A fun loop today up at Mount Si. I took the regular Mount Si Trail to the top, then had lunch at the Haystack, then took the Si-Teneriffe Connector and the Teneriffe Trail down to the Talus Loop, then back to the main trail and my car. About 9 miles with 3,500' of gain. A bit longer than the main route, but worth it for the scenery and solitude for the return trip.

MOUNT SI TRAIL: No issues, the trail is in great shape. No snow or mud anywhere on the trail all the way to the "lunch viewpoint" in the boulder field. There is some intermittent snow on the trail if you continue on to the Snoqualmie Valley overlook or up toward the Haystack, but it's pretty minimal and I didn't use traction. Trail runners worked great on this trail today. I didn't count but probably passed about 50 people one way or the other on my way to the top.

HAYSTACK: The Haystack was 95% dry today, but there were some lingering pockets of snow that were melting out, mostly on climber's left. This resulted in some wet rock below the snow. I would recommend taking the route up climber's right, as this was dry pretty much all the way up, and seemed a bit easier to me. Excellent weather up on top today, with very little wind and pretty good views. The Haystack is definitely a fear-inducing route with the potential for serious injury or death. Know your abilities and don't be afraid to turn around if you feel unsafe. There were two people at the top while i was having lunch, and I came across 5 or 6 other people on their way up or down.

SI-TENERIFFE CONNECTOR: This is where most of the remaining snow is. It comes in fits and spurts, with the longest snowy sections maybe being about 200' long. There is a firm bootpack in the center, so no post-holing. It was a bit slippery with my trail runners, but manageable since the grade in this section is not steep. Even if I had spikes, I probably wouldn't have bothered to put them on. I was somewhat shocked to run across four other people on this trail today - two going down, two going up.

TENERIFFE TRAIL: The snow continues on and off below the connector trail, but there is none below 3500'. The trail is a bit muddy in places where the snow is still melting, but it wasn't much of a problem. There is one 12" blowdown on this trail at the 2000' level, but it's easily stepped over. This trail is one of the nicer road-to-trail conversions around, in my opinion. A bit rocky in places, but it has some nice scenery including views over to Teneriffe, views of Rainier, cool red rocks, and a few stream crossings. The forest is also prettier than what you'll get on the Mount Si Trail. And, you'll hardly see any people.

TALUS LOOP TRAIL: No issues on this trail. It's a bit more primitive than other trails in the area, but the tread is soft and it's a nice forest ramble. I generally prefer the Roaring Creek Trail when I do this loop, but I wanted to check out the newly-rerouted section of the Talus Loop Trail. It's a nice reroute, to be sure, but it only involved the bottom few hundred feet of the trail, so most of the trail was unchanged. I would still recommend Roaring Creek, which is gentler and more scenic. Plus, you avoid the uphill part of Talus Loop that occurs when you get on it from the Teneriffe Trail.

Great weather with perfect trail conditions up to the first scramble! I didn’t go to the haystack. Over 80% of the parking was available between 10am-1:30pm on a Monday with a sunny forecast. Lots of friendly faces up and down the entire trail today. Didn’t see any April Fools, so if there was one, I guess it was me. 😊

I also share some extra pics and videos on instagram at BrianDecorahMBA.

Arrived at the Mount Teneriffe Trailhead a little before 8am. Hiked up to the Falls, and then took Kamikaze up to Mount Teneriffe. Snow along the trail and at the peak. Then took the connector over to Mount Si, down the main trail, and Talus Loop trail back to Mount Teneriffe Trailhead. Attempted the haystack, but turned around due to snow and ice. Back to the car a little after 3pm.

Up the Mount Si trail, and down via the Mount Teneriffe Connector and lower Talus Loop. Started at 9:15, only a dozen or so cars in the parking lot. A relatively calm day, not many people out for Mount Si. Snow still persists on the trail, but really only right at the top, under the rocks. Moving over the top to the more sheltered Teneriffe trail, there is much more on the ground. Had we been coming up Teneriffe trail, I would have wanted microspikes, but going down, boots were just fine. We completed the loop using the lower portion of the Talus Loop, and were done in a little less than 4 hours. 

Trail conditions were good, especially for how much traffic Mount Si gets. Same goes for the Teneriffe connector trail. There was up to a foot of snow, but it only covered the path for the top 1.5 miles. Going up Teneriffe Mountain itself, it looked like snowshoes had been a smart choice. From there it was great conditions, just a couple small streams to step across. At the summit, the usual gray jays will try to steal your lunch, don't let them. It also turned into a lovely sunny day, with lots of snow glare across the top of the Mount Si and Mount Teneriffe connector trail.

In total, 9.2 miles and 3700 feet of total ascent, to a high of 4000 feet. 

Trail is in great condition and was pretty quiet on a Monday. We saw maybe 10 cars at the trailhead and passed very few hikers! There is a bit of mud in places, but the trail was snow-free. It was a great way to kick off the training for summer backpacking! The top of the mountain was in a cloud, so we didn’t get much of a view, but the drizzle turned to very light snow and created a mystic, moody ascent to the top. Beware of slick rocks, but today, it was not icy or snowy on the trail itself, just the lightest dusting of snow on the trees and trailside at the summit. Happy hiking!