This was a nice moderate alternative to the usual Little Si - Mt Si -Teneriffe Falls hikes we often make.  Our route: Mount Teneriffe Trail to Roaring Creek Trail. Roaring Creek to Mt Si Trail. Mt Si Trail to upper trailhead of Talus Loop Trail. Talus Loop back to Roaring Creek, then back to Mount Teneriffe trail. It is about 6 miles. Most of the elevation gain is in the Mt Si Trail section of the hike.  It was snow free. It is mostly a woods walk, but there is a nice viewpoint on the Talus Loop.  There are several sturdy bridges over cascading creeks, and a few easy stream crossings.  We saw 7 people and 3 dogs during the whole hike (on a Thursday).

With a perfect trail running forecast, I decided it was time to expand on running from my front door to local peaks, and head from Issaquah to the North Bend area.  

Started out my front door in Issaquah at about 5 AM.  I had originally thought I would hop onto the Issaquah/High Point trail as quick as I could but last minute, I decided I wanted to run through a quiet, early morning downtown Issaquah, so I followed the Rainier trail to Sunset and then took Sunset east to where it linked up with the Issaquah/High Point Trail.

No surprise I had the trail to myself as I made my way east.  There was a heavy fog which lent an eerie quality to the miles as they floated by quickly given the relatively flat nature of the trail.  Soon I found myself going through Preston and curving north on the Preston Snoqualmie Trail.  I was a bit surprised to find this portion of the trail pavement, so I slowed my pace to minimize the beating my legs would take from the hard surface. 

I crossed Preston Fall City Rd and found myself shortly after climbing a series of tight switchbacks before getting back on the smooth trail.  Shortly I came across the Deep Creek trail, which is well marked and cut my way south on this trail, gaining some altitude as daylight arrived.  This trail dropped me off at a small park, where I continued on Douglas Ave SE until it intersected the paved path that parallels Snoqualme Pkwy.  

As I followed this path east, I was surprised to still be in heavy fog and even found myself being hit with occasional raindrops.  So much for the forecast calling for clear skies!  Overall, I really didn't mind but it would have been nice to have some views of the mountain I was headed for in the distance.

I took a right at 202 and followed this through Snoqualmie.  A fun little downtown to run through.  I then made way to the Snoqualmie Valley trail via 2nd and SE park Street.  I was ecstatic to leave the pavement behind at this point.  The miles melted by on this very flat, straight trail but I enjoyed moving through a golf course, and small residential areas before meeting up with the intersection of the Mount Si Road.  A left here, a minute or two of jogging and I was finally at the Little Si Trailhead.  Finally!  

The Little Si trail was crowded but once I turned right on the Boulder Garden Trail, I left the crowd behind and had the beautiful, misty forest to myself. I turned onto the Douglas Fir trail and followed that to the Mount Si Trail, there I took a right and jogged down it until the junction with the Talus Loop trail and Roaring Creek trail  (I think that's what it is called).  Throughout this section I had almost climbed out of the fogbank that was covering the valley and the sunlight beaming through the trees was incredible. 

At the junction with the Teneriffe Trail, I took a right and headed to the old trailhead.  From here I continued on to the CCC trail, making good time on the gravel road that makes up the majority of the first section of this trail.  Again the interplay between the fog and sun made for some incredible forest lighting.

Off the CCC trail is the Sitka Spruce trail, I took this smaller un-maintained trail to it's junction with the Middle Fork Road.  The trail is rough and muddy in spots but was in much better shape than I anticipated.  I even managed to keep my feet dry! 

At the Middle Fork Road, I hung a left and made the short journey to the Granite Creek Trailhead and climbed this newer, buffed out trail to the junction with Granite Lakes Trail.  I took another right here and floated down this trail to it's trailhead.  Another quick road jaunt and I finally found myself at the base of my mountain objective for the day, Mailbox Peak! 

I was 35 miles into my journey at this point but feeling strong as I climbed up the new trail towards the summit.  Again, the foggy forest was a sight to behold.  I was surprised by the lack of traffic on the trail for a Sunday afternoon but wasn't complaining.  Eventually around 1,800', I broke out of the clouds for good and was treated to nothing but sunlight streaming through the forest canopy.  At the second clearing as you wrap around the north side of the mountain, there are sections of the trail that are covered in hard packed down snow and ice but I found plenty of traction given all the dirt and mud that was on top of the snow/ice.

Breaking out of the treeline was incredible as a sea of clouds blanketed the valley below and the surrounding mountains looked like islands in a sea.  The temperature spiked as well and it felt like May on the mountain and not January.  The talus field was free of snow and I had no issues without spikes climbing the final 500' to the summit despite there being a mix of packed snow/ice on sections of the trail here.  Some folks were wearing spikes but you are going to either take them on and off a few times or if you keep them on, wear them down quicker with all the sections of bare rock. 

