Qualla: Mount Si

Mount Si: Introduction

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 3.0. If you watched television in the early 1990s, you know this mountain. Mount Si appeared in the opening credits of Twin Peaks, its distinctive rocky haystack summit looming over the fictional town that was actually North Bend, Washington. The show made the mountain famous, but locals had been climbing it for generations - the 4-mile trail gains 3,150 feet of elevation, making it Seattle's most accessible strenuous hike. On summer weekends, the trailhead parking fills before 8 AM. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people summit each year, making this humble peak one of the most-climbed mountains in the Cascades.

Read more: Mount Si on Qualla

Image: Steven Pavlov | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mount Si: Uncle Si's Mountain

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was Wac at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 1.0. The mountain takes its name from Josiah 'Uncle Si' Merritt, a homesteader who settled in the valley in the 1860s. Merritt was apparently quite a character - accounts describe him as the archetypal mountain man, bearded and colorful, the sort of figure who gets mountains named aft...

Read more: Mount Si on Qualla

Image: The original uploader was Wac at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 1.0

Mount Si: The Fallen Moon

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Steven Pavlov, CC BY-SA 4.0. To the Snoqualmie people, Mount Si carries a different story. In their tradition, the mountain is the fallen body of Moon - the paramount deity in Snoqualmie religion. According to the legend, Moon ordered a rope of cedar bark to be stretched between Earth and sky. Coyote and Blu...

Read more: Mount Si on Qualla

Image: Steven Pavlov | CC BY-SA 4.0

Mount Si: The Climb

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0. The trail is relentless but straightforward - four miles of steady switchbacks through second-growth forest, gaining elevation like a stairmaster set to cruel. Most hikers turn around at the summit ridge, satisfied with the views of the Snoqualmie Valley and the Olympics beyond. ...

Read more: Mount Si on Qualla

Image: User:Vmenkov | CC BY-SA 3.0

Mount Si: Volcanic Bones

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit brewbooks from near Seattle, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Mount Si is not a volcano - not anymore. The rocks are remnants of an oceanic plate volcano, heavily metamorphosed over millions of years, pushed up along the western margin of the Cascades. The metagabbro that forms the peak dates to the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary, when dinosa...

Read more: Mount Si on Qualla

Image: brewbooks from near Seattle, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0