Mt. Si Butt
Today I have a serious case of Mt. Si butt, a Seattle affliction that is caused by the 8 mile round-trip and 3,100 feet hike up our closest mountain. Always an energetic hike it’s both popular but not necessarily many peoples’ favourite. A contradiction? Well it’s close to Seattle and is a great workout. It also has the possibility of great views. It is a great tree walk for the first mile, only slightly uphill but a nice little bit of exercise. However it is harder the further you go, almost straight up at times, enclosed in (great) trees with little view and only pops out into the open after 3.9 miles of grind. And then the odds of seeing the great view are rather low (I have only seen the view once, in about 6 or 7 attempts).
My friend Paul loves this hike, however, and as he is visiting from the East Coast for Thanksgiving, wanted to hike, and the snowline was getting cheekily low so we hit Mt. Si yesterday. Great hike up, some lovely snow on top.
Danika hiked with us, but after the first 2 miles or so up and then meeting us at the top she was trail-running most of the time. Paul and I – about 90 minutes each way, Danika – 60. But Paul and I didn’t mind. There was time to chat about life, the problems with the world, his renewed love of Speed Metal (?) and time to look at the late afternoon sun coming through the trees.
Unfortunately we didn’t get the Seattle view at the top but then we had Mexican (I had beer and fish tacos) at Acapulco Fresh in Issaquah on the way back and then a party at friends’ later, so we didn’t care.
