[TR] Royal Basin/Deception Basin - 10/27/2007

[chmnyboy]

Trip: Royal Basin/Deception Basin -

 

Date: 10/27/2007

 

Trip Report:

Okay, new to the area and the forum, so I'm posting this because I figure my weekend's trip may contain information other people are interested in; if this is more of a first ascents/hardcore climbing forum, let me know (I make no claims of being a talented mountaineer). Hopefully someone finds this informative or entertaining. I'm also having trouble getting images to show up...even when I use the [/image format, the link still appears, not an image. Any advice appreciated.

 

Anyway, enough with disclaimers. We set out at 5:00 Friday afternoon with intentions of crossing the Deception Basin/Royal Basin ridge, then over the pass east of Mystery down to Heather Creek, and out the Dungeness.

 

Me, Jared, Ginger, and Brian (a.k.a. Melvin) at the trailhead:

 

 

Hiking by headlamp, we didn't make it to the upper basin as anticipated, and instead camped in the meadow beneath Royal Lake. We woke up early in the morning and made our way to the lake, where I was too exuberant for anyone's good:

 

Past the lake, Melvin hikes past what I assume is Shelter Rock:

 

Continuing to the upper basin, Melvin and Ginger make their way across a meadow with Mt Deception watching from above. The pass we expected would be an easy hike up is just to the left of the small spike in the left of the photo. This ended up being covered in snow and much steeper than anticipated, but a higher pass just out of the left side of the picture was spotted by Brian. A slight trail was occasionally apparent, although because of snow it was necessary for us to make our own path.

Halfway up the pass we hit a steep section. Our progress was slower than expected, and some members of the group weren't comfortable with the scrambling, so we decided to abandon the loop idea. Melvin and I continue to the pass for the view. Myself, before ascending the short steep section above:

Ascending the pass, we get a good view of Surprise Basin:

Over the pass we see Mystery and the col we anticipated on passing. Noting the glacial travel and steep snowfield near the top, our disappointment in turning back wanes: without ice axes, the trip would have been turned around regardless:

To make the most of our day, we ditch the packs and run the ridge eastward. Brian pulls off the tough guy look in front of deception:

We continue east on the ridge. We regret our decision to ditch the packs on the ridge as a lack of food, water, and headlamps keep us from making it to Fricaba as the sun dips low in the sky. It is agreed that we have reached the high point of the trip, and the obligatory jumping pics are taken. Brian leaps toward Deception:

...and the lens aims south towards myself and Mystery:

I decide to take one good 360 degree shot:

And on the way down, Deception begs for a good panorama (although poor photography and photoshopping skills take their toll):

We also note a beautiful late season ski decent in the east side of the basin:

We regroup at the big lake and east dinner and share stories over a bottle of Old Overholt (a staple of all Campbell/Melvin 'packing trips, despite the heavy glass bottle). A decent nights rest brings us to Sunday morning, when we awake to another beautiful sunrise:

One last river crossing reminiscent of a Beatles album cover leads us home:

 

Although the north slope snow was higher than expected and prevented us from finishing our loop, the views were still amazing and conditions much better than should ever be expected in late October. Temperatures in the lower meadow dropped to somewhere between 17 and 22 degrees, but the upper basin was significantly warmer on Saturday night. If weather holds up, there should be no issues with reaching Deception Basin and even Fricaba via Royal Basin with only moderate scrambling.

 

Gear Notes:

Hands, occasional trekking poles to preserve the knees.

Edited October 30, 2007 by chmnyboy

[olyclimber]

Hey, great first post and nice TR. That is a beautiful area up there.

 

btw, if you want the pictures to show up in the TR (instead of just links) then remove the stuff at the end of the URL after .jpg. Otherwise the board software doesn't recognize them as pictures.

 

also, the tag for images is

 

 

thanks for the report!

 

 

[OlympicMtnBoy]

Welcome to cc.com! That basin is awesome, check out my TR from a nice scramble along the east ridge above Royal Basin a couple weeks ago. Makes you wanna bring back the climbing gear and hit some more of those peaks doesn't it?

[chmnyboy]

Thanks for the warm welcome and advice.

 

OMB, I actually did check out your trip report before we attempted our loop. We wanted to get to the Fricaba summit, but were also turned back because of time. Just another reason to go back.

[Animal]

(I make no claims of being a talented mountaineer)

 

Why mountaineer when jumping over mountains is better!

 

Great trip report!

[olyclimber]

my tent on the big boulder by the tarn (from a couple years ago)

 

different seasons ( think it was july a few years ago):

[chmnyboy]

Ahaha, thats awesome: same camera angle with someone on the same part of the trail!

[suge]

Yet another view of the same area, but taken in mid June of this year.