Grand Valley via Grand Pass Trail, Cameron Pass, Cameron-Lost Primitive, Lost Pass Primitive, Hayden Pass, Elwha River and Lillian River, Wolf Creek & Elwha River and Geyser Valley — Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024

I've been wanting to get up into the Cameron and Lost Pass areas since first seeing photos a few years ago. Despite clouds and wet it was absolutely gorgeous, and we had a great 5 day trip.

Originally, I wanted to do the Grand Loop counterclockwise from Deer Park. However, we don't have a car and wanted to try to avoid renting one, and we didn't have a lot of luck finding a ride up to Deer Park. So we decided to start and end at Hurricane Ridge instead, where we could catch a bus.

Day 0 (Monday, August 19): travel to Port Angeles

We took the train to Seattle (Amtrak), then transferred to the Dungeness Line bus to Port Angeles. It turns out that the Dungeness Line is operated by Greyhound, and despite the fact that Amtrak sells a connecting ticket for the bus, there is basically zero communication between Amtrak and Greyhound.

We got to King Street Station and saw no information about our bus anywhere. We went to the ticket counter and the Amtrak person said "that bus hasn't shown up in 2 weeks and we haven't been able to reach Greyhound. They're bankrupt and having a hard time getting drivers." They recommended we wait til 20 minutes past the bus' scheduled time, and if it didn't show up they could get us on a train to a ferry to a bus to another bus.

We had a somewhat hilarious phone call to the Dungeness Line/Greyhound, where they could provide zero information on the status of the bus because we didn't have a Greyhound reservation number(?), and then hung up on us. So we waited by the Greyhound pickup sign outside the train station, and miracle of miracles the bus showed up! Although when we presented our tickets they said we were scheduled to board at the Greyhound bus terminal? Also, I wonder if the driver was new to the route because he had Google Maps directions on. But despite that small panic, we had a super smooth bus ride to Port Angeles!

Moral of the story: if you're going to take the Dungeness Line, book directly through Greyhound. Also, maybe just take the ferry to Bainbridge and then get the Strait Shot - that seems more reliable (although take an earlier ferry than the one you need since it can run late and the bus doesn't wait).

Day 1 (Tuesday, August 20): Hurricane Ridge to Grand Lake - 11.4 mi, +2402' -2880'

We caught the first bus from Port Angeles up to Hurricane Ridge, arriving about 9am. We got off the bus into a complete cloud - couldn't see more than 15 feet in front of us.

We headed out on the Obstruction Point Road bundled up in our rain jackets and gloves. Originally our hope had been to try to hitchhike the road, but there was very little car traffic (in total we saw 4 cars, 2 each way, over the 8 mile road). This stretch was probably the part I was most worried about for the whole trip, because I hadn't found much information about folks walking or hitching this road. I called the ranger station to ask and they said it was doable but they'd recommend wearing bright colors since there can be a lot of traffic and there's a steep drop off.

With so little traffic it actually ended up being a really nice walk! We saw a deer stag and some marmots, lots of campanulas, views of the clouds traveling through the valleys, and ate some delicious huckleberries growing along the road.

I also felt that the road was plenty wide enough to always feel like there was enough room to step to the side to let cars pass (and not worry about going over the edge). Traffic also doesn't go super fast, so as long as you pay attention I think you'd be ok. Probably if it was dry and there was more traffic it would be somewhat dusty and not as enjoyable, but still doable (and you'd be more likely to get a ride).

There were about 10 cars at the Obstruction Point trailhead. We took the Lillian Ridge/Grand Valley trail and encountered 5 or so groups hiking out. Although we didn't have great views due to the clouds, the clouds were atmospheric and beautiful.

At the trail junction down to the lake we spotted a bear across the meadow! He(?) looked like a yearling/not fully grown, and wanted nothing to do with us - took off as soon as he spotted us.

There was one other couple camped at Grand Lake when we arrived; one other group showed up later.

There was a VERY aggressive doe wandering around - we were careful to guard our hiking poles and shooed her away a few times. She watched as I peed and then as soon as I stood up came over to eat the dirt... but then she seemed to take off. So maybe you just have to pay the pee tax to the deer?? We stored our hiking poles in our tent overnight though to be safe.

