Big Creek loop is my "go to" when I just want a quick hike.  Going up to the overlook gives you 8 miles and 1800 feet gain.  The trail is always in great shape, s u per clean and just a pleasant, easy or moderate hike.  If you want to push, you can continue  up to the Mount Ellinor trail.

Trail crews are currently working on replacing the troll bridge so I hope the troll will hang out under the new one!

I arrived at the trailhead close to 10 a.m. on a Sunday. The campgrounds are closed but the bathrooms are open with minimal maintenance, which also means no trash cans. You can park in the parking spaces before the gate (don't block the gate) or park on the the side of the road. I like to walk around the gate through the beginning part of the campground to the summer trailhead parking lot where the bathrooms are and take the trail near the pavilion. I took the clockwise route because my knees like incline and do not like steep descents. Once you hit the bridges and enjoy the constant engine of fast moving water, you get views of Mt. Ellinor and Mt. Washington in their snow-speckled glory. With most of the fall leaves on the ground, I'm thinking counter-clockwise is the way to go because there were so many wonderful glimpses of the mountains today. There were a few easy to step over fallen trees. This is one of the most well-maintained trails. What an amazing job the work crews continually do to make this a year round trail. Thank you.

To everyone reading this trip report, I will start by saying that a couple of people were making bouquets of Salal on the trail that connects the big creek trail to the Mount Elinor trail. We questioned them about it, but they didn’t respond because they were Hispanic and didn't speak english so we didn't get an answer, so I suspect harvesting Salal so far up a steep and less traveled part of the trail, they might be doing something illegal, if not than let me know in the comments.

Anyway, we hiked Mount Ellinor the hard way, starting from the Big Creek campground, then we made our way to the Big Creek Trail, then to connecter trail that connects to the Mount Ellinor Trail, and then made it to the top, all in one day. We started really early and were ready for an ambitious hike, unfortunately we already knew from the start that the clouds would ruin any hopes of seeing views on the top of Mount Ellinor, but we weren’t going to quit. Views or no views we wanted to make the summit. All of the trails are in excellent condition, besides the last portion of the Mount Ellinor Trail. Lots of people out on the Mount Elinor trail but nobody on the big creek trail. Don’t disappoint yourself and hike on a cloudy day, more than likely you won’t see anything but clouds. No snow on the trail but it started snowing on the summit. To our surprise we saw a Grouse right on the trail! Our first time ever seeing wildlife ever on our many hiking trips. If you have questions write them in the comments, and I want to know what those people were up to.

Arrived at parking lot around 9:15am on a Saturday morning- only 1 other car parked outside the campground gate when we headed out on the trail. By the time we had left (noonish) however- the small parking lot and side street parking had filled up. Definitely arrive early! We chose to go clockwise to tackle the elevation gain first- a bit rough if you don't hike regularily/ aren't used to elevation but isn't too bad if you take it slow. We passed by a couple groups (and pups) during the early morning, but the trail wasn't crowded at all. The trail itself is well maintained, as are as the bridges across the many creeks. A lovely morning hike on a partly cloudy day! 

This is a fun hike with a few stream crossings, bridges, novelties, and a great overlook if you choose to take the 1 mile side trip. My route recorder shut itself off for a bit but adding the overlook trail makes the loop about 8 miles with around 1700 feet of elevation gain. I’ve hiked this trail many times in the past years and there are always trail improvements whenever I return. The attached camp ground had many sites available due to our current burn ban so an overnight stay was easy to accomplish.