Say that title five times fast…this hike was just as wild as the title of it. Let’s just jump right in! The goal of this hike was to get to Moose Lake, starting at the Obstruction Point trail head (in the Hurricane Ridge area) of Olympic National Park. My friend had warned me that the road down to the trail head was sketchy, but overall my anxiety meter stayed low.
The road to the trail head did have some steep drop-offs, but it wasn’t nearly as sketchy as I anticipated. I get the heebie jeebies driving (and hiking) on thin roads with steep drop-offs, but this one I could easily do again. Hiking down to Moose Lake…maybe not so much. I’m being overly dramatic because that’s who I am, but in all reality hiking DOWN at the beginning of the hike is absolutely not my scene.
I would much rather get the hard climb out of the way first, but I am still glad we did this hike. The first half of the trail from Grand Valley to Moose Lake is beautiful. Open plains, wide terrain, sweeping views of the Olympics, what more could I ask for? (Someone we passed said they saw a bear, but thankfully we didn’t see it.)
Caitlin and Duncan accompanied me on this hike, both of whom had hiked this one before. After the epic views started to get further away from us we began to descend more and more drastically. Going downhill for me is often harder than going uphill. I slip more, I use leg muscles that are often neglected, and it’s a bit of a mind game going down knowing you’ll have to go right back up.
We made it to the lake after a couple of hours and enjoyed some food while I debated if I was going to swim or not. I did not swim because I was being a big fat wimp, but I should have swam to waste more time before the suck fest began. I think most people go back up the same trail to keep this hike an out and back, but we wanted to do the loop version, so we continued on the trail.
From Moose Lake we headed towards Badger Valley. Aka hell on earth in that moment. The trail was a bit neglected in some areas, but nothing unmanageable. Once we hit the incline, I wasn’t sure we would ever get out of there. All three of us were tired to begin with on this hike, and climbing up was brutal (honestly the stats don’t even make this seem that hard, but man were we dying.)
It’s always nice to suffer with others when we are all in the same stage of suffering. After what felt like forever we came to an opening of Badger Valley and my goodness was it beautiful.
We couldn’t tell where the trail finished, but we just kept putting one foot in front of the other, passively complaining to each other (all the while laughing at our shared masochism), and daydreaming about what we would eat when we finished. Finally we made it to the top of the never ending incline and victory was ours.
We started this hike around 0945 and finished around 1645. Seven hours including breaks and stopping at the lake. Hard to say the full stats on this one because my watch officially shit the bed (I have since received a *new* refurbished version of my same watch for free, shout out to Garmin for being so great), but from Duncan’s watch this was 10.5 miles total with somewhere around 2800ft of gain…but like…all in one spot.
Which we all have done much worse, but some days the body just says “nah, not today.”
This is absolutely my favorite kind of type 2 fun. In the moment it can suck, but I LOVE finishing a hike like this. I will remember this one for a while. Thankful for two people who like to suffer with me. I won’t be going back to Moose Lake for a while, but I will likely explore some of the other trail possibilities from this trail head. Or maybe I’ll just go back to Moose Lake, it’s amazing how quickly I forget suffering.
Q: Where do you find a sense of accomplishment?
Blissfulbritt 
16 thoughts on “Grand Valley to Moose Lake to Badger Valley (Loop)”
Ashley Kittrell
Such a beautiful place!
Brittany
Makes it all worth it in the end!
matt
I dig it when you can look down on the clouds, as in your first image.
Fun Fact*: “Obstruction Point” used to be named Constipation Confluence.
I also prefer running/hiking uphill to down hill. The downhill stuff used to really bother my knees before I make more of a conscious effort to adjust my stride.
*100% Fact-Free Fact
Brittany
Ohhh wait I do NOOOTT prefer running uphill. Hiking, yes….but running is a whole different game. Granted, I’d rather slow my pace and have a verrrrry slight grade because overall that does feel better. So maybe I do. I don’t know, hills suck when I’m running. 🤣
I’m dying at your fun fact. I can never see the name of this trailhead the same again. LOLLLLL.
Grace @ Cultural Life
Stunning views! You make me want to get out hiking. I haven’t done a proper, long hike for a while, although this month I was in Scotland it was mainly a family trip and we only did one short trail (to Corrie Fee, a huge glacial basin in the Cairngorms).
I’m the same, not a fan of going downhill. It’s so much harder than uphill! Using hiking poles has really helped me to take some of the impact off my poor knees.
Brittany
I think I might trade my summer of longer hikes for a short hike in Scotland. Such dreamyyyy landscape!!
Thankfully my knees don’t get too bad, it’s more the mental aspect when I am already somewhat tired having to go up. I like going down after seeing the goal for the day. HA.
Duncan
What an adventure that turned out to be, but my goodness the scenery made it all worth it! My favorite was the grassy area at the beginning of the ascent. It was one of my most satisfying hikes of the season in terms of exercise.
Brittany
We all kicked boootaayy!!
Peg
The hikes you take just amaze me! I could never have done that, at your age even. But then, I lived in the swamps of North Carolina so there’s that. So, kudos to you all.
Brittany
I think you could have!! Just like anything else it takes “practice” so to speak. And for this that means repeat hiking to build up. 🤪
Josh del Villar
Amiga, you take the best pics. Those are AMAZEing.
Way to live your life and let us tag along.
Brittany
Thank you for tagging along!!! Part of the fun is being able to relive the day through photos and blogging!
Amy
I’m right there with you. Give me the uphill FIRST, any and every time!! Doing the downhill right at the outset… No thanks. Daydreaming about what to eat at the end (okay, okay — specifically what baked treats! 😉 ) would probably be the way I’d distract myself and pass the time too. I also LOVE your first photo — positively gorgeous!!
Brittany
I need to get better about bringing baked treats WITH me to enjoy at a summit, but it has to be a summit with no more uphill after. If the treat doesn’t sit well, it would be brutal having to hike uphill more after my energy tanks from the treat.
I loved seeing the deer on the drive in!
gpavants
Brittney,
Last weekend we hiked in the Sierra starting at 10,000 ft. It was tough but beautiful. Probably got booted from our hiking group. But cold weather camping, not cool. Happy trails, Gary
Gary Avants Forbear Productions * *garyavants66@gmail.com garyavants66@gmail.com
Brittany
WOW, I haven’t been at 10K feet in a longgggg time. Impressive!