Little Si

It's been quite a while since I last posted, but not quite as long since my last hike. Eric and I managed to get out before summer ended and return to the Old Sauk River Trail, the second hike we ever did in Washington, with our friends Cortney and Dave. We also brought along our daughter, Kaylee and it was her first ever hike!



Click for more of the adventure!


Yesterday on the radio, I learned of how our current weather patterns  were keeping the cold air close to the ground in the low elevations and causing this thick, pea soup fog that's been prevalent for the past couple of days. Now, I've been getting sick of this fog. We keep getting told that we'll have sunshine in the afternoon but it never burns off. Apparently, it's due to this inversion (we're also in a burn ban since the extra particles make the fog worse) Cliff Mass, a weather professor at University of Washington, said on NPR that if we could only get to higher elevations, we'd have the warmer blanket of air that's holding this cold air in place and not only that, it'd be sunny!

Those familiar with the Pacific Northwest know how elusive this strange nearby star is in the winter and suddenly I knew. I was not going to be without sun this weekend!

I told Eric that we were going hiking! And not only were we going hiking, we were going to do something with some climb to it!

So I knew that I needed a hike where we'd have some gain to get into the warm, sunny air that was hiding above the fog. Little Si, off of I-90 just west of Snoqualmie Pass fit the bill perfectly. We loaded the car and the kidlet up and set off in the morning. Fog carpeted the lowlands around our house, and it was near freezing. As we climbed into the low lying hills along the interstate, we began to see patches of sunlight, and then, near Snoqualmie Falls, it was suddenly gorgeous. The road had climbed enough that we were in sunlight! Then it dipped down into the fog again. We found our exit and then the trailhead.



The trail up Little Si starts the way it ends. Steeply. It pulls no punches as you hit the trail, switchbacking you ever higher as your thighs burn in protest.


My husband carried the kidlet in a front facing carrier, I had a spare carrier (my Ergo), the backpack with food, a spare diaper and water. It was the lighter load, but as my husband points out, I was carrying 6 more babies than he was :-)
The trail leveled out as we reached a saddle between two mountains. It was mostly flat, though the trail meandered over rolling hills, easy enough on their own, but enough to remind you of that ache in your thighs after the start of the trail. To one side, a mountain rose up, steep and covered in cedar. On the other, cliffs of stone rose straight up out of the ground, with boulder scattered in the saddle to remind you that even these cliffs can crumble with time. The cliffs here, on Little Si, attract rock climbers in the warmer months.

At the end of the easy part, the kidlet had had enough of being held by Dad, so we paused and let her play in the dirt on the forest floor. She had a ball. After that, I carried her in the Ergo and tried to nurse, but she was far too interested in seeing everything around us.
And of course, I started to carry her just as we began the next steep portion of the trail, the rise up the northern face of Little Si.

Now, the guide book described this part of the trail as the "gentler face" of Little Si. Gentler my ass. Gentler maybe only compared to the vertical cliff face we had been walking beneath. We scrambled over rocks, going straight up the mountain, there was little in the way of switchbacks now.

But as we crested the top, walking along the spine of the mountain, and the trees cleared out to display the view, it made the sweat and ache so worth it. We were far above the fog and the air was crisp, and around 50 deg F. It was positively balmy. The nearby peaks were displayed in sharp distinction and we could see snowy peaks in the distance.

 We sat at the peak for a while, eating lunch while the kidlet played in the dirt and rocks and we took pictures. She finally was willing to eat, then she got a diaper change and my husband took her for the descent. She promptly passed out. Fresh air will do that. ;-)
 Our trip back down the mountain was far speedier, we positively flew, making it back to the trailhead in one hour, compared to the 1.5 - 2 it took to get to the top. And now, I have that pleasant ache in my whole body that lets me know I did something amazing today. It feels so good.