Mount Si, Little Si & West Tiger 3 — Saturday, May. 31, 2008

Snoqualmie Region > North Bend Area

It is that time of year again. Conditioning time. Too much snow to go to our favorite high places so Lori got an idea and said let's do a ""triad"". So we met a Exit 20 off I-90 at the W. Tiger 3 trailhead at 6 a.m. First on the list was W. Tiger 3's dreaded ""cable route"" pretty much straight up. Chris, Lori and I started out pacing ourselves for the long day ahead. In little over an hour we were on top, cloudy no view but no wind. 45 minutes down. Cable conquered: 4 miles roundtrip, 2,000' gain. A short drive took us to Mt. Si trailhead and we started up at 8:45 am. Parking lot only one-third full. On top in two hours, still cloudy, but no wind, no rain. Took us almost two hours to get down as we always stepped aside for the hordes coming up. Mt. Si done: 8 miles, 3200' gain. We took a fifteen minute break on the picnic table for some hydration and Lori's excellent chocolate chip cookies. Then drove to Little Si parking lot which, of course was 100% full as was the side of the road. A steady pace was maintained and we were on top in almost exactly one hour. Again almost as long to descend yielding to uphill hikers. Now we are really ""wiped out"" and delighted that this is our last leg(pun very much true). Little Si done: 5 miles, 1,500 gain (1200 in 300 out). This is a beautiful hike if you can do it mid-week or early to avoid huge crowds. We were very lucky as the rain held off all day. ""Triad"" done! Three summits: 17.2 miles and 6,700' gain That IS conditioning. (Mt. Si snow free - except patches Haystack basin). Kyozen