Mount Ellinor, Big Creek — Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021

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!