Clara has climbed mountains, camped in the snow, seen goats and elk and bears, and logged more miles on the trail than many of my friends. In the eyes of the locals, though, she wasn't really a hiker. She hadn't climbed Mt. Si.
Mt. Si is our local mountain. It's not one of my favorites. However, as the mountain that towers 3,000 feet above town it's no wonder all the kids at school look upon it as a major accomplishment. Although Clara's done much harder, more epic trips she felt like she needed to climb Mt. Si. And as the dad, I had to, too.
Since Mt. Si is so close to Seattle and so popular we went early in lousy weather. Not that lousy weather is hard to find, but if we're going to check off Mt. Si we might as well do it in the rain and snow. Most of the hike is trudging up the hill in the dark. The day slowly drives out the night and the snow gets deeper.
Hurray! Clara's climbed Mt. Si and we even made it down in time to get donuts before they were too picked over. I doubt we'll be back up there any time soon. Next time she feels peer pressure to climb something it'll probably be Mailbox Peak. That will be almost as much fun.
