Getting there: Exit, 38 I-90 , yaddy, yaddy, yadda, we all know where it is! Little Si is across the highway in the Alpine Lakes region. The trail: I've up most of the peaks along the I-90 corridor except Mt. Washington & Little Si so I figured I'd knock them both off today, despite the ""drizzly"" outlook. I spent all day Saturday moving ""puregold"" and his family to their new pad in Lake Stevens so I had to make the most of what was left of the weekend on Sunday. I started up the trail around 10:00 following a well marked snowshoe route which began right from the start. It looked as though it may be an easy day following the ""big prints"" in the soft, wet heavy snow. Well the big fun was short lived and after arriving in the first open basin they ceased to exist. I was sure that somebody had made it to the top this weekend, but no such luck. I didn't have my snowshoes so I slogged on alone in the newly fallen ""wet podwer'"" I arrived at the summit after 2 hrs. and 45 min, I was cold but it wasn't all that windy. I snarfed a couple of kitty snacks gulped down some pineapple juice and began the downward slog. I arrived back at the old Tercel five hours after I started. From here I jetted across the highway and ran up ""Little Si"" with a horrific migraine headache. There were a few people on this trail (which is a bit muddy in places) but had complete solitude at the top! Well take care! See ya on the trail, Pilar.

The trail is just off Exit 38 of I-90. Doesn't quite seem likethe South Cascades, but what the hey...We slogged up the trail, hitting the first snowat about 2500'. By 3000' it was steady snow exceptwhere the streams decide to encroach on ourgreat trail system. No matter, that's what GorpHex is for, right' We slogged up some nice deeppowder to the summit, where the winds were hangingout. The way down was a bit tricky, with lots ofdeep plunging steps when you least expected them.It was a blast though!

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 1998 - MT. WASHINGTON The ground was frozen solid at home, so I couldn't plant trees on the property. Too bad! Gary had a pair of new snowshoes that needed breaking in also.....hmmmm...so off we went! We left Fall City around 9:30am knowing the east wind would be trying to knock us on our behinds - it was blowing a good 30-40 MPH right there at home. But a little wind and temperatures in the low 20s wasn't going to halt this long planned day. We headed out I-90 to exit 38 east of North Bend and parked up in the gravel lot that serves the east end of Ollalie State Park and Iron Horse State Park access. The snow was about 4-6"" deep here, but one will never know as the blasting winds howling out of the I-90 corridor simply was blowing the snow to the Olympics, I figured. After strategically parking the Yukon so that the back doors would be downwind and protected by the rest of the vehicle, we bravely jumped out and quickly began piling on the multiple layers of warmth to protect us for the trek up Mt. Washington. The starting elevation is around 1200' I estimate -- good directions for all of this can be found in ""Hiking the Mountains to Sound Greenway"" by Manning. Having the Gore-Tex on last for wind protection, snowshoes strapped on our packs, and chap stick plastered on the lips, we hiked on up. As advertised, the trail heads sound up off the Iron Horse State Park railroad grade walk about 500' past the junction of the trail that goes down to Twin Fall State Park. We headed off and up up up that first mile or so on nice firm snow. At the same time as when we left the RR grade, the snow started falling from above as well. By the time we reached the first fascinating wall of ice hanging off a cliff, it was snowing pigs 'n' chickens out. But we were out of the main winds by now and simply enjoyed things that much more! After going across the one creek crossing, we strapped on the snowshoes and continued on up the steepening trail. We continued on until we got to what appeared to be the Owl Hike Spot level area where things split into a couple of directions. Due to the heavy snow falling, the views didn't exist, and we figured this was a good turn around point after a brief break for water and food. Up here the snow was wonderful, dry, and 3-4' deep. After the necessary photos of Gary's frozen hair and my snow-plastered frozen wool cap, we had a blast heading down the steep slope in the deep snow - the snowshoes performed very well. Many photography delays later (due to remarkable ice formations on the cliffs due to the bitter cold previous week) we returned from our isolated trek back to the trailhead. By the time we removed the outer layers of clothing, removed the gaiters, the boots, and spent 30 seconds exposed just in our damp under-layers, we were ready for some HEAT! It was in the teens and the wind wasn't letting up. At this point in time, only one thing could warm us up: the infamous double-cardiac bacon cheese burger and fries/jo-jo potatoes at Scott's Dairy Freeze in North Bend. However, we just couldn't get ourselves to down a cold vanilla malt as we usually do. Guess we need to down two of them next time! After successfully accepting that mission, we headed on back home to long hot showers. It was a perfect winter day out enjoying solitude on a local mountain. Happy snowshoeing!

Mount Washington was chosen as a close-in alternative to Mount Si with its hordes of people or Mailbox Peak with its quad-burning steepness. Follow I-90 east to exit 38; turn right; cross the river; and turn right again on an unmarked road to the Olallie State Park TH (47 deg. 26.552 min. N; 121 deg. 40.233 min. W; elev 1200). OK, you caught me playing with my GPS receiver. A trail heads up and west to an old railroad grade. Continue west until the road slopes down a bit. Turn left at the sign ""MT WA TRAIL"" located high in a tree. At the 1800 foot level (about 30 min. from the car) is a small cave on your right. Look at all the climbing bolts and wonder what sort of ""spider-person"" could use them. Continue up to 2600 feet and another trail junction marked left to rock and right to the trail. Many of the rock faces along this section also had climbing bolts placed in high places. At the 2900 foot mark is a flat spot with another fork. Look for 2 soccer ball sized rocks and several tree blazes. We took the left fork although I believe that both forks will get you there. The left fork has been recently brushed. If the snow line is low, some of this section may be a little dicey. Sorry, no GPS waypoints for the last three forks. Continue up to the 3500 foot level to a road (47 deg. 26.039 min. N; 121 deg. 40.965 min W). Turn left on this road and in .5 mile come to a x-shaped intersection. Go straight across this intersection to the uphill leg (47 deg. 25.923 min. N; 121 deg. 40.670 min. W.). Follow this road aroung a knoll and across a ridge. The summit is again in sight to your right. At the end of the ridge is yet another fork in the road (47 deg. 25.176 min. N; 121 deg. 41.501 min. W.). The distance to this waypoint is about 2.0 miles. Take the hairpin right turn along another ridge line road. In 0.5 miles reach the last fork (47 deg. 25.394 min. N; 121 deg. 41.897 min. W.). Take the middle fork which is a boot path up the spine of the ridge. The summit has a small weather station or something there. If you are experiencing horizontal ice pellets like we did, continue along the ridge for another 200 yards to a well protected lunch spot at the very end of the ridge line.