Mt Si

Drove up to North Bend to do a good conditioning hike when the avy risk was considerable. This is an 8 mile round trip hike with 3,150 ft of elevation gain.
The trail starts in the forest and soon begins climbing up switchbacks.

 We encountered icy snow on the trail at about 1,600 ft of altitude and decided to wear microspikes to avoid slipping.

 About 1 to 1-1/2 miles further up the trail, the fresh snow was deep enough that we didn't need microspikes. The snow wasn't so deep that we wanted to use snowshoes.

 Closer to the top the trees were covered in both snow and frost.

 About 1/4 mile from the end of the trail is an open area with large boulders in a talus slope. We stopped here for a lunch break before continuing up. It was very cloudy when we arrived here.

 Many people stop here in the winter. so there are many squirrels and

 gray jays hanging out.

 We felt comfortable continuing on through the boulders as it was not icy today.

















We then hiked up to the end of the trail. Only one hiker had gone before us this morning, so we did a bit of post holing.

While we were up at the end of the trail, the clouds began to part and we had a partial view of North Bend far below.

The sun broke out of the clouds, to brighten the area around us.

 View of the Haystack atop of Mt Si

So pretty hiking in fresh snow.














There war some low views on the other side as we hiked back down.