We had a great hike at Big Creek today! Just 9 miles west of Hoodsport, it was really easy to find. We parked at the trailhead & used the restroom before starting the 4 mile loop. The first mile was really easy, but then it started to climb steadily with some steep inclines at parts. The trail was very well maintained. All the bridges were in good repair. We encountered a few folks, but not many. It took us about 3.5 hours to do the complete hike including the extra half mile at the bottom back to our car with about a half hour stop for a picnic lunch. The fall foliage was out as well as the sun, which was quite a surprise since it was pouring rain on our drive in from Olympia. Lots of waterfalls & rushing rivers, truly beautiful scenery. Will have to take the kids back this summer. This would be a great summer hike because of all the shade from the trees.

Just a short update on the trail conditions: - Trail is in excellent condition (Thank you trail crew!) - no snow on the trail - lots of wild flowers blooming - creeks water level is high

Welllllllll – this was going to be a trip report about the Lower Big Quilcene Trail. But snow happens. We got about 2 or 3 miles up FR past turning off Penny Creek and the rutted snow and ice tracks were deep enough to be hitting the undercarriage of our poor little Prius, so we started backing down the road (no way to turn around) and encountered WTA’s own Janice coming up, appearing to do fine in her SUV, so look for Janice’s report on this trail. :) James and I briefly turned up Rocky Brook Rd to try Elbow trail, but chickened out while we could still turn around when we saw ruts there, too. Back at 50 mph on 101, we simultaneously declared, “Big Creek!” and made good on our plan #3. Big Creek: 4.5 miles, 900 feet gain. The space outside the gate at Big Creek already had 5 vehicles when we arrived around 11 – a LOT for this trail. We encountered a total of 5 other hikers, at least two of whom had tried another trail first (Spider Lake) to be turned back by impassible roads to trailhead even for a pickup or SUV. The hike up the road to the bridge had tire tracks to walk in snow-free. We went clockwise on the trail, climbing into snow quickly. James had some Costco “slip-free” thingies for his boots, and I had my oh-so-superior micro-spikes. The Costco jobbies didn’t do much better than just his boots. The spikes rocked. The bridges are a little treacherous with lots of compact snow. The trail was pretty well compacted by prior hikers, but extremely uneven and sometimes you’d break through snow to about mid-calf. Even I was watching the trail to avoid ankle injury instead of my usual looking all around. Stopping to look around safely was well worth it as the woods and many full streams and creek were beautiful in the snow. It was in the low forties, and you warm up quickly on this hike. We stopped around the confluence for lunch then met our first fellow hikers on the way down. The trail stayed all snow well past the four mile mark, then turned to patchy trail, then only patches of snow, then all fir needle across the new bridge and to the trailhead. This is the hike to do if the FR roads are impassible elsewhere. Though it was as “crowded” as we’d seen it, we had the vast majority of the trail in solitude and snowy splendor. Full photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/51278183@N05/sets/72157626086870019/detail/.

Hiking trail was in excellent condition. New snow on trail, up to 6 inches in places, but snowshoes not required, I was not wearing any. I hiked the loop in about 1:45. Only encountered 1 other hiker on trail and saw tracks from 2 groups, one set on snowshoes heading up to Mt Ellinor.

There was snow on the ground at Big Creek Campground but I did not need snow shoes for this hike. The trail is well packed down all the way to the Big Rock before the Upper Ellinor Trail head. It was truly a winter wonderland up there and I was glad to have my snow shoes for the traction even though I did not need them for flotation. There is a nice new bridge over big creek that stinks up the entire campground. I hope that stink fades with time. More pictures on my blog http://mosswalks.blogspot.com