This trail is most certainly more than 2 miles round trip, the trail is badly overgrown and not followable in places take a good map and a compass or gps for the way back the lake made it all worth the trouble to get there.

Money Creek Road is rough and difficult in spots. Expect the 7.5 mile drive to take between 45-60 minutes. The trail was completely grown over and impassable. We abandoned our efforts and retreated back down the road to a small lake. There is a nice, short trail which winds around the lake.

Not exactly sure of date, but the Money Creek road was blocked with snow about a mile or two past the nasty slide area. Check first!

Drove to the head of Money Creek to this unofficial trailhead. The Money Creek road is in pretty good shape all the way to the end, a couple of rough spots where landslide debris was cleared - but should be passable to passenger cars. The route to Crater Lake seemed easier to follow this year, possibly more feet have trampled it down. Somewhat brushy, the first part was pretty wet due to the fog and mist that continued all day. There are a few big blow-downs on the way, but the route has been visibly trampled around them. There are some very steep sections of this trail, and very mucky-muck sections as it nears the lake. Probably not a good trail for the little ones. Crater Lake was quiet and peaceful in the fog.

route shown on: www.geocities.com/philspory/hikes.html Directions to the Mt Si. Secret Trail: Take the Mt Si Rd heading north. Immediately after you cross the bridge over the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River, take a left. There is a small parking lot on your left. Park there if you can. Walk down the road to the west, past some houses until you see the Little Si trailhead on your right. It's right next to a fence. If there is no room to park at the small parking lot, go back over the bridge and park somewhere along the road. Go up the trail from the Little Si trailhead. Eventually the trail levels off. You’ll see a short-cut path to your left with a sign to Little Si. Don’t take that. Later on you’ll see another path to the right, don’t take that either. Finally, you’ll see another path to the right that can be a little grown in and narrow at the beginning. The main trail will start heading a little down hill at this point. There is a bunch (not just one or two) small logs laid down in front of the grown-in trail. Take this grown-in trail and it will bring you to the top of Mt Si. The beginning is a little rocky, but the path gets real nice and smooth the higher up you go. At one point near the top, you’ll come close to the main trail, but you don’t have to join it at that point. If you stay on it, eventually you’ll come out on the main trail almost right at the top of Si. Very few people know about this ""secret trail"". I did not see a single person going up or coming down it. I prefer it to the populated regular trail. The secret trail is in great shape. The wildflowers are out on Mt Si, so this could be a good time to try it. From the Haystack basin on Mt Si there is a path that heads to the east. You can take this all the way to Mt Tenerrife. Today I decided to try to make it to Crater Lake, which is separated from Mt Si by a steep ridge. I was surprised at the relative ease of travel when traversing the forested west side of the ridge. There were no views at all until you get to the lake. I forgot my map (again), so it made this a little more adventurous. Things got a bit ugly as I descended to the lake outlet. I had to pass through several areas of devils club. Finally it turned into a major brush-fest right at the outlet. Once at the lake, I was rewarded by nice views of the lake and its crater bowl. I sat on a log in the sun in perfect solitude. The lake is very shallow and has a muddy bottom. I wonder if parts of it dry up by late summer. It appeared as though one might be able to easily walk across the northern end. Not much was growing in it. I would have expected a marsh for a lake so shallow. I was surprised to see a fish dart out from the outlet and head for deeper waters in the center. Even so, I doubt the fishing would be good here. I headed straight up to the ridge to point 4606. This was tough. Point 4606 would make a nice winter trip. I plan to return to this summit via the Mt Teneriffe logging road when the ridge is covered in about 10 feet of snow. It should make things a lot easier. The summit was a little meadowish and there was almost 360 degrees of views. One could only see a little of Rachor Lake from the summit. I didn't want to trample the meadow for a better look, so I headed down to the east. This took me over to the Teneriffe pass where there are good views of Rachor Lake. I took the logging road west and passed the small cabin which was occupied. There are great views of Rainier, Mailbox, Mt Washington, etc. here. There was a nice clear pool right by the road in the bright sunshine. It would probably make a great spot for a plunge when it heats up later in the summer.