Royal Lake '04,  Olympic National Park,  Aug 26, 2004 - Aug 27, 2004     page 1 / 49

Tom and I headed into the hills last week between rain showers. This time we chose a new area to visit--the Royal Lake area, in the Dungeness River watershed of the Olympic National Park. My father and brother visited this area last year and came back with some nice photos, so we were interested in visiting as well.

It had rained quite a bit earlier in the week, so we delayed our a departure a day or two, finally heading up Thursday morning. We hit the trailhead about 12:45PM. The rain had deteriorated to occasional showers with a few sun breaks.

The walk through the old growth forest along the Dungeness River was delightful. The river level was high due to the heavy rainfall of the preceding few days. We covered the first mile quickly, reaching the bridge which crosses Royal Creek.