Big Creek — Saturday, Mar. 20, 2021

3/20/21 - First car at the TH at 8am. The sun was out and the skies blue. With temperatures creeping upwards melting snowpack higher up the creeks were swollen and the trail pretty wet. Connector trail to the overlook was a slushy - sloppy mess. Full rain gear needed as the trees were relentlessly dropping snow-bombs and the snow/slush reached calf deep not far up.
Met a friendly hiker & dog (hi Honey!) heading up towards Ellinor as I started back down. Wished them the best of luck, then found a dropped water bottle a few minutes down trail. I perched their bottle on a plank so they’d be sure to spot it on the way down.
Wore spikes for the short descent to the loop, but didn’t need them otherwise.
With the Saturday sunshine came the crowds - there were more than 30 cars parked at the TH once I returned shortly after 11am. I’m glad that most people tend to do this loop trail clockwise which makes it feel far less trafficked than it actually is.