Super easy hike. Casual stroll reached the top in 50 minutes. Lots of traffic on this holiday weekend. Lots of kids (which is cool). Lots of dogs (that's cool too). Lots of dogs without a leash on (not too cool).

The trail was dry enough that this would be a nice trail to run during the week when there is less traffic on the trail.

Perfect weather to hike today. About 60F and mostly clear skies.
 

Beautiful day for a training hike and my first double hike. I started out at Rattlesnake Ledge as a warmup hike. Arrived at trailhead at 8AM, only four other cars in the parking lot. Trail was wide open and in amazing shape. Virtually completely dry, except for a small portion after the first big switchback (a bit past halfway to the ledge). At the ledge, met two other people who were enjoying the view. One was a bird watcher and i suggested to hike up to the third ledge (15 minutes further up the trail) Was back at my car by 9:30 and headed over to Mount Si.

Arrived at Mount Si Trail 20 minutes later to find several dozen cars parked and people milling about. Began hiking about 10:00am. Trail was in amazing condition, no snow at all, except at the very top there were a few patches on the trail that heads over to Haystack. Found the two benches near haystack and sat and enjoyed the view of Seattle, Bellevue and the Olympics for almost an hour. By the time i started back down the trail a minimum of 30 people were at the top soaking up the sunshine. On the way down i passed a minimum of 50 people (closer to 75) that were assending the trail. At times, there was a log jam of people coming up, so patience was needed and the rest appreciated as people passed. When i reached the parking lot, four rows of cars were parked.

As i began to drive back down Mt. Si Road, the sky's opened up and it began to pour.

Overall...both trails at Rattlesnake Ledge and Mount Si are in amazing condition.

Total hiking distance: 12 miles
Total vertical climbed: 4310
Total hiking time: 5hours 15 minutes (not including time at the top)

On a side note...I am thinking about starting up a hike for charity and would like to call it the Mount Si Rattlesnake Challenge, one reason i did the hike today was to test my endurance. If there is anyone that is potentially interested in helping run a charity hike, or participating in a charity hike...please contact me. The earliest i would think a charity hike could happen would be late summer/early fall of 2013. I am happy to share more details about this potential charity hike with any fellow hikers.

Enjoy the trails!!!

Someone on the trail said that all of Seattle seemed to hiking the Rattlesnake trail. I guess that is what you get on a beautiful Sunday. We bypassed the first ledge and went up above to have lunch at the middle ledge. There were only six of us there looking down and across the way to the first ledge and to people taking turns on the rock to get a view. We then went up to the third ledge and had the place to ourselves for awhile. There were still a few Trillium to be seen while hiking the upper ridges trails.

Even with the throngs of people, it was a great outing with views of Mt Si, Little Si, Green Mtn, Mt Teneriffe, Rattlesnake, Chester Morse Lakes and Masonary Pond.

Arrived just before 9:00 a.m. and there was a lot of hikers. Made my way up the trail which is well kept. Upon arriving at the "Ledge" it was crowded, but did manage to find space to take some photos and enjoy the view. Going back down, there was a sea of people/hikers headed up, it was like being at the mall!:) My advice, avoid the weekends, and make sure that if you want to have a serene hike, get here early (before 8:00 a.m.) and during a weekday. Also, try to go on a clear day, so check weather reports prior. The lake is beautiful and I walked around the perimeter, well at one point in the lake shore, but it felt good to cool down my feet from the hike.