Beautiful hike on cool sunny day with no bugs and no crowds. Arrived at 10:30 (on Wed) and only 3 cars at parking lot. My wife and I marveled at the perfect trail maintenance and frequent benches. The initial climb (clockwise) is fairly steep and straight. Near the top, we took the link trail to Mt. Ellinor to a viewpoint. About 1.5 miles up, there is a sign to the left "RVIEW" and it leads to another comfortable bench looking out on Lake Cushman. This was the only long distance view of the hike. After lunch there, we continued back to Big Creek and around the loop which zig zags down along the creek.
So it was 8 or 9 miles total. Fantastic forest and creek views mainly. Highly recommended. BTW, the USF campground was almost empty mid week. As noted by others, the toilets were clean and well-stocked.
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