Backpacking Grand Pass Loop — Olympic National Park

The Duration: 2 Days, 1 Night

The Distance: 27 miles

Time of Year: October

The Track: Loop

The Rose: That feeling of accomplishment after bagging two peaks in two days!

The Thorne: Dang switchbacks. My nemesis.

The Trail Overview

Okay, I see you Olympic National Park!! Talk about a mountain range. I’ve seen plenty of mountain ranges before, but this felt different...it felt endless! But let’s talk about the trail shall we. You get exposed to everything that is great about Olympic on this trail (with the exception of the coast, sorry!). Everything from the luscious, green rainforest to wildflower meadows, crystal clear alpine lakes to 6,700 ft summits, rocky ridgelines and vast mountain range views. Talk about an extensive list! This trail is DIFFICULT, no lying here. It’s aggressive mileage for two days plus adding in the elevation gain and loss makes for a real doozy. If you’re ready to challenge yourself for a one night hike though, this is a great trail to do it on. Not ready to challenge yourself this far… see “Shorter Trail Alternatives” for an alternative, less mileage treks.

On this trail, I (Kate) went with an old friend who inconveniently is also named Kat. But for ease of not confusing our readers (you guys!), we will call new friend Kat by her first and last name of Kat Eaton!

Selecting This Trail

Beautiful fall colors along the Cameron Creek Trail right before summiting Grand Pass!

All thanks goes to Kat Eaton for selecting this trail! When I told her my suggestion of about 10 miles a day with moderate elevation gain and loss, she must have thrown that right out the window! We averaged about 14 miles a day with over 4,600 ft elevation gain, that’s a lot. But, man, glad I went for it because this trail was totally worth it to do a loop with two peaks and endless views.

One thing to note, this trail is really only good for summer and fall once all the snow has melted! Otherwise get ready to break out your ice picks and spikes!

Backcountry Permits are required to hike this trail. We booked this trail pretty last minute and thankfully there was still availability. I would recommend getting your permit as far in advance as you can. Availability goes fast on popular trails. Be sure to note that other popular trails in Olympic might not be so lucky.

For selecting this trail, I recommend referencing the following helpful sites!

Outdoor Project - Grand Pass Loop (Good Trail Description)
Olympic National Park - Wilderness Planning

The Trail

Parking / Leaving Cars:

We parked at the Deer Park Ranger Station / Trailhead. I would suggest getting there early. There are only a few spots so I can imagine how it might get full on a busy weekend.
The road to the trailhead is a fairly narrow long dirt road so make sure to drive safely and fill up on gas before heading out to this trailhead.
We parked at the trailhead the night before our hike so we could get an early start and we weren’t bothered by any rangers for doing so. We slept in my campervan but there were also people sleeping in tents.
Just a side note: If you collect National Park Stamps or other NP souvenirs like we do, you will not pass a visitor center or any gift shops on the way to this hike. So if you feel like swinging by one of those, make sure to add extra time to the front or end of your hike for the extra to get there.

The Hike:

Day One:

The rainforest through Three Forks - such a diverse trail!

There are two options for doing this hike – Clockwise or Counterclockwise. Really depends if you prefer going up or down steep things. Both options are still going to have the same elevation gain / loss but clockwise will be steeper going up while counterclockwise will be more gradual going up and steeper coming down. We went clockwise so I’ll describe the hike from that direction.

