Description

Trailhead to Royal Lake: (Day 1) 3.5 hrs to Royal Lake.

An additional hour to get to Upper Royal Basin with the views.

Straightforward hike with tremendous views.

Upper Royal Basin is an all-timer and highly recommend.

Recommend mosquito nets if you’re staying at Royal Lake.

Not Alaska bad, but they’re there. Royal Lake to Goat Lake: (Day 2) 6.5hrs I have read several trip reports doing this in reverse (Goat Lake to Royal Lake) and I would highly recommend that.

Looking at photos and satellite imagery, it appeared you could walk the eastern ridgeline of Royal Basin with only a few down climbs getting around the steepest peaks.

We made the decision looking for some adventure and what seemed to be a route with cool views of both valleys and ranges.

We ascended the south-eastern ridgeline of Upper Royal Basin and began traversing north, eventually reaching the base of South Petunia and dropping into Goat Lake.

This route was harder than anticipated and I highly recommend this later in the season (took a ride on some steep snow) and for folks prepared for a long day of steep down climbs and ascending scree fields and loose rock.

About 60% of the ridgeline is, in fact, easily traversable.

However the three down climbs and ascents back to the ridge made up for this.

To save time and energy, I recommend just doing the standard Goat Lake to Royal Basin route.

The views at the ridgeline were great though.

Several spots on the ridgeline are large and flat enough for camps even. Goat Lake to Upper Dungeness TH: (Day 3) 3hrs.

Pretty straightforward.

Just follow the trail.

Trail from Goat Lake down to Camp Handy is pretty steep.