Royal Basin - Royal Lake (Olympic National Park)

What makes the Royal Basin - Royal Lake hike in Olympic National Park so special is because I actually attempted this as one of my first solo backpacking trips in 2020. I was chatting with a friend and was delighted that I was able to score permits for Royal Lake because it is an extremely popular hike in the summer. That same year, I was also able to secure permits for the High Divide (Seven Lakes Basin) trail but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to go.

Fast forward to July 2022, I decided that it was time to try this trail again. I was in the process of finalizing my summer plans, went on Recreation.gov and was able to easily secure permits for a weekend in July. After that, I immediately reached out to a friend that I’ve been wanting to go backpacking with but the stars never aligned. But once he heard about the plans I had, he agreed to it without hesitation.

In this blog post, I will guide you through the entire hike — from trailhead to the basin — sharing not just the logistics but the moments that make this hike so special.

Start here

Overview
Getting a Permit
Getting to the Trailhead
Hiking Royal Basin - Royal Lake
- Lower Royal Basin
- Royal Lake
- Upper Royal Basin
Final Thoughts
Resources

Distance:
16 miles roundtrip

Elevation Gain:
2650 feet

Area:
Olympic National Park

Pass:
NW Forest Pass
America the Beautiful

Difficulty:
Moderate to Hard

Dog Friendly:
No

Views along the first 2 miles of the Royal Lake - Royal Basin trail.

Overview

The Royal Basin - Royal Lake trail is a true alpine paradise tucked away in the heart of Olympic National Park. The hike is about 7.2 miles to Royal Lake and an additional 0.8 of unmaintained trail up to Royal Basin, the gateway to the Olympic Wilderness.

The hike begins with an easy 2-mile trail through dense forests, where towering trees and the sound of rushing streams set the perfect backdrop for the journey ahead.

After the initial 2 miles, the hike becomes a steady ascent and opens up to meadows bursting with wildflowers. The reward is immediate once you arrive at Royal Lake. From the lake, the trail becomes more rugged as you continue to push towards Royal Basin, a high alpine cirque that feels otherworldly with its rocky terrain, glacial streams and tarns and views of the Olympic peaks.

Getting a Permit

Permits are required for any backcountry campsite in Olympic National Park. There is a quote for how many people and groups can camp at Royal Lake. While they are limited, they are fairly accessible to everyone. Unlike Mount Rainier National Park and North Cascades National Park, permits for the the Olympic National Park does not utilize a lottery system. In order to keep it that way, remember to practice leave no trace principles and follow wilderness regulations.

On Recreation.gov, the permits are grouped by the different areas of the park. To find the permits for Royal Lake - Royal Basin, you would need to select the ‘Hurricane’ area. From here, you will find a few backcountry sites that has the word ‘royal’ in it, unless you are really just starting out backpacking, I highly recommend getting permits for Royal Lake as Royal Creek is located about a mile into the trail. I’ve hiked past this a couple of times and it is indeed situated next to a creek.

Note that Royal Basin requires permits too but they are not available on Recreation.gov. That area is sensitive and camping permits are issued through the Olympic National Park ranger station. I believe you would have to stop by the ranger station to obtain a special permit.

Find out more about the Olympic National Park Wilderness Permits here.

Dogs are not allowed on this trail as it is located within Olympic National Park so you would have to leave your furry friend behind.

Getting to the Trailhead

Coordinates: 47.8779, -123.1369

The Royal Basin - Royal Lake trail starts at the Upper Dungeness Trailhead, which is shared by other popular hikes such as Tubal Cain and Marmot Pass and it travels into the Buckhorn Wilderness, where there are endless opportunities for longer overnight trips.

From Seattle, it takes a little more than 3 hours to get there. I decided to take the ferry again because I knew I had a long day ahead of me and not having to drive the distance all the way from North Seattle to the Northeast side of the Olympics sounded amazing.

There was word that one of the two ferries that normally serviced the Kingston Ferry Terminal wasn’t running so I drove downtown to catch the 6:30am ferry to Bainbridge Island. What was nice about catching such an early departure was there was barely anyone on the ferry so there was essentially no wait.

After getting off the ferry, it takes a little over an hour to get to the trailhead from the Bainbridge Island ferry terminal. The road to the trailhead is the typical forest service road suitable for all vehicles. If you have a sedan or a low clearance, I would go slow. The parking lot was quite large and I had no problem looking for parking. I double checked all my gear and got on the trail at a little past 9:15am.

Hiking Royal Basin - Royal Lake

Entering Olympic National Park - no pets and weapons are allowed.

You gain only about 800 feet in the first couple of miles of the hike. For the majority of this section, you will also be hiking along the creek. I personally carry a little less water when I am doing a hike or overnight trip in the Olympics because chances are there will always be a water source on the way into camp. I always read up trip reports too as most of the time, people will mention where the water sources are and how they’re looking - especially late in the season. I find trip reports on Washington Trails Association not only to be great for having a detailed description of the hike but they sure is a helpful resource when it comes to helping me plan a backpacking trip.

