Monday July 28, 2003: Little Si
I have no idea what about the woods makes me so relentlessly cheerful.
Om my way to hikes, I am singing and chattering in the car. When i'm actually out in the woods, I'm terribly upbeat and usually have this grin plastered from ear to ear.
I think I just love the woods, is all.
This weekend, I wanted to do a relatively quick hike that was close to Seattle, easy to find, and without any surprises. And my thoughts turned again to Little Si.
Little Si was my first hike, back in May, and then it was a tough hike for me--testing my will to get to the top with switchbacks, slippery rocks, and roots galore. I figured I'd throw myself at the mountain again and see how well I did this time.
So on Sunday morning, Chris and I went back up the mountain.
The first chunk of dust and switchbacks was a bit tough, as usual--700 feet in a quarter mile is nothing to sneeze at, really. I was feeling it, as was Chris, but we persevered. After the switchbacks, the trail levels out quite a bit, traveling through forest on the way to the base of Little Si. Poor Chris was really feeling the accumulation of late nights he's been having lately, so I slowed down quite a bit for him, taking the trail at less than my usual leg-stretching pace.
We had the trail mostly to ourselves, and the night's chill had yet to leave the deep woods we were walking through. All was quiet except for the sound of our boots on the trail and the birds all around us, calling as the forest awoke for the day. (That last picture was taken by Chris.)
We wound around to the north side of the peak, and then commenced climbing the last 500 feet or so to the top. This was a pretty steep section of trail, but I was honestly not particularly feeling winded by it--breathing hard, but not gasping. We arrived at the top in what seemed like an incredibly short amount of time, and this time my camera had batteries in it so we got to take pictures of each other. RAR, I say!
We descended somewhat more slowly than we climbed, as Chris' knees were bothering him. The descent was made easier by the fact that the weather was dry--beware this rocky trail when it's wet! It gets very slippery when it's been raining or snowing. Everyone seems to show up at the mountain at between 9:30 and 10, so on the way down we passed groups of people who had children or dogs or both. We got there just at 8, and that's the time of day I'd recommend getting a start on this trail. Any later than about 8:45 and you'll find it difficult to feel any sort of solitude anywhere on the trail.
(Also, people tend to have their dogs unleashed on the trail. If loose dogs bother you, definitely go early--sunrise in the summer might be a good time of day.)
We finally got down back to the parking lot, sat and rested for a few minutes, and then zipped off to Fatburger in Redmond for lunch and then to Seattle so I could drop Chris off at samba rehearsal.
Total distance and elevation: five miles, 1200 feet.
I feel really good about the hike, overall. It's really let me know how far I've come in the past few months--a hike that seemed really hard in May seemed, well, kind of easy in July. I'm actually starting to get fit, my legs have gotten stronger, and I'm starting to notice various parts of my body that are changing in somewhat odd ways. (my shoulders, for instance: I can feel the bones in my shoulder now, which is very strange.) I was kind of pooped at the end, but perked right up after some food.
I do need to get some Gatorade powder so I can make some half-strength Gatorade for my hikes, though. After hiking for a few hours, I could probably stand to replace some of the salt that I sweat out.
I feel almost like a real hiker, now. "Five miles and 1200 feet? No sweat. When do we go up big Si?"
Om my way to hikes, I am singing and chattering in the car. When i'm actually out in the woods, I'm terribly upbeat and usually have this grin plastered from ear to ear.
I think I just love the woods, is all.
This weekend, I wanted to do a relatively quick hike that was close to Seattle, easy to find, and without any surprises. And my thoughts turned again to Little Si.
Little Si was my first hike, back in May, and then it was a tough hike for me--testing my will to get to the top with switchbacks, slippery rocks, and roots galore. I figured I'd throw myself at the mountain again and see how well I did this time.
So on Sunday morning, Chris and I went back up the mountain.
The first chunk of dust and switchbacks was a bit tough, as usual--700 feet in a quarter mile is nothing to sneeze at, really. I was feeling it, as was Chris, but we persevered. After the switchbacks, the trail levels out quite a bit, traveling through forest on the way to the base of Little Si. Poor Chris was really feeling the accumulation of late nights he's been having lately, so I slowed down quite a bit for him, taking the trail at less than my usual leg-stretching pace.
We had the trail mostly to ourselves, and the night's chill had yet to leave the deep woods we were walking through. All was quiet except for the sound of our boots on the trail and the birds all around us, calling as the forest awoke for the day. (That last picture was taken by Chris.)
We wound around to the north side of the peak, and then commenced climbing the last 500 feet or so to the top. This was a pretty steep section of trail, but I was honestly not particularly feeling winded by it--breathing hard, but not gasping. We arrived at the top in what seemed like an incredibly short amount of time, and this time my camera had batteries in it so we got to take pictures of each other. RAR, I say!
We descended somewhat more slowly than we climbed, as Chris' knees were bothering him. The descent was made easier by the fact that the weather was dry--beware this rocky trail when it's wet! It gets very slippery when it's been raining or snowing. Everyone seems to show up at the mountain at between 9:30 and 10, so on the way down we passed groups of people who had children or dogs or both. We got there just at 8, and that's the time of day I'd recommend getting a start on this trail. Any later than about 8:45 and you'll find it difficult to feel any sort of solitude anywhere on the trail.
(Also, people tend to have their dogs unleashed on the trail. If loose dogs bother you, definitely go early--sunrise in the summer might be a good time of day.)
We finally got down back to the parking lot, sat and rested for a few minutes, and then zipped off to Fatburger in Redmond for lunch and then to Seattle so I could drop Chris off at samba rehearsal.
Total distance and elevation: five miles, 1200 feet.
I feel really good about the hike, overall. It's really let me know how far I've come in the past few months--a hike that seemed really hard in May seemed, well, kind of easy in July. I'm actually starting to get fit, my legs have gotten stronger, and I'm starting to notice various parts of my body that are changing in somewhat odd ways. (my shoulders, for instance: I can feel the bones in my shoulder now, which is very strange.) I was kind of pooped at the end, but perked right up after some food.
I do need to get some Gatorade powder so I can make some half-strength Gatorade for my hikes, though. After hiking for a few hours, I could probably stand to replace some of the salt that I sweat out.
I feel almost like a real hiker, now. "Five miles and 1200 feet? No sweat. When do we go up big Si?"
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