June 24 - Mt Si

Friday, June 24th at Mt Si

Well, the climb of Mt Si finally came. This is a real test, 3300' elevation gain. I have been aiming for Mt Si as the real test of whether I can do Mt Adams.  I met Robert Smith and his long time friend, Terry, at the Mt Si trailhead at 9:30am.  We were off and running (well, off) at 10:10am.  The climb went quite well. Part way up, we met an interesting old duffer named Keith, who "learned to ski in 1944". That was the year I was born, so he was a bit older ;).

Mt Si Trail - 3,300' Elevation Gain

We got to the top, after a few breaks, at about 2:15pm. That is about 3 hours up. I have always booked about 1000 feet an hour, so to do 3300' in 3 hours for a first Mt Si climb of the year is quite respectable. Robert has climbed it several times before, and I definitely slowed him a bit, but we all were happy.

Terry at the 0.7 mile mark on the way up.

We spent close to an hour on the summit, in two breaks, one at the foot of the summit rocks, and a second longer on on the saddle next to the Haystack.  We met a nice couple at the summit rocks, Mike and Beth. She works on Capitol Hill at an AIDS support organization, and knew some folks at DESC (Downtown Emergency Service Center), where I worked in the late 1990's.  Small world. I spent some time trying to recruit them into our Mt Adams climb, but I don't think I was persuasive enough.

Couple Resting Near the Summit Rocks

At the Saddle, there are benches with a most amazing view of the Snoqualmie valley from 3000' up.  We got a few pictures of chipmunks and camp robber birds at the saddle.  It had been very cloudy, but the sky opened, a bit of blue and sunshine appeared, and we had a great view.

Terry, Sunflower Seeds and a Camp Robber

Roger, a Sandwich Tidbit and a Camp Robber

Chipmunks by the Bench at the Mt Si Saddle

Closeup of Chipmunk at the Mt Si Saddle

Then at about 3:05 pm, we headed down.  Just as we were literally leaving the summit rocks, we got hit by a pretty intense hailstorm, followed by a heavy pelting rain.  In no time, we were all soaked.  We booked it on down the trail. After a bit, the rain stopped, but about an hour later, it came again, and remained heavy all the way back to the cars. We arrived at the cars at about 6:10pm. That is about 3 hours down, the same as up.  Because if my trick knee, I can't go down quite as fast as I used to, and it showed. But we all were quite happy. We spent 8 hours on the trail, from 10 am to 6 pm.

Robert and Terry had to head off for home, but I stopped at the North Bend Bar & Grill, and had an absolutely scrumptious steaming bowl of Jambalaya soup and a cold brew.  What a great way to end a great hike.