When your 15 year old son and his best friend announce they want to hike Mount Si. You go! Delighted to take these two up to the top of the Mountain that is their school's namesake. I almost feel it should be a graduation requirement for MSHS students. :-P
The day was beautiful. The parking lot has pot holes, but they are easy to dodge and it was surprisingly empty when we arrive at 9:45 AM or so on a Sunday. Bathrooms were in decent shape and were stocked.
The trail is exactly what one would expect. A pretty steady climb, with one small flat reprieve in the middle, and a few steeper switch backs. We arrived at the top rock meadow in time for an early lunch to refuel before taking on the haystack.
If you are planning to scramble up the haystack, stay to the right in the rock meadow and follow the trail into the woods and then out again at a small retaining wall with a bench atop it. At the bench, head left toward the haystack and you'll see several channels where people scramble up. This is where you'll want to start.
It is not a walk in the park, but also not super hard for a fit, able bodied individual. This scramble does have a body count though and so it is to be respected for the risk that it is.
Beautiful views at the top of our gorgeous slice of the PNW. The boys had fun finding their school and their houses with the binoculars that we brought up.
My knees hurt on the way down (down the trail, not the haystack). I was very thankful for hiking poles to take some of the strain off. Please be prepared as the weather up top can very wildly from the weather at the bottom. There were times where we were happy in short sleeves and shorts, and then times where we had hats, jackets, buffs, and gloves and were still chilly!
Overall it was just a spectacular day! I don't think Mount Si's seen the last of us!
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