Mount Si...

Due to routefinding error!

2 February 2011

C.J. with a friendly gray jay near the summit

The Talus Loop, accessed from the Mt Si Trailhead, was our goal for this sunny but cold day. Since the route was only 4.2 miles we didn't get on the trail until shortly after noon. Less than a mile up the Mt. Si trail C.J. spotted a trail coming in from the right and (rightly) guessed it was the Talus Loop. I thought that it might be but wanted to start the loop from the higher entrance so we continued up. At about 1.8 miles we found a fork marked "Talus Loop", but I pushed on to the Snag Flats interpretive area where a short boardwalk and some signage explained the old damage due to a 1910 forest fire. Thinking the upper entrance to the loop was still ahead, we pushed up the switchbacks. It wasn't until we had passed the 2.5 mile mark that I became convinced that we had missed our chance to get on the Talus Loop.

A passing hiker confirmed our situation but pointed out that we were almost to the 3-mile mark and that there was a good viewpoint at 3.5 miles. By now it was almost 2 p.m. so we took a break for lunch in a relatively sunny spot. So far it had been cold enough that the trail surface was frozen and ice crystals were poking out of the soil, and the east wind increased the chill factor. The view at 3.5 was to the E and SE and we could see that we were much higher than we had been on the Kamikaze Falls hike because we were looking down at Grouse Ridge. Since the summit was only a half mile farther, we started to break out of the forest by 3 p.m. and soon were in sunshine and warmer air with a view of North Bend and the valley (and the roof of our house glinting in the sun in the photo (left)).




After some additional lunch which we shared with the local gray jays, we scrambled to the base of the Haystack and then back around to the main trail.

By 3:40 we were on the way down. For most of the descent our pace was much faster than when coming up but the strain on our knees and the gathering darkness slowed us down. It wasn't completely dark when we reached the parking lot at 5:45 but we probably would have pulled out our headlamps if we had any farther to go. I hadn't expected to ever climb the 3200 ft ascent and 8 miles of Mt Si trail again, but we were glad that we missed the turnoff for the Talus Loop this time.