After the difficult hike on Sunday with Derek I did Little Si today, including the Boulder Garden Loop. It was about 5.4 miles and a bit less than 2K elevation gain (lots of ups and downs), a good workout and, of course, lots of fun.
I usually avoid this hike because of the crowds but I figured if I went early on a weekday it wouldn’t be so bad. I did see maybe a dozen people on the way down but, having started at headlamp time, I was ahead of the throngs. It is a nice hike because it divides naturally into distinct sections.
The first .3 miles, right out of the lot, is steep. At that point I took the Boulder Garden side trail (and this is the trail that leads to the Old Si trail) and that trail is moderately steep for about a mile; if then goes down very steeply for .5 mile. I have taken it in the opposite direction a couple of times to get the extra-steep ‘up’ mileage in but today I settled for moderately steep up and steep going down.
At the end of the Boulder Garden Loop you are back on the Little Si trail and it is not steep at all for almost a mile. But the last .4 or so is steep again until you come to the top, and the nice views, as above and like this, a view of Rattlesnake Mountain:
Just below the summit of Little Si is a view point, looking up at Mount Si:
The track:
