Today, CopMan and I hiked Little Si. It's the mountain in the bottom half of this picture:



Two sections follow: my pics, and a trail description from the Seattle PI. Enjoy.

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Incredible moss.



The view heading up, maybe at 200 feet of gain (east half:



West half:



Prayer flags at the halfway point:



Wondrous cool, thou woodland quiet:



Seriously Hobbit-y terrain:



Mt. Si (the infamous mountain from the TV show Twin Peaks) from Little Si:



Hey, we found the benchmark!

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It's 2.5 miles up, and 1200 feet. Only about half the difficulty and elevation of the hike I did on Tuesday (Ingalls Lake), but the weather was warm and that made it a tad tougher.

On the way up, we saw that someone had put up prayer flags over the memorial bench at the halfway mark. Very cool.

On the way down, my friend and I got off the regular trail, which is easy to do because there are so many places people scramble. He lost his eyeglasses that were hanging from the front of his shirt, and he went back to the top to search while I scrambled and looked where we had just been. I found them, and as hikers headed to the summit, I asked them to tell him I had found them. I got a chocolate malt out of the deal. :-)

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Trail Highlights from the Seattle PI article, December 12, 1996, by local hike guru Karen Sykes:

Hard-core hikers might think of Little Si as a desperation hike for the rare occasions when its larger counterpart, Mount Si, is under snow. And indeed, kingly Mount Si looming above is hiked year-round by mountaineers staying in shape for summer climbs.

At 1,576 feet, Little Si is not a lofty peak, but it does offer imposing cliffs that climbers practice on; mountain goats are sometimes seen around it and experienced scramblers know a couple different routes to its summit.

And in 1985, an army of volunteers led by Will Thompson built a new section of trail and improved sections of an old scramble route.

So now hikers tackle Little Si in the winter when the wind and/or rain seem a bit much for its popular counterpart above, or simply for a change of pace. And it makes a great hike around the holidays, being close to the city and offering a chance to get out in the weather and work off some calories.

Little Si is part of the Mount Si Natural Resources Conservation Area, managed by the state Department of Natural Resources and created to preserve the area's natural ecosystems.

Little Si is a real mountain and on a windy day it can feel like you're miles from nowhere, especially near the summit, which is mostly bald and exposed to the elements.

[Soon after beginning the hike] . . . turn left for the Little Si trail, and cross a bridge over a creek -- in spring this spot is lush with wildflowers. In December, most of the leaves are off the deciduous trees, and you can see a surprising number of holly trees mixed with the conifers.

The trail stays level until it reaches the base of Little Si and its astonishingly mossy walls. The trail winds around Little Si's base through a section of deep forest that is cold and dark. The breath of old glaciers lingers in these shadows and interspersed through the trees are boulders -- big as cars -- that plopped down and called it home a few centuries ago.

The trail winds around some more and then climbs the north side of the peak. Just before the trail starts to climb, if you look very closely into the trees, you'll see the ghost of a cabin, a dark and spooky place.

Bring plenty of warm clothing. It's often windy at the summit. You'll probably stay just long enough for a hot drink, to add a layer of clothing or take a hurried photo of your hiking partner on the summit.

Although this is an easy hike that the whole family can do, except perhaps small children, watch the kids on the summit. There are sheer drops and the rocky trail near the summit can be slippery on a wet day. Don't expect to have the place to yourself. Even on the worst days you're likely to find a few other people desperate to taste a climb when the high mountains are locked up in snow.