The Little Si trail was in good condition, even though it had rained early this morning. It was cool and shady and lush. Rocks on the trail were wet but not slippery. We only met a couple people coming down when we headed up around 9:30. Lots more people heading up when we were on our way down, and the parking lot was full when we returned to it at noon. #HikeTheState

A nice quick hike I managed to get in after work. Trail was in good condition and never too difficult. I seemed to be the last person to hit the trail starting around 6pm. Managed to summit and make it back to the car before sunset.

Oh! ^{sigh}

What a great hike! A good warm up for some; others might find it a bit challenging. But all will be rewarded. I am on the third day of my not working for someone else but not quite retired--Shangri la enough--but Little Si just heaped even more brilliance upon me. She never fails to disappoint when you need to get out there in that beautiful mountain air for a quick hike.

Had not hiked with my little bro (by age only) in quite some time and he brought along Ginger, the world's most beloved German Shepherd. Left the trailhead at about 7:00 am (Teneriffe Falls was closed--will post something there next) and we ascended the first part a bit slowly as it begins with some vigor as it forces you to get your heart rate to at least a high moderate intensity. It flattens out a bit and you do even lose some elevation for a few feet.

Summitted in a little over an hour with really no stops other than that first glorious one just a few hundred yards from the trailhead to your left going up--you cannot miss it. And while we are talking about views, my brother pointed out some really cool rock formations. My Garmin tells me I averaged a heart rate of 113 with a max heart rate of 136. On the way back down, it was similar with no significant stops, with avg. 97 and max 121. For comparison, I am a sexagenarian but a young and spry one with a resting heart rate of about 50.

Total hiking time of about 2 hours. Time at the summit will always depend on how much you can simply take in. After about ten minutes, it is either time to set up a mini-camp and make some tea or just turn around.

Anyway, great hike and young kids will be able to handle if they are well seasoned hikers for their respective ages. A few slippery rocks that may require some handholding but what are families for.

Special shout out to the women hiking the other way—I saw so many, and I just had to pay my respects to the beautiful ladies going up the mountain as we descended. Their organization is a proper non-profit: https://teamsurvivornw.org/about/

Peace -- Grock

Not sure why WTA rotated all of my pictures to the left, but well, here they are, rotated.

Portable Toilets @ Mount Teneriffe's TH: Both are w/o TP. The handicap one is nearly full.

Trail Conditions: Intermittent snow starts @ ~4400' on Kamikaze trail. They are easily either avoidable or have great foot holes to follow. Check your map often as some winter detours have created paths that you no longer need to take. When in doubt, just take the path that goes up as the trail is relentlessly upa di up up. Coming down Mount Teneriffe's trail, easy intermittent snow on mostly flat ground continues until ~4000'. All snow were easily manageable with my trail runners and poles. Being careless towards the end, my foot slipped on a rock 5 min. before Little Si's TH, leading to an ankle sprain. This reminded of the last time I saw someone limping down Little Si with the assistance of two of her friends. The mountain may be little, but it doesn't mean you should be careless with her. Lesson learned, don't text while hiking downhill.

Suggested Additional Gear: Trekking poles for the snow. Warm gloves for the snowy area.

Hike was great! Kids loved it and saw some caterpillars, slugs, and other bugs. A couple spots near the top had some loose dirt, nothing too bad. Super popular hike, nice fellow hikers, great views, shade, and a place I love to hike.

Kids are 5 & 10 and we did it in just under 4 hours (with a 15 min break at the top - and many other short ones along the way). My GPS told me we hiked 4.95 mi (included parking lot). I was very confused remembering reading “3.7 mi” here on wta. I found a different site that lists the Little Si hike as 4.7 mi (I belive this is more accurate). I’ve used the garden loop before with our old dog and that could be a good route for those with kids/dogs! Regardless still a great hike even if you don’t summit.

A few areas to address: 

-Graffiti on most signs, one post was broken completely (propped on tree)
-Bench (love that bench) has loose slat in the front
-Toilets could use attention, kids wouldn’t touch them