Starting from the Deer Park Trailhead, the hike will follow Three Forks with some gradual switchbacks downhill through the incredibly green and lush forest. This 4 mile stretch will make you think, wow this hike is easy peasy! Don’t let this section fool you!
You’ll end those downhill switchbacks at a river and connect to Cameron Creek which you’ll cross a few times and ultimately follow for the next 4 miles. I recommend stopping for a snack and refilling your water before leaving the river. There will be some small creek crossings in the next few miles but depending on the season, I wouldn’t count on those.
Next, you'll continue to follow Cameron Creek and gradually make your way up from the river through a series of wildflower meadows (about 3 miles). Since it was Fall, the flowers weren’t blooming but the meadows had this beautiful fall look (think golds, reds, oranges) to them that I loved. At this point, you are in wild berry territory which means bear country so be sure to be making lots of noise and be bear aware!
Alright, when you base of Grand Pass, take the right up the mountain. And it will be UP. First, are some gnarly switchbacks in a forest section, and then following that it’s all exposed tundra on the side of the mountain. I found the forest switchbacks difficult because the views were covered by the trees. The good news is, once you’re on the side of the mountain, the views are spectacular so even though you may be hating these switchbacks, you can at least enjoy the 180 views. Once you finish those switchbacks, CONGRATS, you made it to the summit of your first peak, Grand Pass!
We were tuckered out from the day so we decided to stop and camp at the summit of Grand Pass. If I could do it over though, I would definitely recommend holding out for the next few miles down the mountain to get to the designated campsites at Gladys Lake. They are some seriously epic sites.

Day Two:

Coming into some major mountain views on Grand Pass Trail!

Our day two started off traversing down Grand Pass. Pretty rocky and lots of spur trails so be careful! Once you are in the valley, the alpine lakes are STUNNING! The three lakes you’ll pass are Gladys Lake, Moose Lake, and finally Grand lake. This is some easy and beautiful hiking so take your time and enjoy yourself. We snacked at one of the lakes just to rest and enjoy the sunshine.

Once you leave the lakes, the switchbacks are there to greet you! These 2 miles of switchbacks are relatively gradual, but switchbacks nonetheless. This is starting your way up to Obstruction Point Trailhead.
About a half mile before the Obstruction Trailhead was my favorite view on the trail. You can see where you peaked at Grand Pass the day before and then you are just surrounded by these endless, glacier-covered mountains. Jaw dropping stuff, man!
From those epic views, it’s pretty moderate hiking to Obstruction Trailhead. Just soak in those views on this stretch!
Once you get to Obstruction Trailhead, you’re on your final stretch home on Hurricane Ridge. This is your last 7ish miles back to Deer Park Trailhead. Overall, these last 7 miles are pretty gradual, so we picked up a lot of speed here. This section is an intimidating ridgeline that drops pretty aggressively so I recommend hiking poles for balance. Once you hit Elk Mountain, it’s downhill back to Deer Park Trailhead. Once you’re back in the treeline, you’re almost home!

Hike Alternatives:

Alright, as mentioned, it was a lot of mileage for a two day hike. Here are some alternative options:

Break it up into a three day route: Follow the same route as mentioned above. First night camp at Lower Cameron followed by Gladys Lake the second night. Basically, by doing this, you’re allowing yourself a whole day to summit Grand Pass which is the most difficult part of the trail.
Make it shorter: Start the hike at Obstruction Trailhead for an ‘out and back’ trail. Camp at Gladys Lake campsite and from camp, do a day hike to summit Grand Pass. You’ll be able to come back to your campsite that night for an awesome dinner with lakeside views.
Make it longer (43 Miles): Want to make it a multi-day trip? Click HERE for an extension of the original loop.

On the Way Home:

TIRED MAN! We didn’t make it for a celebratory beer but thankfully I had some friends in the Tacoma area waiting for me with beer and pizza!
If you are wanting a celebratory beer, I would suggest Barhop Brewing & Taproom in Port Angeles. Pizza always calls my name after a grueling hike!

The Lessons Learned

#77: Feed YOURSELF! Make sure to eat a good dinner night before, a hearty breakfast, and to stop on the trail for snacks and lunch. Especially with high mileage. Food is energy!! See Lesson Learned #XX for why (wink emoji)

#78: Stubbornness doesn’t make for good hiking habits. Both Kat Eaton and I were determined to make it to the 7 mile mark before stopping for lunch and refilling our waters even though we were both hungry, thirsty, and had aching feet! Be sure to listen to your body when it says to rest and eat a snack!

