Since I live in a city, most of my training runs in last few years have been on flat city roads. This meant that I was neglecting hill/trail training and was trying to compensate for it with more city miles. This strategy has been sufficient for most 50M and 100K races, but 100M trail races are completely different beasts! After struggling to consistently finish 100M races, I knew that I needed to take my training to a new level to break into 100M club, and found Mount Si Trail as an ideal training ground after talking to few local trail runners.
Mount Si is a very popular trail in the Greater Seattle area with estimated 100,000 people hiking the trail every year. Heavy green vegetation covers the trail initially, but this is quickly replaced by dense fir and soaring trees that seem to have been around for ages. At the peak, there's panoramic view of Snoqualmie Valley and Seattle that you can enjoy silently in peace if you are lucky enough to have reached it before the crowd.
Its beauty, proximity to Seattle and (just enough) toughness (3,500ft of elevation gain in just under 4 miles) all but guarantee that the trail will be full of hikers and runners on most spring and summer weekends.
Oh, it's also dog friendly so you can bring your friend with you for his/her exercise run too. Here's Chesty pacing me on one of my runs.
The trail starts with a gradual climb as soon as you leave the trailhead. In about 0.7 miles, there's a split in the trail to Mount Si Trail (left) or Talus Trail (right). Following Mount Si,
the trail continues to climb and little less than a mile it converges once again with Talus Trail: again, left to Mount Si and right to Talus. The trail continues climb until it briefly flattens at Snag Flat. The trail is semi-technical, with pointy rocks, tree roots and slippery rock steps, until Snag Flat. Afterward, it gets less technical but steeper.
Switchbacks and climb continue and after another 1.5 miles, there's a momentarily pause in tree line to provide a brief glimpse of a distant mountain. Another 0.5 mile climb, there's a signpost for Mount Si peak, which is about couple mins hike up through rock steps.
Once at the peak, there's a nice view of Snoqualmie Valley and depending on the season, you'll likely see one of two views:
For those who are more adventurous, climbing up through boulder rocks to the left will yield other spectacular views of Mount Rainier, Mount Olympus and Seattle and reveal Haystack, true Mount Si's peak. Haystack looks tempting but I haven't had the nerve to climb it yet so let me know in the Comments if you did - you can give me some tips on climbing that peak.
Going back down to the trailhead is much easier than climbing up. Near the peak, the trail is usually technical and muddy due to rain and/or snow during wet seasons but it turns into a runnable dirt path after a short while. A great section to workout the quads! After Snag Flat, the trail gets more technical but still runnable.
If you are visiting the Greater Seattle area, or live nearby, I highly recommend Mount Si Trail as a trail running/hiking destination. The trail is a great example of a rugged mountain beauty that the Pacific Northwest offers. On the trail, you'll wonder how a place like this could exist just 30 minutes from downtown Seattle.
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