Big Creek — Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022

The roads were in great shape, the clouds sifting through the pines on the hillsides looking like a moving Japanese ink painting. It was amazing before even starting the hike. I arrived at 9 a.m. with four other cars parked along the road. The snowplows created a little wall of snow so most vehicles couldn't get into the small lot before the locked gate. I say most because one big guy proudly sat in the lot on my return. I wore spikes throughout, but good boots will do. There's no need for snowshoes, but if that's your jam, the campgrounds would be a fun trek with minimal footsteps ruining your experience. I went clockwise because the steep incline would be easier to navigate with early crunchy snow than later mushy snow. There are a couple deep areas of snow near the top of the climb just about at the sign for adding more challenge and going up to the viewpoint (which I did not do today) or turning right to continue on the trail. There's another section of deeper snow just before the Skinwood Creek bridge. That area is so much easier to navigate in the snow after the massive trail repairs. The bridges are okay, but the first bridge going clockwise or last bridge going counter clockwise is starting to get a little sketchy. There are no major trees down and no snow left in the trees to dump on you and soak you before you're even halfway through the loop. It was ideal conditions. Happy trekking.