We had overnight permits for two nights at Moose Lake and were lucky enough to have beautiful weather and minimal smoke.
Obstruction Point Road is in great shape and only has a few short sections of washboarding. We hiked in on a Thursday, and only passed a few groups hiking out of Grand Valley as we descended to Moose Lake. The views along Lillian Ridge are beautiful and we were grateful to have minimal smoke haze. Fall foliage is starting to show, and was most abundant above Moose and Gladys Lakes. The resident deer at Moose Lake seemed totally unbothered by people, and we spotted a couple cute rabbits near camp as well.
I did a day hike up to Grand Pass and Grand Peak and thought it well worth the steep climb. The climb up past Gladys Lake towards Grand Pass provided lovely scenery (and marmots!), and the views from Grand Peak are stunning.
There was a lot more hiker traffic on our way out on Saturday, but it still felt relatively quiet compared to more popular hikes in the area.
We had some gusty wind as we crested the ridge out of Grand Valley, and by the time we pulled onto the main road at Hurricane Ridge we were amazed to see heavy smoke filling the valleys and obscuring the mountain ridges. A reminder of how quickly conditions can change, not just with weather but with smoke conditions.
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