Coyote Gulch to Hurricane Ridge — Olympic Peninsula High Country Circuit via Obstruction Point Road

Most people stop at Hurricane Ridge Lodge and turn around. The ones who keep going on Obstruction Point Road find out what Olympic’s backcountry actually looks like — exposed subalpine meadows, marmots everywhere, and a 7.8-mile unpaved shelf road that dead-ends at a trailhead with no guardrails and serious exposure on the north face. The road climbs from the paved Hurricane Ridge area east along the ridge spine, dropping into Obstruction Point at roughly 6,150 feet. It’s narrow, rutted in places, and snow-lingers late — the NPS typically doesn’t open it until late July. The view west into the Elwha drainage and south into the Bailey Range is the kind of thing that makes you sit on the hood for an hour.

High clearance is mandatory and AWD or 4WD is strongly recommended — the surface is loose gravel over hardpan with embedded rock that turns slick when wet. Don’t even think about it in a standard passenger car. The road is usually open July through October, weather-dependent; check NPS road conditions before you go because they close it fast when rain hits. No fee beyond the standard Olympic National Park entry pass. No dispersed camping off the road itself — the park keeps it tight here — but backcountry sites are accessible on foot from the Obstruction Point trailhead with a permit. Cell service is nonexistent once you leave the lodge area.