Hiked up Teneriffe from school bus turnaround at the base. Logging road is well graded and in excellent shape. The spur to the Teneriffe summit from the logging road is extremely faint and overgrown. 3 of us made the summit in approx. 3 hours. The summit was socked-in for the entire 1/2 hour or so that we spent there; couldn't see Mt. Si at all, unfortunately. On the way down Teneriffe, we took the Mt. Si spur and summited it as well. We made it back to the truck approx. 7 1/2 hours, worn out. This hike is a fairly steep haul, steeper than the Mt. Si trail and much longer; not for beginners.

Started up Mt. Si at three in the afternoon and arrived at the Haystack at five after five to good clear views to the west, even the Space Needle was visible. While relaxing and enjoying the view I noticed a slow moving cloud coming in from the east, the cloud did not look particularly threatening but soon a few large drops of rain began to fall. So I packed up and started down, after about a quarter of a mile there was a flash followed a few seconds later by thunder. So I picked up my pace not wanting to be near the summit during a thunderstorm. After about a mile I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye followed immediately by the crash of thunder! The flash was down slope from my position so I began to jog down the Mt. After turning the next switch back I came up to a large old snag that was right beside the trail all blown to chunks and splinters. I found later the lighting had struck the snag about 50 feet in front of a couple of people. Luckly no one was hurt. So Mt. Si can be very Exciting!!!!! PS: the trail is in good shape.

NO SNOW!! Need I say more' there was absolutly no snow on or near the trail all the way to the clearing/rock garden near the top. I didn't go up to hay stack basin but there is probably one snowfield on the way there (there was last year in late May). The information in the most recent reports still holds true except there is NO SNOW!!

Getting there: Drive to the Little Si trailhead and park. The Trail: I only had five hours to climb something and get back to Bellevue (I had to be at work by 6:00). So I had to pick something relatively easy. I started at the Little Si trailhead around 12:45 pm following the Old Si trail up to the basin below the summit pinnacle. There was no snow on any of the trail but once on the traverse over to point 4560+’(this is the high point SSW of Crater Lake) the snow was continuous except for a few barren spots on the ridge (I never used snowshoes). Point 4560+’ has hundreds of little toppled trees on or near its summit. It’s logged to the top, with a couple of large dad snags near its summit. This peak has appropriately been named “Blowdown Peak”!! It was getting quite late at this particular juncture in the day and I didn't think that I would have enough time to go and climb point 4606’ (due east of Crater Lake and just west of Rachor Lake) dubbed ""Dixie Peak"". But its bald, semi-subalpiny summit beckoned so after thinking about it for about 5 minutes I decided to go for it. Staying either on the ridge or just a little below it to the south I followed its crest to the open summit of “Dixie Peak”. This is a very nice summit and its slightly lower northern summit is completely treeless and offers incredible views of the ""weyerhauser wasteland"". This peak is a hidden gem surrounded by old-growth trees and is a nice alternative to “Mt. Teneriffe”. On a microscale this is almost a wilderness experience, the bigger picture is a little different story! I was only able to soak up the views for a few minutes before I had to head down. For the descent I dropped to the Blowdown-Dixie saddle and then went cross-country back to the Mt. Si-Blowdown saddle. I was back to the car at 5:15 and in Bellevue at 5:56. The stats for the trip were around 4500 feet of gain with the ups and down & 11-12 miles in length. Take care kids, everyone’s favorite climbing kitty, Pilar.

Snow starts as you break out of the trees about 800' vertical from the mailbox. There's been some nice work on the mailbox, by the way, and a new register placed there just yesterday. Even though you hit snow, there isn't a lot and some of the boulders are free of snow. Most of the route above is clear of snow on the path. Perhaps in a few weeks the whole route (boulder route) will be bare. Snow starts on Si 1/4 mile from the summit area. Very icy from boots packing it down!