Best trails near Obstruction Peak

We hiked this trail counterclockwise and tacked on Moose Lake as well as the second portion of Elk Mountain loop. It was absolutely gorgeous, and not as difficult as we expected based the on the reviews. We saw only one other hiker during this entire loop. The first half of the hike is a descent and has absolutely gorgeous mountain views and full exposure. The second half was primarily in the trees until we started ascending Elk Mountain. The lakes were breathtakingly blue, quite a contrast to the autumn foliage. Just picturesque. Plenty of small lakes to refill water bladders, and lots of evidence of animal activity. Overall it was a difficult trail with incredible views that I will most likely hike again.

Gravel road up to the trail is tight at times but plenty of turnout points + very well maintained. Hike itself is beautiful, trail is nicely maintained, some loose rock/shale once you get above the tree line but its not bad at all. Spectacular views of Mount Olympus as you approach the descent to Obstruction Point. We didn’t go down the ~500 feet to Obstruction, instead had lunch on one of the neighboring peaks along the trail. Beautiful views of Mount Baker & the surrounding Olympic Mountains. Definitely recommend doing this hike!!

Definitely more hard than moderate but awesome hike

Closer to 10 miles than 8

Some parts along the rodge are easy to lose the trail, but its not hard to fond again. I recomend just making sure you have your map downloaded to make sure ypu are on the right path. 90% of the trail is well traveled, but theres some ares that have alot of shale and are pretty steep, so ots harder to find the trail. Overall great hike, itll make you sweat, but the ridge lines worth it and dropong into the valley ia a pretty fun change of scenery. We went counter clockwise for this trail and hit the lodge first then climbed back up through beaver valley. Hitting the hardest part first made the rest of the day easier. Expect light bouldering and a few pretty steep climbs.

We did this trail on Labour Day weekend 2024, while the last review had been from Summer 2023. There have been several improvements to the trail since then, which I'll detail in this review. We did the trail clockwise (despite most people choosing to do it counter clockwise) in three days/two nights. Day One: We hiked approx. 20km from Obstruction Point trailhead, through Deer Park where we stopped for lunch, and then down to Three Forks campground. The road to the trailhead is a narrow dirt road that starts with a sharp left turn off Hurricane Ridge road just before the Hurricane Ridge parking lot (it is easy to miss; if you go through the Hurricane Ridge parking lot, you've missed it). I have a Mazda3 hatchback with two wheel drive and had no problem on the road. The trail itself starts with a moderate incline along a mountain ridge with beautiful views on either side, then descends into the trees before a steep climb up to Deer Park for the last 500m or so. After Deer Park, it is a steep descent (over 1,000m) over the next approximately six km down to Three Forks. There was NO WATER ACCESS throughout the entire day. I was carrying a 45lb pack and my Garmin watch estimated 5L of sweat loss, so next time I would pack a MINIMUM of 4L of water, if not 5L. Three Forks campground was not busy. There is a pit toilet (BYOTP) and easy access to a fresh water stream. Day Two: We hiked approx. 12km to a small clearing about 500m past the junction to go up Grand Pass. Our original plan was to camp at Lower Cameron, but we had enough energy to keep going and heard from a hiker going the other way that there was a good clearing to camp just past the junction. The clearing had room for 3-4 tents, easy access to fresh water, but no pit toilet. This whole route was along Cameron Creek, so fresh water access throughout the day was no issue. It was a moderate incline through the forest valley throughout the 12km and not too strenuous. Previous reviews noted that there were several spots along this route with overgrown trail conditions. These issues have been fixed - we did not encounter any areas on the trail where it was difficult to find or where we were whacking through brush. In fact, we ran into a trail crew doing work with brush clearing materials that had done significant work clearing the trail. Day Three: We hiked 11-12km out. We got an early start so we could tackle Grand Pass before the sun was up, went back 500m toward the junction and turned left to head up Grand Pass. This was the most grueling part of the hike, with a 600m+ elevation gain over ~3km, but the views up the Pass are breathtaking, especially as the sun came over the mountains. Keep your eyes peeled for marmots when you go through the meadow near the top. There are several freshwater access points while going up the Pass. Once over the pass, it's a ~300m descent to Gladys, Moose, and Grand Lakes. There are also a few freshwater access points along the lakes. Once past the lakes, it's straight up again another grueling ~300m to Lillian Ridge - the last steep incline of the loop. From there, it is an easy few kilometres back to the trailhead.