Royal Basin

Seeing blue skies for the first time on the hike.

I’m actually unsure what this area is officially called. It’s not officially labeled on the maps, at least not on GaiaGPS. However, about 4.8 miles in, the trail opens up to an open meadow. I think this is technically called Royal Basin or possibly Lower Royal Basin. There are several campsites here tucked on either side of the trail. They all looked spacious. This was the only section where I got the most sunshine and was finally able to see some of the surrounding jagged peaks. There were several creeks to cross but the trail is very well maintained. There were log bridges set up to make each crossing very manageable even though they were a little narrow at time. When I did this trail in July 2022, parts of the trail was rather muddy so perhaps wearing sturdy shoes with a thicker sole would help you navigate through these sections.

I stopped for a while here to fill up my water reservoir with my BeFree water filter. I also took the time to rest and ate a snack as I remembered the section after this would be a consistent ascent until you reach the lake. I didn’t reach Royal Lake the first time I attempted this hike, I turned around about a mile before reaching the lake. At the time, I didn’t feel like I was ready to tackle my first solo overnight trip. So I turned around and headed back to the car.

I like to call this section Royal Meadow, but I think it's technically called the Lower Royal Basin.

This time I knew I had to push through. It helped to know that my friends will be waiting for me at camp and that they were also expecting me. So I packed up my snacks and water filter and braced myself for the hardest section of the hike.

Royal Lake

I’m honestly not sure why but the final mile felt the hardest. I looked at the stats from GaiaGPS and the elevation gain didn’t seem unreasonable here. However, this section felt a lot steeper than most of the other sections of the trail. The trail is still very well maintained but perhaps with my heavy pack on and after I have already been hiking for 5 miles, my body was probably a little more tired especially in really humid weather. But I assure you that getting to camp would still feel like the most satisfying accomplishment at the moment. As I huffed and puffed my way in the last 0.5 miles, I finally made it a flat section because before you know that, you have arrived at the campsites at Royal Lake.

As you can see, we didn’t get a whole lot of views at Royal Lake. The entire time we were there, the lake was covered in a thick layer of fog and mist. I never really thought about how the lake would look but I was just happy that I made it to camp to meet up with my friends. I don’t recall seeing other folks near us but I do know that there are more campsites further along the trail and towards Upper Royal Basin.

Upper Royal Basin

We hung out at camp for a long time. The days were long but unfortunately the skies never cleared up. The group that I was with were hesitant to head up to Upper Royal Basin because we weren’t sure if it would be worth it. However, after much deliberation, 3 of us decided that we would check out the basin since it was only another 0.9 miles or so to get there. The trail to the basin traveled past additional campsites near Royal Lake and made its way to an unmaintained trail. This section was somewhat rocky and more steep than the rest of the trail.

With the help of trekking poles, I got up here with no problem.

As expected, most of this section was foggy as well so we didn’t get many views. I did see a cute little marmot hanging out by a rock on the way to Upper Royal Basin. However, once we finally made it to the end of the unmaintained trail and got to the open area surrounded by jagged and snow-covered peaks, the fog lifted momentarily and we were able to see the most that we ever could the entire time we were at Royal Lake.

Once the fog lifted, this entire place became so beautiful. I probably wouldn’t have really minded if the fog stayed but seeing views of the surrounding area for the first time on this trip made it even more special. The tarn and the upper basin are probably reasons why this trail is so popular, aside from the adventurous souls that continue onwards to climb Mount Deception and continue their journey to explore the more untamed Olympic Wilderness.

The 3 of us hung out for a little more and took some photos before we headed back down to camp to convene with the rest of the group. We couldn’t help but to tell them they really missed out on the views up there. As we were hiking back down to camp, the fog and clouds once again rolled in. I almost thought the weather gods wanted us to see the beauty of the upper basin and that was why we got a brief moment of clear skies.

Final Thoughts

I would rate this as a moderate to hard. Hard based on the length of the hike and the final elevation gain to Royal Lake and getting up to Upper Royal Basin.

Because this is a backcountry area with a quota, you will get to experience more solitude than a hike like Enchanted Valley where the valley itself tends to get overrun by backpackers.

The Olympics cover a large area of land so there are ample opportunities for all levels of hikers. I recommend visiting the Olympic Coast as well as that is a popular destination for backpackers as well. I haven’t had the chance to complete any of the North or South Coast loops but I have done a super short trip down to Hole in the Wall.

I haven’t really had any luck with the weather in the Olympics but I think this is one of the few areas where trekking in the rain or fog actually makes it more magical due to the dense old grown forests that shape the majority of the landscape here.