I was staying at Big Creek Campground and had some free time and great weather Saturday evening so I decided to see what was up the trailhead behind the campground. The trail is labelled #250 - Osborne Mountain, but appears on WTA under Big Creek and Upper Big Creek as well.

This trail is well-groomed but pretty narrow. It is a multi-use trail and I saw what appeared to be pretty fresh dirt bike tracks, though I did not encounter anyone the whole time I was out.

The first half-mile or so is fairly flat as you work your way through the swampy wetlands between the campground and the base of Osborne Mountain. Once you reach the first bend and re-enter Forest Service land, you will immediately be greeted by the first of an endless series of switchbacks up to the ridge. This is where I busted out my trekking poles and really went for it, since it was my first solo hike in a while and I wanted to see how far I could get before turning back for dinner.

As you ascend through the forest, you really get the chance to see how the foliage changes. Through the first third there is a wide variety of shrubs and ferns surrounding the creeks and down through the gorge. Soon, only the ferns and trees remain. By the time you are approaching the ridge, the ferns give up giving way to only the dust and the trees.

I made it up the ridgeline, ~3,800' for ~2,000' of gain, where the trail doubles back and splits. It's marked with a sign here, but it's kinda unclear which way to go. It looks like the south fork heads back to an access road on the south face of the ridge, while the north fork will bring you towards the peak along the ridge line, and eventually to the lakes beyond. For what it's worth, there was no snow through this point, but maybe some along the ridge further towards the lakes.

Overall, this was a fun but difficult hike I would recommend if you're staying at Big Creek and feeling up for a challenge. I would not recommend with children due to the narrow trail and challenging ascent; there was a family setting out around the same time as me and I don't think they made it past the wetlands at the start.

I knew beforehand I wouldn't complete this trail since I had my dog with me who I rarely take on snowshoeing trails so I didn't take any snow equipment with me. Hit snow at about 2 miles in (also started snowing a bit) where traction and gaiters would've been used, snowshoes and a map/navigation would be definitely needed at some point beyond this. Tiny stream to cross, and multiple trees over trail but easy to get over. Not much space for a lot of parking outside gate to camping area. Went exploring on some forest roads and by the river after. Not busy anywhere we went. 

This trail is also identified as Gifford-Pinchot National Forest trail #250 and also Osborne Mountain Trail.  The trailhead is located right in the Big Creek Campground and easy to find.  I hiked on a Saturday with cool temperatures and rain predicted.  The first quarter mile or so goes through very lush and thick lowland.  When the trail enters the National Forest the character changes almost instantly.  Here there is almost no ground cover with second growth fir and hemlock.  For about 2.5 miles the trail switchbacks and climbs from 1800' to 3800' where it comes to the western end of the Osborne Mountain ridge line.  Here, an unmarked side trail #255 heads down to Cave Creek and Forest Road 8510.  The main trail gently climbs along the southern flank of Osborne Mountain for about a mile up to the saddle between Sawtooth Ridge and Osborne Mountain.  Along this section, I could see peekaboo views of the ridge lines to the south.  As the trail passes through several older clear cuts the views became spectacular!  I suspect on a clear day the Mount St. Helen and maybe Mount Adams would be in full view.  As the trail closes in on the saddle, the gnarly looking Sawtooth Ridge draws attention.  I could see almost the entire ridge including High Rock way at the eastern end of the ridge.  The trail intersects with Forest Road 8410 at the saddle.  This is the trail's highest elevation at about 4500'.  I made this my lunch and turn around spot, but the trail does head on down for another half mile or so to intersect with Trail #251 close to Bertha May Lake.  I could tell that Mount Rainier would be a magnificent sight form this point.

Despite being a Saturday, I only encountered seven other hikers, most being solo.  This trail is open to motorcycles and I did see recent tracks, but I don't recon the trail is very attractive for that activity.  I put this trail on my list of favorites!

We arrived at Big Creek campground at 12pm. We were thinking we were starting the Upper Big Creek Trail, but there was a mix up. (There are two Big Creek campgrounds in WA state, one in Hoodsport on the Olympic Peninsula and one near Mt Rainier just past Ashford. The WTA website stated this was the Hoodsport trailhead but clearly it was not.) The campground signs stated the Osborne Mountain trailhead and the trail was 5.5 miles one way to Pothole Lake, which seemed manageable so we gave it a go. The trail is open to hikers, mountain bikers, equestrians, and dirt bikers. After some time we determined this was not the trail described. In fact it was a 30 switchback, 3 mile, 2800 ft+, initial climb past Mt Osborne. The trail is only one to two feet wide, which leaves little room to avoid larger allowed transportation on the trail (mountain bikes, dirt bikes, and horses). Most of the climb was through young forest with little undergrowth past the initial area near the campground. It is a very steady climb, with almost no breaks/flat patches until you reach a crossroads about 2.5 miles in. There is a well worn path to the left and an even harder turn to the left up the hill further. You want the hard turn. The other, more traveled path takes you to a forest service gravel road. We kept on climbing, but it was not as intense. Eventually there were many mountain views to the right. After the views, we reached three snow beds across the trail. They were slushy but not too hard to cross. It looked as though one person had gone through ahead of us, so we followed their footsteps. Shortly after we reached our first true trail sign that indicated we had come 3 miles. Our fitness trackers said we had come 5.5 miles. At that point we realized the signage was “as the crow flies” not actual trail walking mileage. We did not know if it was truly 3 miles to the lakes...or much longer. As we looked down the trail to the lakes, we saw deeper snow patches across the road and decided to stop. We ate lunch under a beautiful peak that had views in multiple directions. (There were two fire pits in the area, under we think is Sawtooth Peak.) As we ate, two dirt bikers came up the way we did and continued through the snow towards the lakes. Shortly after we decided to head back, as there were signs of predicted thunderstorms developing (but they never did). Along the way it was clear the dirt bikers altered the trail we just came up. It was harder to cross the snow patches (they made unpacked ruts in the snow that were slippery) and the trail was more gravelly having recently been churned up. In one spot (pictured) near a creek crossing, they had almost completely eroded the trail. In total we came across 3 hikers and the two dirt bikers in just over 5 and a half hours. If you want to get away from people, this is the trail. If you want to make it to the lakes, you need to leave earlier or hike on a nicer day later in the summer. We made it back to our car just after 5:30pm. We might try the hike again if we were more prepared for what we would encounter. It was quite the cardio workout—so we really earned those views!

On our first trip around the campground we did not see the trailhead. stopped at the campground entrance and asked the camp host who told us to make the first right (where it says "DO NOT ENTER"). The trailhead is a couple of hundred feet from the end of the loop and is very limited (3-4 vehicles max). This is a moderately steep trail - meaning that there were times when my heart rate hit >150. We started out around 9 am and it was pretty foggy most of the way up so not much to look at. The trail was in very good shape. There were snow patches to cross but nothing significant. There is also an unmarked fork in the trail at about the 3.7 mile mark where the trail makes a hard left u-turn. Take the left hand fork. If you start going downhill before you turn around, you're on the wrong trail. The trail ends on what looks like an old fire service road. There is a sign that gives millage back to the trailhead and to a couple of other places but not one pointing to the summit. We decided to make the left and push on up to the end of the trail/road about a mile further. There wasn't much to see at the end either but it would be a nice place to camp on a clear and starry night.