My wife Juanita and I wanted to go on a hike today up to Little Si, which sits in the shadow of it's bigger, more famous relative Mount Si. When we got to the trail head, however, we discovered lots of construction equipment and workers and signs saying that the Little Si trail was closed. We drove about a quarter mile back down the road to get information from the US Forest Service ranger, but the ranger there was useless, claiming that she knew nothing about the Little Si trail because "that's state land - they don't tell us anything."
We ended up at the Rattlesnake Ledge trail (FYI- maintained apparently by the City of Seattle even though it's out in the middle of nowhere because it's part of the Seattle Public Utilities watershed...) We hiked up the ridge through the mist and the slugs (which came in many colors) and the chipmunks (which didn't). At the top we had a view straight down at Rattlesnake Lake and clouds everywhere else. On the way back home we bought cherries. Check out these photos:
These are the signs that told us that the Little Si trail was closed.
Construction equipment at the Little Si trailhead
The ranger was not helpful here.
Many choices
Juanita
A black and yellow slug
Rattlesnake Ledge
Looking down from Rattlesnake Ledge at Rattlesnake Lake
Kids up on Rattlesnake Ledge
Cherry stand outside North Bend - Little Si is visible behind the red truck. Mt. Si is not visible behind the tree. It's much taller.
The West Tiger Trail #3 is approximately 3 miles long and gains 2000 feet. When you get to the top you have to turn around and come back down the same amount. The whole trip took me over three hours - I wasn't rushing - and on the way I saw a lot of people with dogs, little brown birds, a big yellow slug, and even a work crew clearing brush from the trail. There was also an old man with a lot of white, furry chest hair who ran the whole thing and made me feel weak and feeble.
