We hiked in from Obstruction Point to Gladys Lake for two nights. There are four campsites at the lake -- one near the bear wire sign, one by the trail as you arrive at the lake, one past the outlet, and one on the far side of the lake. It was an unsettled weather week, but turned out alot nicer than the forecast (yay!).  On day two we day-hiked up to Grand Pass and despite some fog had pretty good views down to Cameron valley.  In the afternoon of that day we hiked to the top of Low Pass, looking at the Lillian Ridge walk as an option (someday).  Big bear scat on that ridge, and lovely views. Day three we moved camp to Grand Lake; six campsites there -- four on the side by the entrance trail (3 and 4 were the best) and two on the far side on the way down to Badger Valley.  There isn't a trail all the way around Grand Lake that we could find, but we enjoyed exploring.  Day four we hiked down to Badger Valley and back up to Obstruction Point trailhead.  There is an amazing waterfall just before the junction of Badger Creek at the "bottom" of that hike -- make sure you step off the trail into the wilderness campsite and look over the cliff. 

This hike is listed as moderate to strenuous, which is just about right.  The trails in and out are both steep with lots of switchbacks.  Final note: if you can choose to camp at Moose Lake, do!  It is a gorgeous lake with lots of campsites.  Also, we enjoyed Gladys more than Grand -- Grand lake is pretty mucky, full of slime and algae at the "beach" area.  Grand also has a small herd of resident deer that will stand in the trail and stare at you -- no fear of humans in that bunch. Excellent water sources at both lakes.

Road: great

Route: we just did Obstruction Point down to Grand Lake and back.  About 9 miles RT.

Weather: pretty nice, but had to be mindful of timing because of forecasted evening thunderstorms

Bugs: got bitten by only one fly, and I had no bug spray on.

Flowers: till a few (bog gentian, most notably) - more in the valley of course

Grand Lake: swimmable and lovely

Crowds: about 15 cars at the TH but didn't actually see many people.

TUE 06aug2024 ~08:00, got on the unpaved gravel and dirt road in to Obstruction Point Trailhead. The parking was almost full.

I did a CW-Loop: Badger Valley Trail > Grand Valley Trail > Grand Lake Trail. It was sunny, though nice and cool ~60s_F during my ~5 hours on-the-trail. Saw no other person until after I passed-by Grand Lake. From then on, i encountered a total of ~20 people coming in (from Obstruction Point), and a total of 6 people coming out from Moose Lake; some were Backpackers, some Day-hikers, and a pair of Birders 👍 Every one was cheery, courteous and friendly👍

Cheers!

This was a Thursday through Saturday trip, Starting at the Obstruction Point trailhead, camping at Gladys Lake and Upper Cameron Basin, and returning to Obstruction Point the third day. From the Obstruction Point trailhead, I hiked Beaver Valley to Grand Valley, over Grand Pass to Cameron Creek and up to Cameron Basin. I took the same way back except went over Lillian Ridge to Obstruction Point instead of through Badger Valley.

The parking lot at Obstruction Point was mostly full Thursday late morning, toilet clean and well stocked. There were few people on the trail all the way to Gladys Lake. Trail was in good shape, nothing noteworthy.

Gladys Lake camp: bear wire, no latrines. The best camping spot is on the far end of the lake (coming from Badger Valley), small trail to the left. Shade in the afternoon, level site with good water access. Bugs were annoying, mosquitoes and to a lesser extent flies.

The trail to Grand Pass was in good shape, and the side trail up Grand Pass peak is short, no more challenging than up to the pass itself, and worth it for the views.

Trip reports vary on the difficulty of the trail going down the south side of Grand Pass to Cameron Creek. So did the experiences of hikers I met coming the other way who had just come over the pass (from "not a problem" to "worst ever"). I went down and then up the next day. My experience was that if you're comfortable on narrow trail along steep alpine terrain -- no drop offs but just steep slopes as typical on the Olympics -- and where the tread is partially loose soil/scree, then you'll be fine. Poles help a lot. There is a clear trail throughout, and the loose section is the first few hundred yards. After that it's relentless down. I hiked it in dry weather, so other conditions would be different. Not something I would want to do when snow is present. See pictures for trail on both sides.

Upper Cameron Basin is beautiful, with few people camped there on Friday night. I found a spot on the far end of the basin, a third of a mile past the first obvious spots, just before the trail starts climbing again.

The return to Obstruction Point was hot, I went up Grand Pass early enough that it wasn't too bad, but the midday ascent to Lillian Ridge was brutal, exposed sun and no wind at all until reaching the top where the breeze picked up. And the temperatures weren't even that high, just sun exposure and exertion.

There were a lot of people in the Gladys Lake - Moose Lake - Grand Lake corridor on a Saturday, very busy with the beautiful weather. But once outside of that stretch it wasn't bad at all. The parking lot was full with many cars parked along the road.

We wanted to get an early start to make the most of our time so decided to spend the night before in Port Angeles (coming from Seattle).  Arrived at the Obstruction Point trailhead around 8:30 after travelling the eight mile dirt/gravel road from Hurricane Ridge.  The road is not for the faint of heart but it is safe if you just take your time.  A good portion was recently gravelled and leveled. Only about a dozen cars were at the trailhead when we arrived. 

It was a beautiful sunny day as we hiked along the ridge line --- with fantastic views of the Mt. Olympus range.  We dropped down into Grand Valley passing Grand Lake and set up camp at our Moose Lake site (pit toilets and bear wires nearby).  Total hiking time around 3 hours. Pesky deer hungry for our salt and Marmots greeted us. You'll need to be quite firm with the deer letting them know they need to keep their distance and keep your eye on any food or clothing/equipment items that might have seen sweat. 

The next day we hiked up the valley past Gladys Lake toward Grand Pass.  Wildflowers were in full bloom and we saw our first set of young Marmots.  A parent and four pups were in the field just a few yards away.  A nice leisurely day hike. Spent our second night --- which was a bit chilly --- but overall great conditions with no rain.  Only a very few mosquitos.

The following day we returned by the same route we came in vs. going up Badger Valley as we had done that in the past and preferred grunting out the climb in shorter order so we could enjoy the ridge walk back to the car.

As you all probably know, to stay at either Grand, Moose, or Gladys Lake (which is very small) you'll need a permit from Recreation.Gov.  They will mail you the physical permit to print and bring with you a few days before your trip. The back country rangers are checking for permits.  For variety you can return up the Badger Valley trail if this is a short trip or continue on into Cameron Valley and beyond for many miles.