Wanting a good workout hike but not a long drive (from Olympia), I chose a perennial favorite, Mt. Ellinor. This time, I started at the very bottom, at the Big Creek Campground, which, as you reach the ""T"" intersection on hwy 119, is just to the left, and the trailhead for the Big Creek Loop is on the left, opposite the large sign as you drive into the campground. The distance from this trailhead to the summit of Mt Ellinor is 6.2 miles. If you choose to complete the Big Creek Loop trail on the way down, that adds 0.6 of a mile, making it a 13 mile round trip, with 4964 feet of elevation gain. Overall, the trail is in excellent shape, especially the Big Creek portion of it, and the lower portion of the Mt Ellinor trail. Of course, it gets rocky and rooty beyond the intersection with the upper trail head trails, but that's normal for this incredible trail. The snow patch mentioned in a previous report did not strike me as a problem, but I suspect many of the less-than prepared hikers I observed ascending as I was descending would find it challenging. Look for the orange flags, initially on the rocks to the left, then cut over to the right, and use caution if the snow is soft (as it will be in the afternoon). Its not a huge problem, though. Otherwise, there is no snow at all on the trail, and I only encountered one tree down across the trail, just above the junction with the summer route/winter chute, that was easily ducked under. The big issue today was BUGS! Around the junction with the trails from the upper trailhead, those awful big flies that buzz, buzz, buzz and circle, and persue and call all of their friends over and are proof positive to this hiker of the existence of evil...you know the ones...they start near the lower trailhead junction multiply as one ascends the trail..then once you're above treeline, approaching the area of the BEAUTIFUL wildflowers, the mosiqutoes and black flies join in enmasse, and continue all the way to the summit. So the trail is in great shape, the wildflowers are wonderful, and the views spectacular, but I couldn't bask in their glory for the bugs (and being a doofus, I left my bug-b-gone stuff in the car by mistake). In a few weeks, hopefully the bugs will be gone and hikers can enjoy the scenery once again. If you bring your dog(s) on this trail, carry water for them, and lots of it. If you start at Big Creek, there is water at the bottom and top of the loop trail, but otherwise its dry. Also, on the loop trail, watch for trolls!! Happy hiking.

Long, hot, humid, and muggy made this trek much harder than it should have been given the 8 mile distance. Pick a more typical day with some of the usual rainforest drizzle, and avoid overheating as badly as I did! There were maybe half a dozen trees across the trail, but nothing a bit of scrambling can't take care of. Three quarters of a mile in (before the branch spur to Irely Lake) the walkway over a swampy section is gone. There are some planks resting across the water, so you can get across dry with a bit of scrambling, but good balance, waterproof boots, and poles definitely helped! Would be a nasty dank muddy place to fall in.

Jules and I had intended to hike Mt. Ellinor today but as it appeared to be blanketed in a dense gray cloud all day long, we opted instead to drive down to Big Creek Campground and do the 4-mile loop, cutting up to the lower Mt. Ellinor trailhead as a side trip. We covered 2000 vertical feet, enjoyed a quiet forest hike in solitude, crossed half a dozen beautiful streams, got a grand view of Lake Cushman, and just below the Overlook, Jules led me to a geocache with a million dollar bill in it! No mosquitoes or flies but there was a hornet's nest on the side of the trail leading up to lower Ellinor trail 812, just uphill to the Overlook. My dog Daphne got a sting and I got two horrifically painful ones on my leg on the way down. Beware of that, as the hornets are right next to the trail. The Big Creek trail crosses numerous creeks on well-constructed bridges. Daphne had lots of water to drink and enjoyed the soft tread. It's a nice steady but modest uphill climb, about 1200 ft in the first hour, and a nice hike for dogs. We saw only two people on the trail, despite the hordes of hikers still driving up the road in hopes of a clearing on Mt. Ellinor. Big Creek loop with a detour up the lower Ellinor trail makes for a nice day of hiking when the clouds sock in the views from up high but you still want vertical gain and can appreciate the lush forest scenery and bubbling streams.

Big Creek Loop - Trail 827. Hiked this 4/17/07. Trail is in excellent shape, all blowdowns removed, all bridges in place, trail tread has had recent work. This is a lovely spring hike with no difficulties. South Fork Skok Trail - hiked this 4/10/07, starting from trailhead upstream from Brown Creek CG, hiked about 3.5 miles upsteam. The first 3/4 mile of the trail has had blowdowns bucked out. After that, we encountered numerous blowdowns (25+) across trail, required climbing over large downed logs and detouring off trail. One large creek crossing bridge blown out, but creek can be crossed safely.

For some reason I can not find my report on this so I'll enter it again. Upper Big Creek Loop is in great condition with no blow downs and lot's of evidence of recent trail work. The connector trail is in great shape with only one little blow down near the very top of it. What little I saw of the Lower Mount Ellinor trail was good but I only hiked it from the connector trail down to the trail head. The road is drivable all the way up to the lower trail head, or it was before this snow we got last night. I see fresh snow in the Olympics from overnight on the 2cd of April.