Mount Si, Talus Loop & Mount Teneriffe — Tuesday, May. 6, 2025

Tagging both summits of Tenerife and Si has been on my list for awhile so one of my climbing buddies and I decided today was the day.  Realized Mount Tenerife trailhead was closed today and tomorrow so it made the decision easier knowing we needed to start at Mount Si trailhead and make our loop.  The road into Si parking lot has lots of potholes but passable, just be careful.  Started up the Mount Si trail at 7:20 am at a good pace with a little bit of layers on in the cool am air.  Hit the first intersection with Talus Loop trail and headed up the bottom segment of the loop (not Roaring Creek trail).  One tree down on this section but passable.  We then hit the very short connector segment of trail that leads to Mount Tenerife trail, made a left and started our climb to until we hit Tenerife Falls connector trail which is quite nice with the new bridge.  This connector takes you to the Tenerife Falls trail at about 1600 ft or so so we continued our climb towards the Falls which were running moderately hard.  We did not go all the way to the end to see the falls, instead opted to start our ascent up the Kamikaze trail towards the summit of Tenerife.  There is an orange tape tied to some tree roots marking the start of this trail.  The trail is pretty hacked up and wide but then gets more narrow and not as beaten up as in the beginning.  It’s such a steep incline, almost like climbing a wall for the first maybe 0.4 mile, then it’s still steep but you can find places to take smaller steps.  You run the ridge all the way up and it’s pretty narrow and ledgy in places.  It’s good to know what you are doing and be sure footed to avoid falls (or rock fall onto companions).  We kept up our pace and took 2 small breaks for water and snacks on our way up.  There were a few patches on snow on this side of the summit block but we could boot up on it (kick steps) and walk around.  You have to pay attention to where the true trail is as there are a few diversions.  There was no postholing or snow bridging on these short snow sections.  The rocky summit is completely dry and the views were phenomenal.  We had it to ourselves and only saw 1 other hiker leaving prior to our arrival. All the volcanoes were out and nice views of snowy peaks and beautiful valleys.  We had another snack then started our descent down the other side finding the boot path that leads to the Tenerife Mountain Trail.  We donned our microspikes just off the summit after the rock and kept them on for about a mile.  Snow was consolidated and spikes helped with efficiency.  We took them off just under 4000 ft elevation then hit a lot of snow on the flatter section of the trail at 3800 ft which ran for about a mile I’d say but this was easier snow to navigate with just boots.  It’s still about a foot deep.  Again no postholing, just mash potato like snow.  The creeks up top are running so I refilled a water bottle since it was getting warm. Finally hit the Connector trail towards Si and started to climb again (about 500 ft) towards the Haystack and Si summit.  No snow on this section.  Decided to head towards Snoqualmie lookout and sit at the bench for a few and admire yet more views towards Rainier, Seattle, and the Olympics.   Hardly anyone up on Si.  We then hiked the regular Si trail down which is dry, wide, and in great shape.  Got back to the parking lot after about 6.5-7 hours of mostly moving time.  Nice quiet outing and great workout (4600 ft elevation gain).  Saw some late bloomer Trillium and Phlox is in bloom at the summit area near the Haystack and Lookout.