The park hasn’t opened yet for the season, so we did not have to buy a park pass this time. We parked outside the gate and followed the road to the first trail marker we came upon. There are two ways to do this loop hike--clockwise and counterclockwise. The first trail marker on the left starts the hike in the clockwise direction (walk about 500 feet further to find the trailhead for the counterclockwise trail). The hike starts out crossing a lovely new bridge over the river and through thick forest, and then begins the 900-foot elevation gain. The trail is steep, but there are benches strategically placed and beautiful trees, moss, ferns and foliage worth stopping to investigate. The snow level had dropped down to 1500 feet, and the highest elevation point is 1850, so just we were getting tired all the scenery changed and was blanketed in snow. The deepest the snow got was maybe 5” (I was glad I had on hiking boots instead of sneakers). The hike down had much more gentle gradation. During our 4 hour hike we saw maybe a dozen other hikers of all ages and physical abilities. It was a great hike, made 100 times better by the snow.

Upper Loop Big Creek, at the T in road from hoodsport left you turn toward Lake Cushman/Staircase, right goes to Ellinor, instead you park in campground at trailhead; we hiked clockwise so had to go around road 500' to temp trailhead; nice woodsy hike, few flowers, very dry, 3 footbridges still over lively rushing falls/creeks. The group enjoyed it, even on a cloudy day. A few red huckleberry berries. A nice easy+ wood hike 4.2 mi loop; uphill all the way until main bridge crossing which is a good place for lunch, then downhill on other side of big creek.

The Bridge at the Big Creek Camp Ground is still out, so park there and walk west on 119. Just after the road goes over Big Creek you will see orange markers leading the way to the trail. It's actually a nice little makeshift trailhead that leads under some great moss ridden downed trees. We stayed to the left at the fork. Tons of moss overgrowth accompanying much debris. The trail is a pretty steady incline, we hiked 1.7 miles to the Confluence loop trail. Snow in places up to a 1.5 miles, after that it's all snow. Watch your step on the loop trail, the snow is deep and icy hiding many a rouge hole and parts of the river. We spent a good amount of time crossing back and forth across the creeks exploring plenty of pools and falls. Massive boulders line the banks and beds and create all sorts of good action. Still pretty cold and we encountered some "snowy hail". We also enjoyed the small foot bridges, but they were still icy, so use caution. We had to return to Kitsap to pick up our daughter from school so we tunred around there. We'll surely return to hike the rest of the Big Creek Loop.

Thank you Rose Mountain Crew! We were so impressed by how great the trail looked yesterday when we (4 adults, two little kids, and one old dog) made the loop. And we loved looking at the WTA site to get directions for following the flagging in to access the trail. We took the service road out. The evidence of the flooding was sooooo dramatic. We could hardly imagine the water getting that high! This is a great hike for families with kids and we saw 3 other small groups on this nice summer day - overcast but the perfect temperature. Nice woodland flower show. Thankfully, only a few mosquitoes. Thanks again everyone for all the things you do to help us enjoy the outdoors!

Trail unmaintained but clear to Irely Lake (1 mi.); many small blow-downs thereafter; larger blow-dows higher-up are easy to scramble over or skirt around. Patchy but thick snow on trail just before bridge (4 mi, ~1500'). No bugs.