On Friday (May 19), Jim and I met up with Mike at REI. Jim needed some new shoes (since we tossed his old tennis shoes after the biking disaster during our trip to Larrabee), and Mike needed to pick up something he had ordered online. While Jim was trying on shoes and I was trying to convince him to actually buy some, Mike was asking the REI pros about a good place to hike the next day. Without knowing what we were getting ourselves into, we took the suggestion of Mount Si, which was just a short 8 mile round trip hike.
So we took the 40 minute drive to the Snoqualmie valley on Saturday. As we got off the highway, we saw the mountain for the first time. I think Jim and I both almost died! We definitely didn't know what we were getting ourselves into!!
We met up with Mike at the trailhead (after spending a bit of time on the phone trying to figure out where we were going), and started our hike up, switchback after switchback, heading up and up and up. The elevation gain was a meere 3,500 feet for the 4 mile hike up the mountain! I don't think the trail flattened out once!! I was ready to turn back more than once, but continued pressing on. This was one hike that made it very clear to me how incredibly out of shape I am!
After hiking (and taking several breaks) for about 3 hours, we finally reached the top (or at least my top)! We ate the food we had packed with us while overlooking the beautiful valley. After eating, Jim and I sat around and tried to catch our breathe while Mike continued up what is called "the haystack", the final 200 foot ascent to the summit. I was too pooped (lazy) to climb the last little bit, but after seeing his amazing pictures of the view, I'm determined to get in better shape and make it back there!! (Please take a look at Mike and Marcie's blog to see the pictures....)
After taking 3 hours to hike up and an hour at the top (for Mike to climb the haystack), it took us less than an hour to make our way back to the car!! It was impossible to walk because it was so steep, so we ran half of the way!
Stay tuned for pictures and my climb to the actual summit! :-)
3 comments:
Mike keeps talking about the weekend with you guys! I am sorry I missed out - I would have been huffing and puffing up that mountain too - and I yelled at him for going up to the top!!
But the pictures he got at the top were AMAZING!! I wanna try to climb up there the next time we get out that way!
Hi Katie! I just wanted you to know I do have your blog link. :) I think it's cute that you two have your own blog! I'm gonna go look at your photos now...
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