Mount Si is not considered a special hike by many. Many abhor the crowds, and today people were out in numbers. I like solitude in nature, but it’s inspiring to see so many people getting in touch with nature, getting exercise and feeling alive and touching the Earth.
I took the Old Trail up Mount Si, through Boulder Garden. I left the parking lot at 7am and was on top of the Haystack at 903am, where I found a sunny ledge out of the wind and admired the world below and all around for a while.
On the descent, I stopped at a switchback that over the years, has acquired a needless short cut. About a month ago, I started taking an interest in the spot. I spent about 30 minutes in late March hauling nearby logs and brush to fill in the spot and encourage people to hike around. But brash humans ignored my efforts and trampled new vegetation to bypass my attempts to reclaim the scarred earth for trees and shrubs.
So today (Earth Day!), I spent about an hour there and redoubled my efforts, chatting with passing hikers – one fellow said “good job, it looks like a beaver dam”, and monitoring traffic to make sure nobody attempted the shortcut. In the bigger picture, it’s a small gesture on a heavily used mountain, but little efforts and intentions go along way when the seeds of inspiration takes root.
