Wanted to do Mt. Ellinor, but with unfavorable weather and avalanche conditions, I opted to start at the Big Creek campground and head towards the Lower Trailhead for Ellinor. I traveled clockwise on the Big Creek loop, as noted in other reports the trail is in good condition with occasional snow, easy to cross. Heading up the Ellinor connector trail, snow cover gradually increased and I put on micro spikes, possibly unnecessary but they definitely made travel faster and easier. Good bootpath to the observation point, after that I broke trail in the snow. Reaching the lower trailhead, it looked like no one has driven that far for at least a couple of snowfalls, also no boot prints continuing up. Some enterprising soul had come up the road on AT skis and continued up the trail; looks fun! At this point I started to get seriously snowbombed by the trees. I headed down and completed the loop back to the campground. Didn’t see anyone else all day, although there were a couple of cars in the parking lot. Total time 4 hours, 9 miles, 1800 feet elevation gain. Super fun!

Arrived at 8:15, only one other car in the lot. Toilets at campground are locked, FYI. Rain turned into snow a short ways up the hike but wasn't sticking much except in a few areas, nothing hard to cross. Creeks were beautiful on this rainy/snowy/misty day. The trail was in great shape, only a few very small muddy areas. Thanks to all the volunteers that created this beautiful trail!

Four cars in the lot/road when I returned about 11:15 but I didn't see anyone on the entire hike. Perfect day!

We had a beautiful day to explore a section of the trail I had not previously done.  Usually we use the connector trail to the viewpoint for additional miles and elevation gain, but one of my hiking party had some minor surgery recently so we decided to keep things easier.  Yesterday we hiked the trail in a clockwise direction, as usual, but went down the confluence trail to the creek, over a couple of small bridges, and back up to where it connects in with the main trail close to the main bridge.  Going down and back up added some elevation and a lot of beauty and sections of the creeks that I had not seen before.  A fabulous day!  Arrived at trailhead around 8:45; lot full; was one of 4 or 5 cars already on the road; lots of people on the road, and trail, on our return.  We even met a celebrity along the way - see photos!

Beautiful hike, lot of waterfalls. Trail is well maintained and marked with several nice benches to sit. Moss covered rocks and trees all along the trail. 

We got there about 9 am and the small parking lot was full, but there was plenty of parking on the street. We didn't see that many people on the trail, but this must be because most people came after us - when we got back to our car there were cars lined down the street! 

I really loved this hike, especially in the fog. And the trail is SO well maintained. I highly recommend taking the little confluence trail detour to the three creeks. We stopped there for lunch and it was so beautiful and peaceful by the water. 

After the hike, I stopped by one of the neighborhoods in Lake Cushman where my grandparents had a cabin when I was growing up. It was so nostalgic for me just to be in this area again. I'm excited to hike more around here!