Day 2 (Wednesday, August 21): Grand Lake to Upper Cameron - 6.5 mi, +2985' -2322'

Despite this being the shortest day, it was definitely the hardest. Maybe some of that was in thinking "oh, it's a short day, it won't be too bad." But also, looking at the profiles lined up for each day, this had as much/more elevation gain and loss as the other days, over a shorter distance.

We saw a few folks camped at Moose Lake and Gladys. Everyone seemed to have their tents upside down or hanging off a line to try to dry them out from overnight mist/condensation. Saw a bear in the meadows up above Gladys Lake.

The hike up Grand Pass was a steady climb up shale. Hard, but nothing scary. Despite the clouds it was beautiful. At the top we decided to drop our packs and do the short climb up Grand Peak - definitely recommend this, it's not technical and there are very cool views at the top.

Met some other hikers at the top of Grand Pass who were coming up from the other side (Cameron). They said they were heading out early because they had heard reports of a storm coming. Oh well, if we got wet then we got wet.

Looking down from the top, towards Cameron Creek, the drop was definitely intimidating. I was a little bit anxious from trip reports I had read about this section - steep drop offs in loose shale. However, I didn't find it too bad. It was maybe 5-10 minutes of concentrating on my footing and not looking down/off the side before chilling out sketchiness-wise. Hiking poles highly recommended.

We saw a bunch of marmots, including maybe some pups? Or just a few that were much smaller than the giant furry slugs that are the adult males.

It was a long and steep downhill, but the bottom came faster than I expected. We took a break at the trail junction on a few logs, but really should have had second lunch - we made the mistake of thinking "oh its just a few miles, we can eat when we get to camp."

The hike up along Cameron Creek to Upper Cameron is HARD. Much more than we were expecting. There's some pretty steep, calf burning sections where it's very brushy - feels like you're going through a car wash with the brush drenching you from head to toe on either side. At least there were some yummy ripe salmonberries?

We finally made it to Upper Cameron and got our camp set up, but not without a few foibles in site selection and tent pitching. Don't try to set up your camp while hangry, it doesn't go well.

Upper Cameron is utterly gorgeous - again, even with the cloud cover, drizzle, and cold, it was an incredible place to camp. A few deer interested in us, but not quite as aggressive as in Grand Valley.

One thing to note about Upper Cameron: there's quite a few nice camp spots, but many fewer good poop spots. The digging is not good - a lot of rocks. Be aware and give yourself extra time to dig a good cat hole! I got a bit panicked when my partner hadn't come back after more than half an hour but turns out he had just had to make 5+ attempts to get a good hole dug 😂.

Day 3: Upper Cameron to Hayes River - 14.5 mi, +3474' -7186'

I was prepared for this to be the hardest day - our longest mileage, 3 passes, a potentially sketchy gully to cross, a big elevation drop down to the Elwha. It was hard, but, maybe due to the mental preparation, it didn't seem as hard as the previous day.

We woke up to Cameron Pass invisible in cloud cover. We started hiking and ascended into the cloud, but behind us in the valley there seemed to be sun glinting on the hills. It was an incredible view. The climb up along the creek is gorgeous, with tons of bright pink dwarf fireweed making a beautiful contrast to the grey shale and clouds.

This pass reminded me of some of the hiking we've done in the High Sierra (but without the elevation) - looking up wondering where the hell the trail goes felt a bit like staring up at Forester Pass from below.

I didn't find the gully crossing too bad, but maybe it was helped by the dampness. It was 4-5 sketchy steps and then it was over.

The hike down the far side of the pass wasn't too bad. We had a nice stop for lunch in Lost Basin, fortifying ourselves to climb another pass... and then we reached the sign at the top of Lost Pass and went "wait, that was it?" No wonder it needs a sign, otherwise you would miss that it was a pass 😂.

The climb down from Lost Pass to Dose Meadows was steep and constant but not unbearable. Clench your butt to save your knees! We were greeted at the bottom by a marmot (pup?) keeping watch on a rock, and some alarm calls as a hawk flew by overhead.

It started raining pretty steadily as we made our way up Hayden Pass. It was a cool view but hard to enjoy with the wind and rain. Looking up at the trail switchbacking up the pass, it looked like one spot was pretty washed out and I was anxious about it, but it was nowhere near as bad as it seemed once we got up close.

