Heather Creek, Deception-Royal Basins Loop (Fricaba Traverse)

Mount Deception

After much anticipation, last weekend I finally got to do the Heather Creek, Deception and Royal Basins Traverse that Ancient Ambler wrote about in this trip report a few years back. I went with my friend Doug from the Peninsula Wilderness Club and we made a loop out of it. We left Silverdale around 8:30AM on Friday the 13th and took our time getting out to the trailhead.
The trail is in much better condition than when AA wrote his report, and a new bridge has been installed over Heather Creek replacing the damaged one. We camped at the the sole camp spot at the end of the Heather Creek trail. After setting up camp we headed up the avalanche slope that AA describes in his report to do a little scouting out of the terrain we would experience the next day. The terrain was pretty steep and full of marmot holes, but probably the best route up as others have also mentioned (only found one mountain strawberry on the way up). After scouting the route, we headed back down to camp and crawled in the tent early to escape the ravenous mosquitoes.

The next morning after breaking camp, we headed back up the slope. I would say the first 5 or 6 hundred feet of elevation is the hardest. After this, the route up to Fricaba Basin and Pass is fairly straight-forward with only a few steepish scramble areas. Fricaba Basin was very pretty and looked mostly untouched. Really nice place. At Fricaba Pass, we had lunch and scouted the way ahead through Deception Basin. As noted in another trip report, Deception Pass is just to the right and slightly higher than the low spot on the ridge that you would expect to be Deception Pass. This was good info to have since I had never been through here before. We didn't drop all the way into the lower basin, nor did we climb any peaks, this was strictly a traverse. We decided to try to keep as high as we could and sidehill around to Deception Pass. This worked for a while but cliff bands impeded our progress in a few spots so we still had to drop down. We hiked across some of the upper Deception Basin which was still covered in several feet of snow. Deception Basin is a really desolate place with the exception of the lower basin that is a verdant green with a stream ambling throught it. Looks like a nice little place to camp. Eventually we made our way to the base of the climb going up to Deception Pass. This portion of the trip was easily the steepest with the exception of the avalanche slope near the beginning of the day by Heather Creek. We made our way to the pass and stopped for a break and a snack. We weighed our options, hike out or stay another night. We had a permit good for Saturday night at Royal Lake but the skeeters were sure to be hungry and possibly worse than at Heather Creek. One of us said something about cheeseburgers and that was all it took for us to decide to hike out. We left Deception Pass around 4:00 and arrived at the car right at 7:00PM. We were really craving a greasy cheeseburger so we hustled to Sequim to get to Tootsie's drive-thru burger joint before they (possibly) closed at 8:00 PM. We got our burgers!

 

Ready to hit the trail

 

Footbridge over Royal Creek

 

Footbridge over Royal Creek

 

Footbridge

 

Footbridge

 

Relic from the past

 

Doug scouting the route

 

The avalanche slope

 

Fricaba Basin and Pass

 

Leaving Camp

 

The traverse begins

 

First water break

 

Doug below Fricaba Pass

 

Fricaba Basin

 

Doug at Fricaba Basin

 

Fricaba Basin

 

Flowers in Fricaba Basin

 

Flowers in Fricaba Basin

 

Flowers in Fricaba Basin

 

Fricaba Basin

 

Fricaba Basin

 

Fricaba Basin

 

Fricaba Basin

 

Fricaba Basin, Mt. Constance in the background

 

Fricaba Pass

 

First view of Deception Basin from Fricaba Pass

 

Still full of snow in August Deception Basin

 

The way we came on the left. Hal Foss and Mystery in the background.

 

Mystery and Deception

 

Fricaba Pass is the low point of the ridge on the left. Hal Foss Peak on left, Mt Mystery center, Mount Deception on right. This panorama was taken at about the halfway point on the traverse across Deception Basin.

 

Mount Deception and lower basin.

 

Mount Mystery.

 

The climb out of the basin begins

 

First View of Royal Basin from Deception Pass

 

Lower Deception Basin.

 

A look back at Deception Basin from Deception Pass. The low point in the ridge is Fricaba Pass. Hal Foss Peak and Mount Mystery in the center.

 

A look at Fricaba Pass, Hal Foss Peak and the way we came.

 

Mount Deception and Royal Basin from Deception Pass.

 

Mount Deception from Deception Pass.

 

Royal Basin.

 

Royal Basin.

 

Wildflowers

 

Doug Savage and myself in a timed photo at Deception Pass. Mt Baker in the distance.

 

Mount Baker from Deception Pass.

 

Looking back up at Deception Pass.

 

Looking back up at Deception Pass.

 

Ellen and John Knott and Bob Dormaier in the upper Royal Basin

 

Ellen and John Knott and Bob Dormaier in the upper Royal Basin

 

Ellen and John Knott, Bob Dormaier and Doug Savage in the upper Royal Basin

 

Upper Royal Basin

 

Upper Royal Basin

 

Royal Lake

 

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2 thoughts on “Heather Creek, Deception-Royal Basins Loop (Fricaba Traverse)

  • February 14, 2018 at 4:57 pm
    Permalink

    Great pictures, as always, Jay. I’m starting a long term project of painting all of the 7K+ Olympic mountains in Watercolor. Would you mind if I used your picture of Mt. Deception from Lower Basin as reference? I’ll send you a JEPG copy when I complete it. Jim

    Reply
    • May 14, 2018 at 8:54 am
      Permalink

      You are absolutely welcome to use anything you need need Jim.

      -Jay

      Reply

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