#79: Know what wildlife is in the area and how to combat it. I feel like I’ve been getting myself into this pickle a lot lately! In this instance, we totally assumed there was a mountain lion outside our tent only to find out it was a pesky deer. Who knew deer could get up that high! Take two seconds to google wildlife wherever you are backpacking and some quick hits for how to handle any encounters.

#80: Know what your game plan is if you hear noises outside your tent. Let’s go back to that moment when we assumed there was a mountain lion outside our tent. Kat Eaton and I went from being truly afraid (I mean we heard grunting and scratching, man!!) so we had to come up with a quick plan if this ‘so called’ mountain lion decided to attack. Our plan was pretty shady (emoji). Basically, I was armed with the bear spray and ready to attack while Eaton was ready to exit through the back and run for help! Yes, I drew the short straw.

#81: Don’t try to cheat a trail map. When we parked at Deer Park Trailhead, we saw a sign for Obstruction Trailhead making us think they shared a trailhead parking lot. This assumption was very, very wrong. This became abundantly clear when we got to Obstruction Trailhead and realized we still had another 7 miles left to go. Yikes is right. The trail map was right all along.

#82: Altitude Gain and Loss can be deceiving on a trail map. So that thing about trusting a trail map, well not so much for altitude gain and loss (unless it’s a topographic map!). On this hike, the trail map only showed about 800 ft. difference between the trailhead and Grand Pass Summit. This was super deceiving when you have to go down down down before you have to go up up up so this altitude change was really more like 4,600 ft. which is A LOT.

Lesson Learned Repeats: Yep, even though they had been lessons learned in a previous trip, some things still got the best of us. Here are some things we were reminded of on this trek.

Lesson Learned 16: Check your propane tank before each trip.
- The classic we ran out of propane in the middle of cooking jambalaya. Half cooked rice is never very tasty.
Lesson Learned 30: Don’t eat where you sleep.
- Oh pesky deers. We cooked pretty close to our tent so a pesky deer found us rather quickly.

The Perspective from Kate:

Man, oh, man, what a hike!! Though this hike is a doozy, you truly feel empowered by it. The consistent jaw-dropping views, the true feeling of being on top of a mountain peak, and just the sheer leg muscle needed make it worth every step.

This hike had two very memorable moments: first a laughable and second of genuine fear. First, when we submitted the peak, there was no one in front or behind us and it was starting to get dark so we assumed we were the last hikers of the night. With that being said, I decided to strip down to my all-natural self for my ‘wipe bath’. Anyways, at the peak of my nakedness, two trail runners came out of nowhere!! They shout ‘oh!’ ‘sorry!’ and then hide until I’ve covered myself. Talk about embarrassing! Turns out they were ultra-marathon trail runners just casually doing a 30 something mile run that day. Talk about impressive!!

The second memorable moment was one of true fear! Kat Eaton and I had just settled into our cozy sleeping bags, had a little bit of whiskey, and were ready to pass out when we hear…. grunts & something scratching at the ground right outside our tent door. Fight, Flight or Freeze? Man, do we Freeze. We’re both holding our breaths & holding hands (we’re scared, okay!!) and waiting for whatever creature is outside our tent to leave. But it doesn’t and we’ve been stuck frozen for over an hour!! Eventually, we have to pee, probably from fear, so we open the tent door opposite of the sound just enough to hang our arses out and pee without actually leaving the tent. Yes, very impressive indeed. My logic starts building that I think if we can make that much commotion without alarming the animal then I should be able to open the other tent door to take a peek at whatever it might be. Well, I open my door to find a DEER only a few feet from the tent. Yes, seeing something startles me but oh am I thankful that it’s just a deer!! We wind up giving the deer a good few shouts to scare it off and then proceed to have a much better night’s sleep.

This trail was challenging, funny, rewarding – honestly, everything I could ask for from a solid backpacking trip. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to push themselves to their next beginner backpacking milestone!