As soon as we crested the pass we were in the burn from 2017. The rain let up and it was actually quite beautiful with the clouds and burned snags and fireweed. There was more blowdown on this trail than we encountered anywhere else, but all the problematic blowdown was in a ~1 mile stretch maybe a third of the way down - I'd say about 10 instances of blowdown that was challenging to get over. There was also a bit of a washout crossing one of the streams, but it was doable with only a few sketchy steps and concentrating on footing (I found this sketchier than the gully crossing on Cameron Pass) and after we had already crossed the washout we realized there was a path detouring around it that we had missed.

We met a group coming up the pass part way - they were doing a section of the PNT. When we got down to Hayes River there was a group camping at the cabin, and a lone hiker camping too. If you were that lone hiker sorry we didn't hang out to talk - you seemed really cool and I regret not talking to you more and hearing about your trip. We were so exhausted by the time we got to camp, all we could contemplate was getting our camp set up, eating dinner, and collapsing.

Day 4: Hayes River to Humes Ranch - 14.5 mi, +3156' -4062'

My new conspiracy theory is that it is never actually sunny in the Elwha River valley. Any photos with blue sky are a hoax.

Luckily it wasn't raining when we woke up, so we got to be dry while eating breakfast. But as soon as we got the tent down the rain started, and it didn't let up. It rained consistently all day.

Very little blowdown, but 4 or so stretches of epic brush - sometimes a foot over my head, a complete sea of brush, barely possible to see the trail. Nothing to do about but zip up our rain jackets, tighten the hoods, and dive in. Otherwise, the hiking was fairly cruisy along the Elwha.

We stopped for lunch at the Elkhorn shelter, very grateful for a roof above us and a chance to dry out a bit (especially our feet). Got the stove out and had some miso soup which helped warm and revive us.

Our permits were for Lillian Camp, but we decided to press on to Humes Ranch so our hike out would be shorter. We did stop for a break at Lillian, huddling under the shelter of a tree on our bear canister stools, I watched a leopard slug eat a leaf. Also took the opportunity to use the privy... which has been hit by a fallen tree and is a bit precarious to use. The roof is destroyed and the whole thing is leaning quite a bit.

At Humes Ranch we were blessed with an incredible, giant tree (doug fir I think?) in the middle of a meadow. It was almost dry underneath. Thank you, tree friend, for providing us shelter. We were able to sit and eat dinner and be almost dry, and we didn't have to worry about flooding around the tent overnight. Also, there's a privy in great condition.

Day 5: Humes Ranch to Hurricane Ridge - 10.5 mi, +4877' -698'

It was still steadily raining as we got up, had breakfast, packed, and got on trail. 10 miles and 4800 feet elevation gain to go back to catch the bus at Hurricane Ridge. If we could make the 1:30pm bus we'd have plenty of time to get fish and chips and beer in Port Angeles before catching the Strait Shot bus to Bainbridge.

I had seen very few trip reports from the Wolf Creek trail so was a little worried about blowdown and brush, but it ended up being totally fine. The trail seems to follow an old road bed lined with old electrical boxes the whole 8 miles up to Hurricane Ridge. It's a pretty constant elevation gain the whole time, impressively consistent. There was a little bit of easy to step over blowdown and some brush reaching in to touch up to our knees, but nothing like what we'd encountered on the Elwha.

We stopped for a lunch break with about 6 miles to go, and based on our hiking speed so far I was pretty sure we wouldn't make the 1:30pm bus, but energized by food and motivated by the prospect of fish and chips we hit our stride, got in the zone, and managed 3 mile an hour pace for the rest of the climb. We ascended from the cloud layer settled in the valley, the rain stopped, and we even got some flashes of blue sky and sun!

We road walked from the Wolf Creek TH to the bus. It was a bit of a change from seeing a total of 4 groups of people over the previous 3 days to the tourists on the Hurricane Ridge. We were asked multiple times "where's the trailhead".... "Um, which one?" We made it to the bus with 15 minutes to spare and greatly enjoyed our fish and chips in town before waving goodbye to the Olympics and boarding the Strait Shot and beginning our trip home.