Mt Si: Pre-Adams shakedown hike

Si was shrouded in midst before the hike.

Pre-hike snack

I began the hike with my favorite drugs: A greasily sweet QFC apple fritter, and some Mountain Dew to help me wake up. This was my last practice climb before Roger and I head for Mount Adams on Sunday. It wore me out. Roger thinks it demonstrated that I'm ready for Adams. Well, I may be, but I'll need a couple days to recover. When it was over, my feet and body were sore.

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 8 miles
Conditions: Morning mist, burnt away by sun; not too hot.
Load: 32 pounds 
Elevation gain: 3,150 feet 

Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 165.1 miles 
Elevation Gain: 51,470 feet 
Next Goal: 57,644 feet (fourth Rainier)

The photos that follow were sights seen along the way.

This cluster of mushrooms was situated on a chunk of wood along the trail.

A tree had sheared off, leaving this stump in the trail.

This stack of logs held the soil in place. It marked the 2-mile (half-way) mark along the trail.

Pinnacle Peak with John, Joan and 32 pounds

Maidenhair fern along the trail

My first hike after a week off in Mexico building houses. John and Joan hike slowly -- it took us two hours to reach Pinnacle Peak, a 0.9 mile hike. Another 90 minutes to return to the car. Slow. They were tired. I am to, the day afterward. It's going to be important for me to have a few more hikes, because my ascent of Mount Adams is looming. Photos follow:

My friend for 60 years, John Anderson, and Joan Tito, a more recently acquired friend.

"The Couple," two cedars joined at the hip, for life.

Columnar Basalt, just beneath the summit.

Next to the columnar basalt there was a fallen tree that upended a large stone, which remains atop the foot system like a large jewel on a hand.

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 1.8 miles
Conditions: Clear sky, warm
Load: 32 pounds 
Elevation gain: 1,000 feet 


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 157.1 miles 
Elevation Gain: 48,370 feet 
Next Goal: 57,644 feet (fourth Rainier)

Root knots from two giant fir trees

More Maidenhair ferns

And more Maidenhair ferns

A selfie, just because

Mount Si, rain, camp robber

After a day of drizzle, a sunbreak toward the end of the hike.

I was quite tired during and after the hike. It took more than four hours to reach the lookout, so we were hiking less than 1 mph. I was packing 32 pounds and feeling soreness in my hip joints and in my knees. I wore my mountain boots, which tested my feet, but didn't leave them in bad shape. The inserts are working in those boots as well.

A well woodpeckered tree beside the trail

Landmark: The "bannister" wetted by the misty, drizzly day

Love Bugs: Two millipedes romance it up a little bit, by all appearances.

Me, bundled up against the drizzle

Beside the path a moss-covered tree straddles a moss-covered nurse log.

Gentle light enriches the verdant scene.

Tall, rotting stump by trail

The big surprise of the day came when a camp robber flew right up to my face and grabbed a piece of salami I was holding in front of my mouth. I've never had one be so aggressive in the past. We were warned, however, by other hikers on the trail.

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 7.5 miles
Conditions: Overcast, drizzle
Load: 32 pounds 
Elevation gain: 3,100 feet 


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 155.3 miles 
Elevation Gain: 47,370 feet 
Next Goal: 57,644 feet (fourth Rainier)

Half vest on Tiger 3

A fallen leaf rests on moss covering a downed log.

This hike involved a short walk to the 1.1 mile mark on Tiger 3 from the parking lot, using my mountain boots, a backpack weighing 26 pounds, and a lightened weight vest weighing only 12 pounds. It's the first time I used a partial weight vest. The versatility of the vest made it possible to hike with a backpack loaded to tone up for the Mount Adams hike without overloading myself for this training hike.

The Bus Trail route

Moss covered trees at the no-horses gate near the trailhead

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 2.5 miles
Conditions: Clear skies, warm
Load: 38 pounds 
Elevation gain: 650 feet at least


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 147.8 miles xxx
Elevation Gain: 44,270 feet 
Next Goal: 57,644 feet (fourth Rainier)

McDonald Mountain: Exhaustion, a goat, and my third Rainier

The scene where I turned back: a skyline shows at top of hill. Elevation: 3,188 feet.

Map My Hike descent map: 4.4 miles indicated.

GPS Map software indicates elevation of 2,831 feet at this gate; we walked around on the foot path.

