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.
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