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Little Si in the Rain

We decided to go hiking this morning, since you might as well go outdoors if you’re going to live in Washington State. Plus who knows how long we will be in the Northwest, so we figured we might as well take advantage of being out here. After riffling through a guidebook, we settled on Little Si, a two-three hour hike 30 miles outside the city.

Starting out in the rain. Starting out in the rain.

It was raining, or “misting” as they say here. The forecast is often mist, which incidentally is also the German word for “damn”. Also, I forgot my good camera at home, so these are from my droid phone, or “zoid” as Dad says.

The hike was great – a steep climb to a path between Little Si and its much larger sibling, Mount Si (for experienced hikers). It was unlike any other hikes I have taken. The forest was almost all pine, and moss grew from the trees. After living in VA and the midwest, I was shocked when we came up the high cliffs that rock climbers use. They were far craggier and more mountain than anything I’ve seen back east.

Avalanche! Avalanche!

The trek to the summit was pretty intense, at least for me. Dogs and children were doing fine, but me, I was pretty out of breath. I definitely need to get acclimated to hills again.

Mount Si across the way. And many, many pine trees. Mount Si across the way. And many, many pine trees.

After crawling up the rocks, we finally made it. Along with two golden retrievers, a poodle, and a white fluffy dog-thing. All of which were about 3x more fit than myself.

The valley we walked up from The valley we walked up from

It was a successful trip. We celebrated by going to Petco to buy cat litter. What a day!