Decided to go up Si today since the road conditions further east on I90 were not good. Glad I made this choice....Si was lovely. Trail covered with snow right from the parking lot with increasing powder along the way. About 10 inches at the top. Wore traction devices on boots (micro-spikes) for 1/2 way up and most of the way down which was helpful, but not necessarily required. Trail still obvious from weekend travelers. Poles a good idea as well. Snowing sporatically along the way and then like crazy when I got back to the car. Saw a bit of sunshine today as well, and a few critters.

We midweek Mountaineers did a traverse of Mt Si, going up the Old Si trail, down the new Si trail to the benches, then traversing to the Old Si trail and Boulder Garden trail for the descent back to the Little Si parking lot. While some of us had yaktrax, they were not needed on the minimal snow on top (though hikers on the regular trail reporting slick conditions there). With Seattle setting a new record high of 63F and North Bend reporting 65F, it was much warmer than we expected; water supplies ran low and many of us lacked enough space in our packs for superfluous layers of warm clothing. Shorts and t-shirt weather in early February! Photos here: http://tinyurl.com/cc9jp7

The Little Si parking lot was covered with hard packed snow & ice, but that didn't keep out lots of hikers. Once you take the right turn onto the old Si trail, it's mostly less hard-packed, though there are some steep places where some kind of traction device is a good idea. The snow gradually thickens with elevation. This trail seemed nearly as busy today as the "normal" Mt Si trail. Both are narrow and fairly hard packed by the time you reach the point where they are joined. Clouds were low - limiting visibility near the haystack (summit). In contrast to an earlier report, winds were modest, and snow-bombs few. Despite the gray skies and monotone views it was great day to be out.