Obstruction Peak
Low Point: 4025'
High Point: 6450'
Season: All Year
Difficulty: 5/5
Directions
take 101 North to Port Angeles. From there follow signs toward Olympic National Park, Hurricane Ridge. after entering the park follow the road toward Hurricane ridge. Right before you reach teh visitor center at Hurrican Ridge you take a sharp left on a gravel road toward Obstruction Peak. The Trail head is at the end of this road, approximately 8 miles. (even though the road is gravel it is in good condition and easily passable by a 2WD sedan)Trail Description
This is a great hike with a view of the olympic mountains from 6,000 feet, that is if you manage to get a clear day up there. the 9 mile loop begins at 6100 feet, above treeline in an alpine environment. The trail is a loop with the lillian ridge and badger valley trails. Badger valley has the steeper ascent so we chose to take the lillian ridge trail down and the badger valley trail back up. This is one of those unique hikes where you start at the highest elevation and then proceed down to a series of spectacular lakes in the Grand valley.
The ridge trail stays fairly level for the first 1.5 miles, when is then begins to plunge into the valley. On the way down you pass a small alpine lake at 2.5 miles, but quickly find yourself at the bottom of the valley at Grand Lake. From here you can either go south to Moose and potentially Gladys Lakes (1.5 MI) or head north on to the Badger valley trail. Our trip took us up to Moose lake, wich I would highly recommend.
The badger valley trail takes you further down Grand valley for another 1.5 miles where you cross Grand Creek and then begin to head back up to Hurricane Ridge. It begins with a steep incline and then steadily goes up at a gradual slope through lush forrest and alpine meadows, until you are within the last mile where it begins to switchback up the wall of the ridge for the last 800 feet of elevation.
This was a great hike. We saw a number of Deer and Marmots all along the trail. However, we went in late June and did have a minor difficulty getting back up to the trail head from Badger Valley. Several Snowfields were still present at this time of year and many were covering the trail on rather steep inclines at the head of Badger Valley, so I would only really recommend this trail for summer adventures. Overall the views are incredible and it dives into a lush valley. You get to experience a little bit of everything that Olympic NP has to offer.
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