Big Creek — Sunday, Mar. 5, 2023

Thanks to the snow the Olympics received recently, Big Creek was definitely a winter wonderland. The trail was difficult, but not impossible, and was snow covered the ENTIRE way. The tiny parking area was buried under loads of snow so everyone had to park on the side of the road, squeezing along the wall of plowed snow so as to not block the road. We took the counter clockwise route and started post holing about a mile in. This continued until we reached the confluence area of the creek, but wasn't 100% of our steps. We passed several people in snow shoes which would have been nice to have but our micro spikes were fine for traction. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and blue sky in spots, but with that comes warmer temps which caused the trees to lose their snow, often in large chunks. It felt like they were throwing snowballs at us at times. So because of that, we looked like we had hiked through the rain. Thank goodness for waterproof jackets. The bridges were the sketchiest part of this hike. The snow had piled up and as some people made their way across, their feet had sunk all the way through and off the side of the bridge, creating large gaping holes in the pathway. Just take it slow and really pay attention to where you're placing your feet on the bridge and you'll be fine. There were a lot of people out enjoying the day and several very happy dogs. It was a fabulous hike!