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| Hiking | 8.00 Miles |
3,150 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.00 Miles | | | |
| 3,150 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I was up in Seattle for a conference and in advance reached out to @seattlehiker for some hike recommendations. Among several others, he suggested Mt. Si as something of a quintessential Seattle hike--maybe not quite the Camelback Mtn. of Seattle but a popular spot on Saturdays.
Luckily, my free day was Monday, so I didn't have to fight the crowds. My only hang up was that, through a series of travel snafus, I didn't end up getting a rental car. So, I was left with the Uber/Lyft option. Getting a Lyft from Renton, where my hotel was out TO the trailhead wasn't a problem, but finding a ride back into town FROM the trailhead proved adventurous. Luckily, my Lyft driver (who grew up in Sedona) foresaw my issue and left me with his cell number when he dropped me off as an emergency back up. Good thing ….
In the meantime, I hit the trail at about 10 a.m. and while I didn't have the trail entirely to myself, traffic was very minimal. The trail on this one is excellent, and the 3,500 ft of elevation gain goes by with relative ease.
The vast majority of the hike involves climbing up the side of the mountain under the forest canopy. No views are to be had until you pop out on to a scree field about 3.8 miles up. Many make this their destination, while the true summit remains a several hundred foot scramble up and over the scree field; past an actual designated lookout that is much better that the scree field and then up and around the back side of the summit--which forms a prominent outcropping on top of the mountain. indeed, from the uphill trail side, the summit appears unreachable without technical climbing gear--as it has a sheer hundred foot plus face. However, if you hike up and around the backside, a break in the granite exists that allows access with the class 3-4 scrambling. It reminded me a lot of the chute on Brown's Peak, though perhaps a little more heart-pounding in a few spots--especially since a light drizzle settled in and make the granite extra slippery.
Eventually, I made it to the actual summit and was rewarded with expansive views of the valley below and surrounding mountains--albeit interspersed with the typical cloud cover. That said, the clouds stayed relatively high so as to allow pretty unobstructed views.
The return trip down the mountain was uneventful, but beautiful. All the moss on the trees is unreal.
At the TH, I had no luck getting an Uber/Lyft. I tried bumming a ride off a few folks completing their hikes--including a trail runner from--yep, Flagstaff--who came hauling down the stretch like a bat out of heck and claimed he just completed the FKT for an up and down of Mt. Si in 1 hr. 14 min. I congratulated him, but he wasn't headed my direction.
So, I eventually called my life line on the Lyft driver. I told him I only had a credit card and no cash as it would be pretty cost prohibitive to have him drive out from an hour away to pick me up using the app. He said no big deal and offered just to give me a "lift"--rather than a Lyft. I told him he restored some of my faith in humanity. Bless his heart, he drove out almost an hour to get me, and then took me on a more scenic route back--even offering to we stop by Jimmy Hendrix's grave on the way. As he dropped me off at the hotel, I again thanked him and told him he earned a few points on his ticket to heaven that day. |
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Route Editor
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