cooperhill
New member
I figured that the bigger mountains in the Whites would be socked in today so I was aiming for something smaller. I love the Evans Notch so I decided to try some different trails and do a "small" loop of West and East Royce. The trip turned out to be about 10 miles and a tiring day and would only go over West Royce- I probably should read the WMG.
I started out at the Basin at about 8:30am. The foliage is peaking now and was very nice near the Basin pond/lake.
The basin trail was a nice grade. I took the time to use my new Rogue hoe to clear a few drainages. Unfortunately the woods were mostly beech so there wasn't much color going up. We finally made it up to Basin Rim Junction and were treated to some nice views back down the valley. I took the Basin Rim trail with the intent of climbing both West and East Royce. The trail started out great - the trail is very lightly used and there were some nice views into the Basin. I saw this interesting patch of lichen and what looks to me like blueberry bushes.
It stayed up on the ridge but there were very limited views into the Wild River Wilderness and the Carters. There were LOTS of moose droppings but we didn't see any moose this day. I was able to take some nice pictures of the Carters (which looked dusted with snow) from a rock outcropping.
At some point the trail started to close in around me. The trail footing was great because it must see very little use. The forest is clearly taking this trail over. It didn't help that I'm 6'4". So it was tough going - mostly because I wasn't drinking and eating enough. I was most likely bonking. The 2.5 miles to West Royce seemed like 5. It started to snow a little which was cool. By the time I got to the top of West Royce (not much of a view), I was very tired and decided to head down and skip East. The West Royce trail also seems to be used mostly by moose. It was a very quick down to the Royce Connector trail which I took down to the Royce trail. At that point I decided to take the shortest route down to the road and do a road walk back to the Basin campground. Neither the Royce trail nor the Laughing Lion trail (down to 113) were in very good shape. We reached the road around 1pm and started the walk back. The road had very light traffic so it was perfect for Maggie dog and me and improved my mood greatly.
Pictures are here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574900464ACFUbV?vhost=outdoors
I started out at the Basin at about 8:30am. The foliage is peaking now and was very nice near the Basin pond/lake.
The basin trail was a nice grade. I took the time to use my new Rogue hoe to clear a few drainages. Unfortunately the woods were mostly beech so there wasn't much color going up. We finally made it up to Basin Rim Junction and were treated to some nice views back down the valley. I took the Basin Rim trail with the intent of climbing both West and East Royce. The trail started out great - the trail is very lightly used and there were some nice views into the Basin. I saw this interesting patch of lichen and what looks to me like blueberry bushes.
It stayed up on the ridge but there were very limited views into the Wild River Wilderness and the Carters. There were LOTS of moose droppings but we didn't see any moose this day. I was able to take some nice pictures of the Carters (which looked dusted with snow) from a rock outcropping.
At some point the trail started to close in around me. The trail footing was great because it must see very little use. The forest is clearly taking this trail over. It didn't help that I'm 6'4". So it was tough going - mostly because I wasn't drinking and eating enough. I was most likely bonking. The 2.5 miles to West Royce seemed like 5. It started to snow a little which was cool. By the time I got to the top of West Royce (not much of a view), I was very tired and decided to head down and skip East. The West Royce trail also seems to be used mostly by moose. It was a very quick down to the Royce Connector trail which I took down to the Royce trail. At that point I decided to take the shortest route down to the road and do a road walk back to the Basin campground. Neither the Royce trail nor the Laughing Lion trail (down to 113) were in very good shape. We reached the road around 1pm and started the walk back. The road had very light traffic so it was perfect for Maggie dog and me and improved my mood greatly.
Pictures are here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574900464ACFUbV?vhost=outdoors
