Boulder Garden Loop, Mount Si - Old Trail — Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

We took advantage of a mostly sunny day and slightly warmer-than-average temperatures to hike Mount Si. This report is divided into two parts to do adequate justice to the Boulder Garden Loop part of the hike. Part I: We arrived at the Little Si trailhead at 11 am. The lot had a few spaces left. We also noted the presence of DNR Rangers' vehicles--one of the hikers in our group had seen $99 tickets handed out to vehicles not bearing Discover Passes. So don't leave your pass at home! We took the Little Si trail to its first junction with the Boulder Garden Loop. The trail is in excellent condition, with little water or mud. This spur gives lie to the widely held notion that the Mt. Si trail has little to offer in terms of views along the ascent. The Loop also provides a nice amount of elevation gain! Previous reports document that the junction with the old Mount Si trail occurs near a "Boulder Garden Loop Trail" sign--but there are two! The first of these took us down and to the right--it is a connecter to a DNR service road, and enabled the lead members of our group to play a minor prank on the rest of us. We turned back and continued uphill to the second "Boulder Garden Loop Trail" sign. At that point, we turned to another unmarked trail, the correct old Mount Si trail, which takes off upward and to the right...http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/trip-reports/trip_report.2012-01-09.9150375983/ Therefore, we did not do all of the Boulder Garden Loop, but it was nice to experience this part of the Mount Si trail system for the first time.