one can suffer the joys of going long off route over choss three on the alpine high and bush thrash in the valley low--way to get away and be dazed by a yellow bloom anchored to the grey by solitary roots...here dazed by the crossing, by the schrund, by the snout, by the last effluvial torrent of a glacier melting into an expanse of green where there was absolutely nobody.

[MounTAIN_Woman]

I've attached a trip report from last summer. My partner and I did an ascent of Mt Mystery from Royal Basin, and it is described in the report. I would have to agree with Norman Clyde that parts of the mountain are miserable - hard-packed dirt, rotten rock. I wished I had kept my crampons for the hard-packed dirt sections! Anyway, word file attached. It also explains how to find the trailhead if the one road is still closed.

176828-Mt Mystery.doc