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Name: Mt. Si Trail
Mount Si is one of the easier, more hospitable of the Northern Cascades to climb (relatively speaking, of course.). If you're really motivated, getting to the Haystack at the top is only about four miles...granted, it's four miles of some trails that seem to be darn near vertical...but it's got some of the most incredible views to be found. The summit is another two miles from the haystack, but it's advisable to go that far only with some mountaineering experience under your belt.
To get to Mt. Si from Seattle: Take the i-90 East, through Issiquah to exit #31 (approximately an hour from downtown). Follow the Mt. Si Road through town to where you cross the river, and veer right. In about 2 1/2 miles, there will be a mostly hidden 175-car parking lot on your right. Turn in, park, and find the trailhead. (Don't be fooled by the small, 30-car lot only a mile from the bridge -- it's a new trail and
is, for our purposes, the wrong one.)
The trailhead is straight ahead from the water pump (to clean your shoes after descent -- the trails are very muddy right now.), and has a sign closing it to foot traffic only. After a few hundred yards, on your right is a sign that marks the Mount Si Trail, 4 mi. Turn, and follow the trail.
Keep following the trail for close to two miles and nearly two thousand feet gained, past a gorgeous rocky overlook and a place to sit and rest. At the fork where you can follow either the Mt. Si Trail or the Creek, continue on the Si trail.
Once through the Snag Flats, an interpretive center/wooden walkway will appear as the path veers slightly to the left. Stop at the first informational sign and read about the great fire of 1910, then turn slightly to your left. There will be three large, cut logs just behind the sign, parallel to the path. One is standoffish and is apart from the others, and two of them are touching.
Behind these two, in the joint where the two "overlap", near to a small sapling and a white rock, under some bark -- the letterbox waits.
please also see the letterboxing USA site for all the regular disclaimers and waivers that you assume when you decide to go out looking for boxes. (blah blah blah, legalese saying that you know it's your own fault if you get bit by stuff, fall off a cliff, or if things aren't where they're supposed to be. That kind of thing.)
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