The Path More Travelled

So Saturday we decided to hike Mt Si. I have always resisted Si because it is known to be so busy and with just 3200 ft of elevation in just under 4 miles it isn't much of a training hike. We tend towards hikes with 1000 ft per mile.

With Mt St Helens next weekend we decided to take it easy with a hike that allowed us to get some other stuff done so Si it was.

We hit the trail at 7:31 and I arrived at the top 3.9 miles later at 9:12 with Pam following at 9:28. We were greeted by a nice view and hung around for some other friends who were not in it for the race to the top like we were.

On the way down Pam and I decided, for yucks and giggles purposes, to count hikers on the way up. The total was 437! In 3.9 miles down there were more than 400 people coming up - WOW! We had no problems with traffic jams on the way down or anything, but it was really unnerving that there was a constant flow of people.

The parking lot was overflowing and there were cars parked quite a ways down the road from the parking lot as well. It is more often the case on our hikes that there is less than 10 cars when we return and often none when we arrive so Si is truly a different sort of animal.

This week is Mt St Helens prep. We are hoping for a good weather window for Sunday 5-27 for our climb.

More soon....