Last verified September 2026
Obstruction Point Road runs 7.8 miles of gravel southeast from Hurricane Ridge and dead-ends at a trailhead on the alpine ridges above Grand Valley. The Park Service calls it narrow, winding and steep in places, and closes it to RVs and trailers.
Snow keeps it shut most of the year. The usual season runs mid-June through October 15, weather and snow permitting, which leaves about four months to drive it.
Width. This is the hazard the Park Service actually names. The road runs effectively single-lane along the traverses, which is why RVs and trailers are prohibited and why the park warns off large vehicles generally. Passing depends on pullouts, so the useful skill is reading far enough ahead to reach one.
Snow and ice. Drifts can persist past the June opening and return before the October closure.
Weather. Conditions on the ridge can differ sharply from Port Angeles and from the coast, and the alpine ground at the road end is exposed.
Cell coverage. Treat it as unreliable past Hurricane Ridge.
Approx. location 47.918, -123.382
| Agency | National Park Service |
|---|---|
| Nearest town | Port Angeles, Washington |
| Website | www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/current-road-conditions.htm |
| Closed | Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May |
| Approx. location | 47.918, -123.382 |
From Port Angeles, take Race Street south to Mount Angeles Road and follow Hurricane Ridge Road 17 paved miles into the park, passing the Heart O' the Hills entrance station five miles up. The pavement ends at the Hurricane Ridge parking area.
Obstruction Point Road branches right at the entrance to that parking area and runs 7.8 miles of gravel to the dead end at Obstruction Point, then back out the way you came.
Photos · 8
The gravel leaves pavement at the entrance to the Hurricane Ridge parking area and runs southeast along the ridgeline. Getting to that junction means driving up from Port Angeles first, 17 paved miles of Hurricane Ridge Road that climb to 5,242 feet, passing the Heart O' the Hills entrance station five miles up from town.
From the junction the gravel runs 7.8 miles to a dead end at Obstruction Point. Deer Park Road, another gravel climb into the alpine, ends about six miles east in a straight line across the ridges.
NPS describes the surface as gravel, narrow, winding and steep in places. The park's trailhead listing warns off "unwieldy large vehicles" and calls the drive "not for the faint of heart."
What the park is flagging is width and grade rather than technical driving, since the road runs effectively single-lane along the traverses and passing depends on reaching a pullout.
Snow governs the season more than the surface does. July through September are the driest months in Olympic, and that stretch is also when the gravel is most dependably clear of drifts.
There is no campground anywhere on Obstruction Point Road, so the nearest developed site is Heart O' the Hills, five miles up Hurricane Ridge Road in old-growth forest, $24 a night at current rates, with sites rated for RVs to 35 feet.
Deer Park sits higher at 5,400 feet and costs $15, but its access road is narrow and steep, gravel for the last nine miles, and closed to RVs and trailers. It shuts at the park boundary from late fall until the snow melts in late spring.
Overnight trips into Grand Valley or along the ridges need a wilderness permit, which Olympic requires year-round and books through Recreation.gov.
NPS gives the usual season as mid-June through October 15, weather and snow permitting, and the road stays shut the rest of the year while snow sits on the ridge. Both ends move with the snowpack.
Olympic National Park charges an entrance fee, $30 per private vehicle at the rate posted at the time of writing, and an America the Beautiful pass covers it.
For what the road is doing on any given day, check the park's current road conditions page. The recorded road and weather line at (360) 565-3131 is updated daily, and the park's main number is (360) 565-3130.
Full destination guide: Olympic National Park.
Port Angeles is the last fuel, and nothing on Hurricane Ridge Road or the gravel beyond it sells any.
Carry drinking water for the day. The trailhead at Obstruction Point has a restroom and no water, and anything drawn from a stream in Grand Valley needs filtering or treatment.
Hurricane Ridge. The junction itself, with a loop trail system from the parking area and the Hurricane Hill trailhead further west on the pavement.
Morse Creek Overlook. A roadside exhibit below the ridge explains the pillow basalt exposed here, seafloor lava that built the Olympic Peninsula.
Deer Park. Reached from Highway 101 about five miles east of Port Angeles rather than from Hurricane Ridge, this is the same alpine country approached from the other side.
Port Angeles. Fuel, groceries, lodging, the park's main visitor center, and the ferry to Victoria.