It was raining(misting heavily?) at home but the ONP Hurrican Ridge cam looked good, so my wife and I headed out for stroll on the trail south of Obstruction Point towards Grand Valley.
The Obstruction Point Road was it usual beautiful, interesting, twisting, scary self. We ended up passing vehicles coming back at every point along the road that I'd always thought "I hope I never encounter another vehicle at this point"; my wife handled the pass-bys with ease.
starting down the Obstruction Point Road-wide, long, large vehicles not recommended (nor welcomed)
Looking back towards Hurricane Ridge
The TH was basically full at ~1400, but only had a few vehicles parked down the road. We snagged a recently vacated spot. The deer at the TH appeared to be very accustomed to people and did not mind posing for photos. We headed south along the trail towards Grand Valley passing several parties coming back. There are still some large snow patches across the trail, but nothing too scary (especially given the afternoon softness). The views were great.
View south from the TH
Deer browsing for goodies at the TH... completely unfazed by people of their dogs they brought along
Looking SE over to the Needles and Mt. Deception
Looking north up the Lilian River & Elwha drainages
Moose Peak... initially our goal but we got too late of a start.
We had a snack at a high spot, but did not go down into Grand Valley (though after the snow patch near the drop-off from the ridge, it looked snow free all the way down to the lakes). Grand Pass (or at least what I think was the pass) appeared to still have substantial amounts of snow in the bowls/north face below it.
Looking towards Grand Pass
Grand Valley below
phlox?
Hillside w/ low wild flowers
We returned to the TH around 1800 and head back down, stopping by the SNOWTEL site on the way down so I could get a few pics. We were thankful to have enjoyed such beautiful views in the Olys.
NW facing bowls and their snow
Cornices melting away
Hey there deer!
Small snowfield lake melting out
Snow patches on the plateau south above the Obs TH
The SNOWTEL site
Snow pillow measuring device
Mt Angeles from the Hurricane Ridge Road
*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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*Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
can't wait to make the icky drive and check things out.
a few hardcore hikers did lake Lillian on Saturday.
thanks for sharing your day with your wife!
bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
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bobbi ૐ
"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So…get on your way!" - Oh, the Places You’ll Go! By Dr. Seuss
Great pix! Looks like a normal year out there ... similar conditions on our first backpack down to Gladys Lake as soon as the road opened around July 4 (same patch of snow at the top of the Grand Valley trail). We hiked up to Grand Pass from our camp at the lake ... once we started climbing much of it was on snow.
As for the scary road... our next trip was to do the Cameron Ridge Traverse. A most memorable trip in late July, 2005. It had its challenging moments but we got thru them. On the drive back I was thinking the road was scarier! Of course, I admittedly suffer from edge fear.
PHOTOSFILMSKeep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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PHOTOSFILMSKeep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
Driving Obstruction Point Road is always a scary proposition for me. The downhill stretch past Eagle Point is high anxiety time. I usually go early in the morning so I'm not faced with passing another car coming up the hill and having to get close to the edge.
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