Winter isn’t necessarily the best time of the year to go hiking in Washington. It’s cold, wet, and sometimes there’s even snow on the trails closer to the city. But it also means there’s less (not none, just less) people out on the trails. After our last hike up Rattlesnake Ledge, Lori and I want something a little less icy, so we decide on Little Si. It’s 4.7 miles round trip with 1300ft elevation gain. Another great hike to ease into our Rainier training.

We arrive at the trailhead at 730am and there are only a few cars in the parking lot. In fact, we don’t see anyone for the majority of the trip up. In typical western Washington fashion, the rain beats down steadily. But we’re both true north westerners, born and bred. We can’t let the rain stop us, so we put on our rain jackets and start up.

The trail starts slightly steep, but flattens out for awhile before climbing again. I love how the fog and rain really make you feel like you are far away from civilization (really it’s maybe about 5 minutes).

One of the benefits of all this rain is it makes everything so green. About a half mile in, we come across a creek and stop to admire the lushness of our surroundings.

My favorite part of this hike is the rock slide area. It’s always so scenic, and those rocks are HUGE. Lori is around 5’10” and they dwarf her.

The trail is a bit muddy, but fortunately it’s ice free. We reach the summit of Little Si shortly after 9am and sit back to enjoy the views.

Haha! Just kidding, there are no views! Just the beautiful Seattle sunshine. But I still think it’s strangely pretty.

And of course we can’t forget our Rainier beer!

After a half hour of relaxing and soaking in our surroundings, we begin the trek back down. We go slowly as there are several slippery spots, and there’s no sliding down like last time. Several other hardy people are on their way up and I’m glad we got an early start. We get back down to the trailhead in one piece, just before 11. The rain has really started coming down now. I’m even more glad went when we did! We make it back just in the knick of time.