Upper Big Creek to Lower Ellinor

Today I started out on the Upper Big Creek Trail and hiked up it to the Ellinor Connector trail and then continued on to the Lower Ellinor trailhead. from he Lower Ellinor Trailhead I walked down the road about 500 feet to an abandoned logging road that joins up with the Ellinor connector trail. I went back down the Ellinor Connector trail to the Upper Big
Creek Loop and instead of hiking right back to my car I completed the Upper Big Creek loop.



The only snow I saw was on the road that goes up to Mount Ellinor. There was no snow in the forest and I was a bit shocked to see so much snow down on the road. There were 4 cars parked at the lower Ellinor trailhead.

Kudos to the Mount Rose Trail Crew, they have been very busy on the Upper Big Creek Loop. I only had to step over one fallen tree (way up near the top of the connector trail) and there was all kinds of evidence of recent work done on this trail.

I took my lunch break at the troll bridge. The troll had a big smile on his face, it seems he found a wife last year. Now there are two trolls at the troll bridge. Normally I take my lunch break at the lake cushman overlook near the top of the Ellinor connector trail but I had no water to cook lunch with. I was very surprised to find that my usual water source was all dried up.

The forest at the Lower Trailhead (the top end of my hike) was shrouded in mist and was rather uninviting. Most people pass by the lower trailhead and start at the upper Ellinor trailhead when they summit Mount Ellinor. They miss a wonderful walk on a forested ridge by passing up the lower trail head. I think the forest on that ridge is climax old growth.

While I was walking on the short section of abandoned logging road I found one of my youngest daughter's beanie babies. It was an elephant and it must have fallen out of her jogging stroller when I took the girls up there last fall. That elephant looked good for having spent the entire winter on Mount Ellinor.

I did not pass anyone else all day long, excluding a couple of groups in the Big Creek Campground. Mileage 7.61 Elevation gain 1,800 feet.

Blogger is doing crazy things when I run the spell check that is why some of the fonts are different.