Plan was to start at Little Si, use the Boulder Garden and Douglas Fir trails to crossover, head up Si, crossover and turn up to Blowdown Mountain, and then come down the Mt Teneriffe trail and cross back over to Little Si. There were a few people on the Little Si trail, but I didn’t see anybody on the Boulder Loop or Douglas Fir trails. Mt Si trail had a few hikers and runners. There was new snow that I saw as early as Snag Flats on Si (about 2,000 ft) but didn’t really impact the trail. There were a few inches of new snow at the base of the haystack on Si, and it was actively snowing when I passed by there.
I didn’t encounter old snow until the upper connector trail, and much more so in the route up to Blowdown. I mostly followed the road which was tough as there was quite a bit of new and old snow, and I was breaking trail the whole way. Going up through the trees probably would have been easier as there was less snow under the canopy. I finally made it to the summit and hung out for a bit. No views but the wintery landscape was nice.
I headed down the southeast ridge and reconnected with the Mount Teneriffe trail. There was some new snow over old snow on the upper flats but below was all new snow. I didn’t go to the Mount Teneriffe summit so I’m not sure what the conditions were further up trail. It snowed more as I headed down, and I could see a discernible snow line on surrounding mountains. I crossed back to Si using the lower Talus Loop and back to Little Si on the Douglas Fir trail followed by completing the boulder loop. The last half mile down the Little Si trail was quite pleasant as the sun had come out.
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