This hike is noteworthy. I turned back before the top because of a date I had to make, but Roger Matthews made it to the top and got acquainted with a mountain goat! The curious goat followed him and approached within 10 feet.

The case of the curious goat. Photo by Roger Matthews.

I'm not sorry I missed the sight. I was exhausted. I had packed 39 pounds on the hike (as measured back at home). Just before I had returned to the trailhead, I had totally drained my Platypus and my mouth was parched. I wetted it with a 12-ounce can of Mountain Dew, purchased at the Ravensdale Grocery a few miles down the road.

Here's another sight I missed by not staying the course:

At the summit, Mount Rainier loomed in the background. Photo by Roger Matthews.

I measured elevations during the descent and was surprised at how quickly the numbers decreased, indicating that the hike was steeper at places than it appeared.

Here are some figures, from my highest point down:

• 3,188 feet -- point at which I turned back
• 3,148 --  Latitude: 47.33882; Longitude: -121.85801. I had just started descending and had only got a short distance;  the change in elevation  caught my attention.
• 2,831 -- blue gate at which we made our final climb; we walked around the gate.
• 2,240 -- lower blue gate, which was open
• 1,515 -- the point at which the descent narrowed from almost a road to a one-person path
• 905 -- the trailhead where cars parked
• 885 -- elevation at which I parked the Fit.

My statistics indicate that I actually ascended 2,303 feet, but I compared my figures indicated by my GPS application to Map My Hike figures and applied a more conservative assessment.

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 8.8 miles
Conditions: Clear skies, warm
Load: 39 pounds -- at least!
Elevation gain: 2,260 feet


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 145.3 miles
Elevation Gain: 43,620 feet -- my third Rainier!
Next Goal: 57,644 feet (fourth Rainier)

City Hike, 6 miles 38 pounds

Nothing special. Walked past Seattle Center to join a friend for happy hour snacks, then walked back. Wore weight vest and 18 pound backpack. No sleeves. A vest over the weight vest. Made approximately 3 mph outward bound. Probably 2.5 mph coming back. I'm tired, but not sore. Feet feel fine.

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 6 miles
Conditions: Clear skies, warm
Load: barely 38 pounds
Elevation gain: 250 feet


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 136.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 41,360 feet
Next Goal: 43,233 feet (third Rainier)

First summit of Mt. Si in 2019; map of Mt. Si trails

A tree had fallen over the trail and park maintenance sectioned the pieces.

Finally, I summited Mount Si. It is only a little more than a month until Roger Matthews and I will be taking a run at Mount Adams. Roger plodded at slightly under a mile an hour, but he was pleased that he made it, and is confident that one last climb of Adams is within his reach.

I carried very little -- only 10 pounds at most in a backpack. I treated this as a toning hike, but not a conditioning hikes. Those will follow. What I wanted from Mount Si today was the sense that I could go the distance.

I took altitude measures at specific landmarks, using my GPS software:
3,740 feet elevation at the lookout near the summit
3,444 feet at the 3.5 mile marker
2,559 feet at the "hitching rack"
2,326 feet at the two-mile notch marker in a tree near a switchback
1,673 feet at the "snack bar"
1,548 at the link-up for the Douglas Fir Trail
587 feet at the trailhead.

Trillium, near summit

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 8 miles
Conditions: Clear skies, cool and warm, depending
Load: barely 10 pounds
Elevation gain: 3,150 feet


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 130.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 41,110 feet
Next Goal: 43,233 feet (third Rainier)

Trails on Mount Si

Today's route (Map My Hike)

A rotting tree stump

Rattlesnake landmarks and the tango tree

On Friday, May 3, Roger Matthews and I climbed Rattlesnake Ledge and I took the opportunity to name some landmarks.

Roger and his dog, Tucker, take a break on "the bus stop," a log-made bench by the trail.

"The Eunuch"

Statistics for the day:
Distance: 4 miles
Conditions: Clear skies, cool
Load: 28 pounds 
Elevation gain: 1,160 feet


Statistics, year to date:
Distance: 130.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 37,960 feet
Next Goal: 43,233 feet (third Rainier)

The bend in the rock affords privacy, hence I called this "the pissoire" after the French toilet.

We named "The Hall Monitor" in a previous post.

There are two bridges like this on the trail; this is the "Upper Bridge."

This tree slopes like a "Tango Dancer."

No landmark name; just a fine example of roots encircling a nurse log

Another nurse log example.