About nine and a half hours into my run, I was at the summit of Mailbox.  I took a 15 minute break here, taking in the views, having a snack and looking back at just how far my legs had taken me.  Then it was time to jog back down and catch my ride so we could get some nachos in North Bend.

An unforgettable experience and I will be back for the other North Bend Peaks! 

This is a nice easy day trip loop made easier by the new trailhead parking lot for the Mt. Teneriffe trail.  We started at the Mt. Si trailhead.  At .7 miles we turned off into the Talus Loop trail. Soon we met the Roaring Creek Trail.  This spur trail is well-marked with signage but it's not on any maps I have seen.  It's obviously an old roadbed and is largely flat and open.  It crosses several creeks on sturdy bridges.  Eventually it meets the Mt. Teneriffe trail.  Turn right (east; downhill).  At the Teneriffe Falls trail, turn right (east; downhill) again.  Eventually the new trail to the new Teneriffe trailhead and parking lot appears.  Again, turn right/south/downhill. After reaching the parking lot, we walked back to the Mt. Si parking lot on the road (15 min.)  We spent a leisurely 2.5 hours on this hike.  Anyone doing it with light packs, longer legs, and not stopping for lunch could easily cut that time in half.

We began our loop hike from the Mt. Teneriffe trailhead. Only a few cars in the parking lot when we arrived. This trailhead replaces the old one by the DNR blue gate at the school bus turnaround further up the SE Mt. Si Road. There is a restroom and a kiosk with a map of the DNR Mt. Si Natural Resources Conservation Area trails. You can get a copy of the map on the DNR website. The newer section of trail goes up a few switchbacks to get to the former Mt. Teneriffe Road, now just a trail that the DNR converted three years ago. After passing the turnoff for the Teneriffe Falls Trail we crossed several creeks with three bridges and a few rock hops. No water in the creek at the first bridge, but the other did have water running. The second bridge is over Teneriffe Creek that comes down from the falls. The third bridge is over the East Fork of Roaring Creek with a nice waterfall to view. Then it is a short distance to the junction with the Roaring Creek Trail to the left. We took this trail, then crossed another long bridge over the West Fork of Roaring Creek which also has a nice waterfall to see. This trail is a connection over to the main Mt. Si Trail and the lower section of the Talus Loop Trail.

Along the Roaring Creek Trail we found a good log to sit on for lunch with a view through the trees to Mt. Washington. With a cold wind blowing, we were glad we had hot soup and cocoa. After eating we continued to the junction with the Talus Loop Trail and headed up the lower section. DNR had cut out some fallen trees so you did not have to climb over them. A younger hiker caught up to us, so we chatted for a few minutes. Turned out he had moved up from Texas, so we gave him some hiking info. After getting up to the junction with the Spring Trail, we headed right, going down hill. The Talus Loop Trail goes left to get up to the main Mt. Si Trail. The DNR sign reads, "Mt.Tenereiffe 0.1". They need to add "Trail" to the sign since some people might get confused as it is 4.4 miles up to the summit of Teneriffe from this junction.  Hiking the Spring Trail, it is a short distance out to the Mt. Teneriffe Trail after crossing a dried up creek. From here we headed down hill back to the junction with the Roaring Creek Trail to complete the loop part of our hike. Then we hiked back down the Mt. Teneriffe Trail to the parking lot.

Made for a nice 5.4 mile hike with some nice waterfalls to view along the way. Did not see too many other hikers, a few on the Mt. Teneriffe Trail, two on the Talus Loop Trail and none on the Roaring Creek and Spring Trails. So you can hike on some trails on Mt. Si with no crowds. Plus now you can do some different loop trails that DNR has put in so you do not have to be in the conga line on the main Mt. Si Trail. So check out the other trails on Mt. Si, far from the madding crowd.

Was hoping the weather would hold long enough in the morning for me to get a nice little loop on Mount Si without getting too wet.

Trail is in great shape.  A blowdown about half a mile in that is easy to work around.  Some fall colors still hanging in there despite the lateness of the season.  Jogged and power hiked to the first overlook, glancing at the menacing clouds to the east and south.  Made my way to the Snoqualmie Overlook to see more dark clouds.  Some small patches of snow in this area.

I dropped back down about a mile on the Mount Si trail, then made my way back up (wanted the extra gain).  At this point, I cut over on the Mount Si/Teneriffe connector trail. It had begun to hail/rain at this point.  Follwed the connector to the Mount Teneriffe trail and jogged down this as the rain really started to come down.

Descended to the Roaring Creek trail and cut back over to the Mount Si trail to get back to that trailhead.  Ten and a half miles with 5k of gain. Route link provided.

The rain might turn to snow on the upper slopes but it really didn't feel cold enough to me for it to stick around.