Old Big Si Trail – 2/7/2016

The Haystack
The Haystack

We’ve been up here before, but it is always fun on the top of Mt. Si.  Anyone who has ever driven anywhere near the towns of Snoqualmie or North Bend WA have seen this prominent sight many times, the Haystack on the summit of Mt.  Si.

And this is undoubtedly the most popular hike for miles around.  We saw tons of people on the top and we must have passed upwards of 50 people on the way down.

And we were using the less popular route!

Plenty of birds up there:

Blue Jay near the summit
Blue Jay near the summit
Another summit bird
Another summit bird

Once you get up there, it is fun climbing around the rocks:

Fun scrambling
Fun scrambling
Grampy on the rocks
Grampy on the rocks

We could see Derek’s dad’s office from up there; it is the bigger building right across the street from the yellow building below:

D Square Energy Systems - where Derek's dad works
D Square Energy Systems – where Derek’s dad works

No shortage of awesome views up there:

It sure is cool on the top of Mt. Si
It sure is cool on the top of Mt. Si

6.6 miles, 3900 feet of elevation gain, a bit less than 5 hours, (including at least 30 minutes on the summit) so we call it a good day.  We did the reverse Boulder Garden Loop which is mighty steep.  The whole trail is steep; it gains about the same elevation as Mt. Washington but it is 1.25 miles shorter.

Here is a visualization of the hike:

http://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mt-si-via-old-big-si-trail-with-reverse-boulder-garden-loop/#.Vre8N5XltD8

We kicked around the possibility of going on a snow shoe hike with Finley next Sunday.  Wouldn’t that be fun!