I wanted to go out on for a longer hike and it had been a few years since I had done Mount Si so I made a whole loop of it. As such, I did several trails and will try to offer a quick review of each.

Little Si is a cute, short trail that most everyone will be able to do it. I saw a large number of families, some with very small children. A special hello to the small child who said I looked, "like a princess lady."

Boulder Loop is pretty but I don't think it's worth trying to make sure you go around the whole thing. This starts to have some elevation gain but still pretty decent for most everyone. 

Next I did the Old Mount Si trail. This was brutal. It was surprisingly steep and never offered a break. There are two spots with trees that have fallen over but still quite easily to get around. I found the hike to be beautiful and enjoyable. I did not see one single other person during that entire hike. 

When I reached the connection to the Mount Si trail, it was packed with people. I was in shock at the number of folks. Mostly college kids with loud music playing. There are a few false trails around the upper area and I watched as more of these happened with people having a picnic directly on the trail, it forced hikers to leave the trail to get around them. 

I took this trail back down most of the way. This is one of the first hikes I did in Seattle years and years and years ago with a boy I madly loved. He is married now and living on the East Coast but it was fascinating to see how the trail had changed and not changed during that time. 

It's hard to express how different the old trail is to the newer one. The lengths are not that far off but the steepness... worlds apart. 

I then cut over and did the other two smaller trails before heading back to the boulder garden to complete the loop.

Stats:

Total Milage: 14 ish? 

Number of Dogs: about 10

Snacks: protein bar

Two of us did a 10.3 mile/3400 foot gain loop at Mt. Si. We started at the Mount Si trailhead around 9:15, and ascended the main trail along with a steady collection of other hikers. We continued up past all the people lunching on rocks the extra 1/4 mile or so to the base of the Haystack. Nice that this short portion has stone steps reinforced with concrete, for one thing it helps show where the trail is. It was cold and misty so we had a quick lunch and continued on the connector towards Mt. Teneriffe. About 200 yards of this trail was still snow covered but no need for traction or anything. Then we descended the Tenerife trail/road down (saw maybe 8-10 other hikers on this) to the Roaring Creek Trail, took this quiet forested path back to the Mount Si trail and then descended the last 0.7 miles back to the car. Good exercise!

Hiked up to Mt Teneriffe via the Mt. Si trailhead, Started on Mt. Si trail, veered off on the Roaring river trail, and finally turned up the Mt Teneriffe trail. Once off the Mt. Si trail, you gain a lot of solitude which is nice.  The trails below about 3800 feet are mostly snow free.  About a mile after the junction with the Upper Si Connector trail, the trail was pretty much snow covered with boot pack.  Not too bad in the morning but it was rapidly becoming softer and postholing was an issue, making it quite a slog for the last mile or so. Microspikes not necessarily needed with the soft snow but snowshoes would have been helpful for the last little bit. I would expect the warming in the next few days to continue to melt out a fair amount of it.

This trail is a long, steady uphill climb with the tread being not too rocky. Great excursion for getting into summer hiking shape

Knowing that the trailhead for Mount Teneriffe is locked at 5pm, we decided to head for Teneriffe Falls from the Mount Si trailhead. Arrived just after 2pm and the Mount Si trailhead was surprising only 1/3-1/2 full. Headed up Mount Si trail to Roaring Creek trail, then turned up Mount Teneriffe trail, took the cutover described in previous trip reports to Teneriffe Falls trail, and up to the falls. The benefit of this route is that you avoid a lot of people. Once we left Mount Si trail, we only ran into 5 hikers. Even had a deer cross the trail ahead of us on Roaring Creek trail. You also bypass much of the tougher parts of Teneriffe Falls trail. Down side is that the cutover trail starts out great, but as you approach the creek it is hard to follow and a little treacherous when wet. The creek itself is running high right now, so crossing it was a challenge as there isn't a clear crossing point. Made it across ok without getting wet and caught the main trail to the falls. Had it all to ourselves. Decided to take Teneriffe Falls trail down to see what we missed. Definitely did not miss the creek bed scramble or some of the more challenging talus rocky sections. The sun did make an appearance on our way down and the views of the surrounding mountains were pretty spectacular and worth the extra effort. Caught Mount Teneriffe trail back to Roaring Creek and Mount Si trails to the trailhead. Made it back just after 6:30pm. The parking lot only had a handful of cars. In all we only encountered around 30, almost all on Mount Si trail at the start. Masking was around 60-70%.