Got to the trailhead around 10:00 and there were few cars there. The campground is closed so you have to park in the small lot or along the road if that’s full. I did the loop clockwise and didn’t encounter much snow until the high point. The snow is pretty packed down and you can see where the trail is at all times. I hiked it without microspikes or trekking poles. There were a couple views of Mt Ellinor and Washington peaking through the trees which was a beautiful sight. I only saw two groups of people on the trail today. Got back to the car around 1:00, it ended up being a beautiful day to hike Big Creek!
Happy trails :)

I arrived at the Big Creek campground at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday. The roads were clear but the Skokomish river is higher than I've ever seen it. It flooded the nearby lowlands. Keep an eye on that if there's more rain. I went clockwise, totally loving the massive water flow at the first bridge. There's almost no snow until just after the sign to go up to the lookout or take a slight right and continue on the Upper Big Creek trail. Since I was feeling good, I hit the overlook and broke out the spikes for that. The snow is mostly compact until it's soft and you posthole. Totally random. That section is steep and longer than the posted one mile. Be prepared for some wothwhile work if you're feeling good to double your incline. There was only one tree down that had me maneuvering through the snow to climb over it. A little too high to throw a leg over it and a little too low to crawl under. The rest of the trail held up amazingly well in all that wind. The bridges are all in good shape and you could get by without traction even in the snowy sections of the main trail. The only downer is that on my way down past all the bridges, I ran into a guy with a huge pack of salal that he'd just cut. It's a total bummer that people do that. (UPDATE: a commenter stated permits are granted for cutting salal so the gentleman may have been totally legit...I'm going with that. Alltrails said it was 7.8 miles and over 1800 ft of elevation gain. Happy hiking!

Short version: I snowshoed from Big Creek campground to the fork where Mt. Ellinor's summer and winter routes diverge. The trail was nicely packed and easy to follow from Big Creek, along the west wide of the Upper Big Creek loop, and for half of the connector trail. After that, I had to break trail for roughly four miles.

Longer version: Since today was the shortest day of the year, I tried to start as soon as I could. I parked at Big Creek campground (my car is no match for the FS road that accesses the Mt. Ellinor lower trailhead) and got on the trail—wearing snowshoes and 6” tails—around 8am. It was easy hiking the 2ish miles from the Big Creek campground to the Mt. Ellinor connector trail. After that, I followed one set of snowshoe prints for another mile until they stopped. It was easy to break trail from that point on until I connected to the Mt. Ellinor trail (812) just above the lower trailhead.

Although the snow wasn’t deep (yet), there were rarely clear ways to ID the Mt. Ellinor trail. If I hadn’t previously done this hike in better weather, I would’ve spent an inordinate amount of time route finding. On the way to the summer route sign, I checked my InReach once or twice to make sure I was on route. Besides skipping a switchback accidentally near the upper trailhead sign, I think I kept to the trail pretty well.

When I reached the summer route sign after 3.5 hours of hiking, I knew I stood no chance of making it any farther. I veered right to see if I could get a glimpse of Mt. Ellinor’s summit and the winter route, but the clouds were too thick. At this elevation, the snow was very deep—I was regularly sinking in up to my knees. I took a brief break and turned around.

Heading back to Big Creek was much more enjoyable, since I could benefit from all the footsteps I’d made! Once I rejoined the Upper Big Creek loop, I ran into three different sets of hikers. In total, it took me a little less than 6 hours to complete this 12-mile out-and-back snowshoe.

A word on the weather: I decided to do this hike today because there wasn’t any snow expected. I knew I’d likely be breaking trail most of the way, and I didn’t want my tracks being covered. On the flip side, the high was about 25 degrees, and it felt colder than that at higher elevations. I rarely stopped for breaks, and when I did, the cold was biting. My Camelbak’s hose froze solid about 4.5 hours into the hike. Besides that, I felt like I was adequately prepared for the cold temperatures. I’d love to try hiking all the way to the summit of Ellinor sometime this winter. But I’d need more daylight, less fresh snow, and a lot more gumption!

Lovely day at Big Creek to the overlook today.  Adding the lookout adds about 900 feet gain and 2 miles to the trip for a total of about 7.5 miles and 1,800 feet gain.

There was snow at road level and we used microspikes the entire hike.  Snow was pretty slushy, but the trail is about 90-95% snow-covered with about 2 feet on the trail at top. Packed down and easily traveled, although there is lots of evidence of postholing along the entire route.

The road is in good condition and snow free.  The small parking area was not available due to the berm left when the plow went through.  Pit toilets are not open.

The roads were in great shape, the clouds sifting through the pines on the hillsides looking like a moving Japanese ink painting. It was amazing before even starting the hike. I arrived at 9 a.m. with four other cars parked along the road. The snowplows created a little wall of snow so most vehicles couldn't get into the small lot before the locked gate. I say most because one big guy proudly sat in the lot on my return. I wore spikes throughout, but good boots will do. There's no need for snowshoes, but if that's your jam, the campgrounds would be a fun trek with minimal footsteps ruining your experience. I went clockwise because the steep incline would be easier to navigate with early crunchy snow than later mushy snow. There are a couple deep areas of snow near the top of the climb just about at the sign for adding more challenge and going up to the viewpoint (which I did not do today) or turning right to continue on the trail. There's another section of deeper snow just before the Skinwood Creek bridge. That area is so much easier to navigate in the snow after the massive trail repairs. The bridges are okay, but the first bridge going clockwise or last bridge going counter clockwise is starting to get a little sketchy. There are no major trees down and no snow left in the trees to dump on you and soak you before you're even halfway through the loop. It was ideal conditions. Happy trekking.