August 17-19, 2002

Mt. Mystery Climbing Trip

Dungeness River
Royal Lake
Royal Basin
Royal Pass
Deception Basin
Mount Mystery (7639′)

——————– Trip Report Summary ——————–

Region: Olympic Mountains (Washington)

Sub-Region: Gray Wolf – Hurricane Ridge Group

Area: Olympic National Park

Starting & Ending Point: Dungeness River Trailhead (Dungeness River Road)

Way Points: Dungeness River & Royal Creek & Royal Lake & Lower Royal Basin & Upper Royal Basin (trail hike)

Campsite: Upper Royal Basin at 5800 feet

Sidetrip: Royal Couloir & Royal Pass & Upper Deception Basin (rock scramble & snow climb & off-trail hike)

Summit: Mt. Mystery (ascent & descent via Mystery Glacier—East Face [Route 3] )

Approximate Stats: 23 miles traveled; 6700 feet gained & lost.

——————– Full Trip Report ——————-

Day 1 – Trailhead to Upper Royal Basin:

Laura and I started from the Dungeness River Trailhead on a sunny Friday and hiked up to Royal Basin.  We made camp in a small pad at 5800 feet in the upper basin (5.2 hours from TH).

Day 2 – Mt. Mystery Summit Climb:

From camp, Laura and I climbed up a moraine and 40-degree snowfield (crampons needed here) to “Royal Pass,” the 6500-foot saddle in the ridge that divides Royal Basin and Deception Basin. Here, we got our first view of our mysterious objective.

Shower-tile scree slopes led us down the other side to grass and heather benches above Deception Basin, where sparkling creeklets trickle over mossy sandstone rocks. A jade green, moraine-bounded lake sits at the base of Mystery Glacier, and the kelly green plain of the lower basin sprawls below. Mt. Mystery and Mt. Deception tower overhead. This is truly one of the hidden delights of the Cascades and Olympics!

We accessed the Mystery Glacier at its lower left corner, then easily cramponed up to a 6700-foot col at the upper right corner. Things got unpleasant above the col, on Mystery’s east face. We scratched and clawed our way up steep, hard dirt slopes for several hundred feet, almost wishing that we’d not stashed our crampons and axes back at the col.

Upon reaching a cliff band composed of crumbly breccia, we roped up and ascended a short Class 4 slot. Next came several hundred feet of tedious scree and small talus, followed by a snow patch. This took us closer to the jagged basalt crags above—but it remained a mystery as to which crag was actually the summit. Beginning from a shallow moat atop the snow patch, I led one pitch of nice Class 4 rock up a dihedral, then another pitch up some Class 3 ledges and slabs.

Suddenly, the summit appeared before me at the end of an easily traversed ridge crest.  We were on top by early afternoon (4.7 hours from camp).

We lounged on the sunny summit for a good hour, enjoying uncharacteristically perfect visibility across the entire Olympic range. Everything from Mt. Washington to Mt. Olympus to Mt. Buckhorn was in full view.

Laura even noticed the likeness of George Washington’s profile in the outline of his namesake peak! Farther east, only the Cascadian volcanos could be seen through the inland haze. We also admired Mystery’s north peak—a square shaft of basalt with an interesting stair-step texture. Our search of the summit rocks failed to turn up a register, which was disappointing because we were curious to see how many ascents Mystery gets in a typical year. We left a film canister to serve as an interim register until a proper tube can be placed.

At 2:00pm, we began a careful roped descent of the Class 3-4 rock and scree slopes. Farther down, we veered right (south) to avoid the breccia cliff, then traversed the same awful hard dirt back to our col. The glacier descent was quick and fun, whereas the shower-tile ascent to “Royal Pass” was slow and not as much fun. We paused at the pass for one last look back at our day’s route, then hurried down the north-facing snowfield and moraine to our secluded camp (3.9 hours from summit), arriving with just enough time to cool off in a nearby tarn before the sun slipped below Mt. Deception. Over dinner, we agreed that Mt. Mystery holds many surprises, but they all add up to a great climb!

Day 3 – Upper Royal Basin to Trailhead:

We slowly broke camp and had an uneventful hike back to the trailhead (4.2 hours from camp).

————— Photo Gallery (click to enlarge) —————–