Mount Si snow hike

At the trailhead -- snow already!

I didn't get enough sleep last night, and it was a bit of a slog up Mount Si. I didn't come close to reaching the top. After 3.5 hours I still had an hour to go, and I decided to turn back -- a good decision, because one of my Yak Trax failed on the way back and I had to finish the hike with traction on only one boot. It's not clear where I turned around. My Map My Hike map wasn't precise enough to pick out how far I had actually gone. However, I was well past the two-mile mark, and Map My Hike listed the distance at 2.3 miles back to the car when I turned around, so I'm going to claim 4.6 miles round trip. And I think it's safe to say a 2,000-foot elevation gain, the equivalent of climbing Tiger 3. I'll go with that, believing I did far better.

This is how a lot of the trail looked. Some parts were slushy and slippery and I fell 2-3 times.

This was the first time I saw this woodshed, house and a truck above the trail near the trailhead.

The one-mile marker

The "snack bar." About one-third of the way to the top, and a place where I would stop for a snack.

I always think of these as hitching posts along the trail. I'm past the two-mile mark.

Toward the end of the trail descending, these stumps reminded me of the Pillars of Hercules.

Statistics for the day:

Distance: 4.6 miles
Elevation gain:  2,000 feet. 
Location: Mount Si.
Conditions: Cold; packed snow, ice, slush, clear ground; overcast and a light snow starting to fall by 2 p.m. 
Load: Probably 16 pounds

Statistics, year to date:

Distance: 38.7 miles

Elevation gain:12,570 feet