Quarter Mount Si - First Attempt
The day started like most others - waking up late. Cara and I had plans to attack Mount Si all week and I was very excited to get after it, although apparently not excited enough to actually get up at 7. The whole hike is about maybe a 5-6 hour affair with the snow, and that's about all the sunlight you get this part of the world this time of the year. Nevertheless, we got our things packed up and we were out the door! We greeted our new car with enthusiasm as this would not only be our first trip together in the new car, but our first trip together on our own. Cara and I had been on a few adventures outside the city so far, but always with someone else by happenstance.
I was a little surprised to find out how short the drive was to North Bend: the small town that sort of acts as the gateway to the mountains on the main highway out of Seattle. It's a cute little town without much to offer than an Ace Hardware (thank God, more on this later), an astounding bakery, a drive-through cafe paramount to the region, and a traffic light. Oh, I almost forgot. It also has this view:
Who would have thought this small paradise was less than an hours drive from where we live in one of the biggest cities in the country? We bought the new car hoping it would open up a whole new world to us, and I couldn't be happier with the decision. In North Bend we got each got ourselves a pastry, mine of a more meat-egg-and-cheese variety than Cara's, and we wasted no time getting out to the trailhead. We crossed lightly flooded mountain roads and passed trees and farmhouses to find ourselves at a deeply pockmarked gravel parking lot with a small sign out in front.
"Discovery Pass required." Great. Back to town we go!
At this rate, I thought we were never going to get into the park. Now I was getting stressed. It's no secret that I can be a stressed person, quick to worry, and it wasn't helping that I have been really struggling with some of the demands of my new job. Additionally, just the day before I had a truly strange experience where someone mocked me in the gym. I actually thought that was only something that happened in movies about High School. Not only had I never experienced that or seen it before, I had never even heard of that happening in real life. Including my time in actual high school. Needless to say, I had worries to give to the mountain and I wasn't pleased about the detour although admittedly it had come at a good time. Let's just say the next time we went to North Bend I passed on the meat-egg-and-cheese pastry which seemed like such a good idea at the time.
So we found our way back to Ace and purchased a Discovery Pass. It turns out that Ace seems to be the only place for miles that has one so, as I mentioned before, thank GOD for Ace Hardware in North Bend! For their state-permitting desk and their bathroom.
Fast forward a bit and we are finally back at the pockmarked gravel parking lot we had just discovered (get it?) less than an hour before, ready to start our major hike at approximately 11:30 am. We have learned a lot about this region from living out here, including stuff we previously had believed from stereotypes and secondhand stories. Today the cliche we confirmed was that people in the Pacific Northwest love the outdoors, and that they will get up early to beat you to the trailhead parking lot. It was absolutely packed, so we and a few other stragglers had to invent our own parking spots. This drew some unwanted attention from an unfriendly hiker who had the misfortune to show up seconds after we did and failed to have the same creativity in parking science that we exhibited. Regardless, we were finally on the trail!
It was an absolutely perfect day! No rain, barely a cloud in the sky, and the classic mist of the Cascades fluttered down and across the stony, wooden faces of the hillsides around us. Towering trees, wise beyond our understanding, looked down at us with solemn interest as we traipsed up the mountainside through mud and babbling creeks about 2-3 inches deep we would occasionally need to ford.
We reached a vital fork in the road after about an hour and a half up the hill - do we try to continue on to the top and see if our current equipment would get us up the icy slopes, or do we take the scenic Talus Loop Trail? At this point it was about 1pm, so we estimated we only had about 3 more hours of good hiking conditions and sunlight. That would get us to the top, but it would lead to a harrowing journey down so we opted to cross the little stream in the gallery above and take the shorter path. It was not meant to be today, we knew that when we woke up 2 hours late for our big adventure. Regardless, we were about to be blessed with two gifts: finally a level-ish surface to walk on for me and an expansive view to the south.
We paused a moment to sit and reflect. It is not often life presents you with the opportunity to sit peacefully with nature and your loved one in such a beautiful place. Perhaps as Minnesotans we are more used to it than others, but it came as such a relief. Reluctantly, we started our descent. The thing to know about the trails around here is that they are not quite as well-marked or neatly-groomed as a the ones in Minnesota state parks. Additionally, they are almost all equipped with the unique feature of switchbacks which can lead un unwary mountaineer to stray. And stray we did!
At one point Cara and I ventured off the trail, shooting off a switchback without ever noticing the real trail. Instead, we followed what appeared to be the trail, worn into the side of the hill going straight out and across the hill instead of down. We probably walked about 10 minutes before we realized there was no longer a trail. Looking down the hill about 50 yards, though, we could clearly see trail we had missed. How did that happen?? Instead of turning around we scampered down the hill to get to the trail since it appeared to be an easy descent. Once we got down, we had to go back up the trail a bit to see what we had done wrong.
In any case, it a was a short delay that taught us a good lesson. There are no ultra-basic hikes out here and we are unfamiliar with the terrain so we had better start bringing more supplies on these hikes just in case. A little bit further down the trail, we stopped for a moment for Cara to read a poem from her favorite poet, Mary Oliver under the renewed glow of a piercing afternoon sun.
Up next we encountered another stream. In retrospect, it might have been the one we crossed earlier, but Cara was not very lucky this time around and she accidentally crested her boots! Still, it was a beautiful scene that someone of a more privileged vertical upbringing was able to easily cross.
There are no ultra-basic hikes out here and we are unfamiliar with the terrain
When we finally got back to our car, we found that apparently we were trendsetters and that about 50 other cars also invented their own spots. That certainly made me feel better about the unpleasant interaction we had in the parking lot earlier. Having given a weeks worth of anxieties to the mountain, it was time to go home.
Next time, we will reach the top of the mountain. In fact, I plan on scouting out every inch of that mountain while we are still in hiking distance. Every day starts and ends the same. It's what you put in-between that makes the day count. Much like this blog post.
