Big Si, New Trail

Big pot holes (as reported by others) in the Big Si parking lot. Even with the Crosstrek that has higher clearance (selected years ago for precisely this reason), I took it extremely slow – especially since I’m notoriously bad at avoiding pot holes. Respect to whoever managed to get their regular sedans through that! Good weather was forecasted, so I arrived a little after 7am and found plenty of parking. I started out at 7:30am with a 26lb pack.

I was curious to see how trail conditions had changed since the last reports I’d seen from February 1st. It was impressively snow free for most of the trail. Some slushy snow started half a mile or so from the top but sustained, packed snow/ice appeared where the new and old trail meet. I managed to pick my way to the top with just my hiking boots and poles by 9:20am.

Snow was very icy at the top, but air was mild and even the packed snow section was melting fast under my traction on the way down. Parking lot was packed when I returned to my car.

1 hour 50 minutes up, 1 hour 30 minutes down

NOTE: I didn’t do the haystack portion.