Mount Si

   Climbed Mount Si for the first time toady with a buddy who who had also never been there. We started from the trail head at about 10:30 AM, only slightly chilly, no rain and a little overcast. The parking lot was already about a quarter full.
   From the parking lot, we followed an easy/moderate grade on a wide, well groomed, and well maintained trail to the top. Not much in the way of views until mile 3.5. There was a little slushy snow and ice but only near the top (last half mile or less) and was no problem at all. The snow that was still there was mostly covered with mud/dirt/needles/etc so wasn't very slick. I used poles but my buddy used nothing but running shoes and did just fine. At the end of 4 miles, we came to the hay stack scramble portion. There was very little snow/ice on the rocks and we scrambled to an excellent view of... EVERYTHING! The weather had cleared up a little (never did rain and warmed to about 50 degrees) and we got nice views of the snoqualmie valley, bellevue, and Seattle as well as the surrounding mountains.
  A wonderful hike. Its close enough to home, not too difficult and reward is spectacular. The only drawback was that its not too far from home, not too difficult, and the reward is spectacular and the convinience draws a crowd. Oh boy does it draw a crowd. A constant parade of hikers up and down. I cant even imagine a mid summer day, but everyone we encountered was nice and the trail was in great condition, and not at all what you would expect from 100 plus users a day.