Get High On Si Hiking

Hiking

At 4,160-feet, Mount Si isn’t a Goliath among Cascades peaks. But the trail that heads’ up the craggy rock fortress that towers over the upper Snoqualmie Valley near North Bend is perhaps Washington’s most popular mountain trail.

Named for Josiah Merritt, a popular homesteader, Mount Si often is dubbed by Japanese tourists as “Twin Peaks,” after the canceled TV show that was set in the area. The multitudes who hike the steep, seemingly endless trail to the top wearily refer to it as “Mount Sigh.”

Next year, the state Department of Natural Resources will prepare a plan that seeks to manage intense recreational activity.

“It’s a mountain people love to climb and they have real strong feelings about it,” said Darcy McNamara, DNR conservation steward for the 8,019-acre Mount Si Natural Resource Conservation Area, created in 1987 by the state Legislature.

The DNR estimates that 30,000-50,000 people hike the Mount Si trail every year.

Day-hikers often come in droves to do the 8-mile hike to the top and back, including a punishing elevation gain of 3,100 feet. Rock-climbers scale its slopes. Hunters stalk deer on its more remote sides. A handful of anglers each year bushwhack into two lakes.

The mountain is home to 25-35 mountain goats as well as deer, bear, cougar, peregrine falcons and the ubiquitous gray jay or “camp robber.” On the mountain’s flanks grow 300 plant species, including two classified as sensitive.

Mount Si is the closest real mountain to the greater Seattle area. From downtown, you can be on the trail and hiking in less than an hour.

The DNR plan probably will call for new and better trails systems on the mountain. But there’s little money for new projects. Volunteers will be vital, officials say.