Left Seattle for Mt. Si around 4:00 pm. After fighting the traffic out of town, I made it to the trailhead and began the hike. Surprisingly, there were very few cars at the trailhead. For most of the hike I was sheltered from the hot evening sun- as there is plenty of tree cover. Made it to the top of the Haystack in 2 hours. This was definately not a record time, but I was feeling the effects of a brutal soccer game the night before. The view was awesome- Rainier to the South and Seattle and the sound to the West. This is an excellent conditioning hike that is best done during midweek.

Boy Scout troop 294 from Vashon Island hiked up Mount Si and there were little puddles about 3 inches deep on the trail. We are ""Leave No Trace"" trained and knew what to do. We hiked right through them. The view was very good until a cloud moved in. There were many people on the trail. The snag flats were a very good place to stop to look at trees. They were pretty. :O)

It was raining at the trailhead. It was raining all the way up. It was raining at the summit. And it was raining on the way down. Still I encountered 50+ people on the trail on this rainy weekday. This well manacured DNR trail is in very good shape. The only problems I saw were lots of social trails cutting switchbacks that people (or at least the ones I saw) like to use on the way down. There was also a surprising amount of litter in the camping/picnicking area at the summit. At the top, the fog was so thick I could just barely make out the haystack. Underwear of the day: L.L. Bean.

(Old Trail) Clear of snow except for a very minor amount at the top. Little Si trail in good shape except for a few muddy stretches.

Yeah, I know... everybody's done Mt. Si. Well, Ihadn't done the old trail, and had to give it atry today. It rained the whole way up and down,except for snow for the last mile. The old trailis in pretty good shape. There were no blowdownsthat would impede progress. The only thing thatimpedes progress is steepness. Yup, only a dayafter Mailbox Peak, I tortured myself again. Ain'tlife fun'! ""No brain, no pain"". Anyway, there wasa couple feet of powder at the top, no view dueto instrument meteorlogical conditions except forthe wonderful snow cover on everything. It's thefirst time I've gotten to kick my own steps on Si.I'd give the old trail the nod for scenery and for *steepness* overthe new trail. BTW, I got lost finding the start,which was an interesting routefinding challengefor this bozo. Found a lot of new sidetrailsup there, though! Looks like some developed rockclimbing areas are established around there. [Online-Editor's note: I've never climbed Si myself. I'm saving it for myold age.]