Deer Park Road

This exhilarating drive climbs from 200 feet or so above sea level to a mile-high ridge. It ends at a vista point and hiking trailhead on 6,007-ft. Blue Mountain, north of the meadow for which the road is named. Weather permitting (it’s generally drier here than the area of Hurricane Ridge/Obstruction Point Road, the views can extend from the park’s glacier-carved Olympic peaks, sub-alpine tundra and deep river valleys, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island and Puget Sound to Mt. Baker. A 7.6-mile hiking trail connects Deer Park with Obstruction Peak and Obstruction Point Road. On a good high-clearance, native-surface road. The first 8.6 miles are paved. The remainder is narrow, steep and serpentine, with blind curves. This road generally receives less snow than Obstruction Point Road, so it can have a longer driving season. It is often open by mid- to late-June, sometimes even earlier depending on the area’s variable weather and the previous winter’s snowpack. The road is closed to vehicles 2.5 miles below the campground by early October, with weather determining the overall seasonal closure. Call ahead.