Mt. Si

Yesterday Lee and I hiked up Mt. Si. We had done a couple of lesser hikes in the last month or two, and even though Mt. Si is one of the most popular hikes in the Seattle area, it is longer and higher and tougher than anything we'd previously done. The trail up is four miles long with an elevation change of about 3500 feet.

It was a gorgeous, absolutely perfect day. We had previously heard that getting to the top of Mt. Si in two hours with a 40 pound pack is a good time to shoot for. Caroline did it last week in 1:58, but with no pack. We loaded our packs with about 20 pounds of stuff, including water, cameras, spare socks, etc., and left the parking lot at 7:51AM. We made it to the top at 9:45AM, giving us an elapsed time of 1:54. Not bad for a couple of guys twice Caroline's age!


The climb is certainly a good workout. I was concerned that my left ankle (which I strained playing volleyball a couple of weeks ago) might give me problems, and I was also concerned that my level of aerobic fitness would have me gasping and wheezing while Lee, my much older (57) hiking partner would leave me in the dust. My ankle held up fine, as did my heart and lungs. I certainly did sweat though. At one point about a mile from the top, I took off my pack to get a drink. When I put it back on, I realized the pack was soaking wet. I took it off again thinking I'd dumped my water in the pack. The water jug was fine. The sweat had soaked through my T-shirt, my shirt, and soaked the back of the pack!


The views of the Snoqualmie Valley and Mt. Rainier are spectacular!













You may have noticed several shots of Mr. Rainier in this and other posts. And you may be wondering why a couple of old boating farts like Lee and me are doing all these hikes. Did you think we were turning into a couple of earth muffins? Well, not actually. Lee, Caroline and I, and possibly one or two others plan on climbing Mt. Rainier sometime in August. Last night, over sausages and beer at Lee's place, we met River Joiner, a gnarly young man who has climbed Rainier 41 times, and who will be our guide.

Remember how I was bragging about our time of 1:54 up Mt. Si with 20 pound packs? River (isn't that a great name for a mountain guide!) deflated our egos by saying that we should be able to make it up there in an hour and a half, with a 50 pound pack! And just in the last few days, a local climber made it from Paradise (the common starting point for Rainier climbs) to the summit and back in 4:49! The typical elapsed time for a "normal" summit from there is three days, even though fitness freaks sometimes do it in one day. 4:49 is pretty much unbelievable to a recovering couch potato like me.

Here's a zoomed-in shot of Rainier. The route we'll be taking is on the other side of the mountain, so you can't see it from here. We'll be taking a slightly longer and less-traveled route up the mountain that should take us three days for the round trip. We'll have to buy, rent or borrow a bunch of gear to do this, and unfortunately there are no yaks or Sherpas on the mountain, so we'll have to haul it all up ourselves.

Our expedition is currently scheduled to start August 15th, or a week later if the weather is crappy. I will keep you posted.