Although I had a pretty active summer, I wasn't able to squeeze in as much hiking as I would have liked. So a few weeks ago I decided to grab Dennis, one of my super-athletic buddies from the office, and head out for one last hike before the season is over for good.

 

Let me tell you, the Mt. Si Trail isn't known for being a beautiful climb -- dense forest for the entire way up obscures any semblance of a view until you reach the tippy-top. This close-to-town hike also isn't known for being a good place to "get away from the crowds" or "commune with nature" -- the parking lot is usually packed with Subarus and you're likely to encounter a couple dozen kids, dogs, trail runners, and other city-slicker-cum-hiker types along the way.

 

Luckily, Dennis happened to know of a secret back-door trail that gets to the summit but is extra steep and not widely known, so we had that route to ourselves except for one quick run-in with a mother/daughter hiking team that couldn't keep up with our pace (we OWN!). So it did end up being a really nice way to "get away from the crowds"... and now that I think about it, he was also able to get a wild bird to land on his outstretched index finger for a few seconds, and I guess you can't get much closer to "communing with nature" than that!

 

So it ended up being a pretty great hike anyway, and the 3,400 feet of elevation gain over 8 miles went a long way toward gettin' these legs in shape for the upcoming snowboarding season. With any luck, next time Dennis and I are on a mountain it will be covered with snow and we'll be flying down it on freshly-waxed boards!

 

- Jas