High Sierra Topix

Just wanted to share this fun and useful cross country route between the bottom of French Canyon and Royce Lakes. In planning our just completed backpack in the area, I had eyed (in Google Earth) the interesting crack/gully that runs NE from the bottom of the Royce Lakes Falls up onto the Royce Plateau. You can see it here HST Map

I couldn't find any mention of whether or not it's passable. After looking at it a bit, we decided to go for it. Worst case, we'd get a nice view of the falls. Turns out, it's an easy class 2 scramble up nicely solid talus. At the top, it simply rolls out onto the plateau. The views back down French Canyon are great. From there you could walk to Pine Creek pass easily, but we made a nice loop out of it by going over Royce-Merriam pass (totally dry, no ice axe needed).

I think the hardest part of the route might be getting into the crack. The bottom is filled with vegetation, but we got in by scrambling to a fairly obvious notch in the crack's outer wall just a bit above the level of the base of the falls which allowed easy access to the crack well above the vegetation and the creek formed by the falls.

Here is a pic from the top of it looking down and one of the crack as viewed from the French Canyon Trail. Sorry for rotation problems. They load correctly if you click on them.

Hi Seejay317

Welcome to HST! Thanks for the pictures and info. Used that gully route back in 87' when
heading up to Royce.

That looks like a fun route. Thanks for the info and pxts.

Very nice info. Any particular trick to getting around the willows by the falls and up into the dry gully?

Nifty looking route.

kpeter wrote:Very nice info. Any particular trick to getting around the willows by the falls and up into the dry gully?

I wonder about that too. I couldn't help noticing that very thick looking green clump at the bottom. If I saw that I'd be thinking "impenetrable".

Sorry, missed the questions above. I guess my notifications for comments were turned off. Yes, you can easily bypass the vegetation. From the original post:

"The bottom is filled with vegetation, but we got in by scrambling to a fairly obvious notch in the crack's outer wall just a bit above the level of the base of the falls which allowed easy access to the crack well above the vegetation and the creek formed by the falls."

It's hard to see that notch in the photos I attached, but it's pretty obvious when looking at the approach from the French Canyon Trail. Just some easy slabs up, over, and down the outer wall of the crack.

Cool, thanks for the info - was in the area and thinking about this last month!