If I’m going to see a bear while hiking, I feel like this will be the place. Multiple bear chilling spots. Talk about dense forrest. At least in my book. Maybe all forests are dense? I mean, it’s trees galore on most hikes around here. But this one felt like there are waaay more trees and greenery, and forest stuff on the ground… downed trees, cut logs from when trees fell and blocked the trail, fallen branches, overgrown plants, loads of moss, large boulders and rocks, all standard forest stuff I suppose.
Dense forest. Or maybe just a forest?
More dense forest, with forest stuff (ha!). I got a new phone and have been experimenting with the zoom out option.
But no bears on the Talus Loop trail. It’s funny. I have this irrational fear I’m going to come upon a cougar one of these days. Either on my daily trail outings or on a hike. I think statistically, it’s more likely I’ll come upon a bear though. And even the chance of that is probably pretty minimal. I should be scared of bears as much as I am of cougars. But I’m not. Cougars seem like they’d be assholes, like I will attack you because I can. Cat mentality. Bears seem like they’d be more polite, like Oh, hey there, please leave me alone, I’m just over here being a bear. Wasn’t it Winnie the Pooh who didn’t want to be a bother? Maybe that’s where I’m making up this ridiculous bear personality.
Talus Loop is beautiful. It wasn’t the hike we wanted to do but it’s a hike I’m glad we did. The plan was to hike to Teneriffe Falls… until we found out the parking lot for that trailhead doesn’t open until 7am. We needed to start earlier. Early weekday morning hikes are the best. No crowds, ample parking, and cool weather. And I need to be home by 10am so Brian can do the work thing. We considered Poo Poo Point, but I’ve done that many times. I wanted something new. I downloaded the WTA hiking app and started searching…
The goal was to find something around five miles. There are so many options around here. But since Mt. Si is such a beautiful mountain, I narrowed my search there. I’ve hiked Little Si and Mt. Si is on my list with Karann (and longer than five miles), so Talus Loop it was. Side note: I recently read there are mountain goats on Mt. Si. I told Karann that my new goal is not to hike Mt. Si but to see a mountain goat while hiking Mt. Si. Sorry cougars and bears, you didn’t make the goal list.
Talus Loop starts out on the Mt. Si trail, before veering off to the right. At least that’s the direction we hiked. It is a loop; you could go the other way. I’d call it an easy hike. It goes up a bit but not an elevation killer on the legs or anything. The loop we took led us to a trail junction where you could hike to Teneriffe Falls. I briefly thought, let’s do this, until I realized time wasn’t on our side. We followed the Talus Loop up, even venturing off the trail without realizing this… we were hiking and chatting, and at a point where the trail switchbacks, we kept walking straight. Haha! It felt like the trail. Until we hit what didn’t feel like a trail. Because it wasn’t. We were on a narrow path that was fairly steep, with downed trees blocking the way. Luckily we have these modern-day devices that we both pulled out and opened the map app, clearly showing our little dot was off the trail. We turned around and a big duh! when we saw the switchback that we totally missed.
Talus Loop trail.
Back on the trail, we made our way to a lookout. The thing about hikes, I don’t like to know much going into them. Which is so not me. I don’t like surprises, I am a hardcore planner—I need to know what I’m doing and what comes next. I like expectations laid out. Except when I hike or go to musicals. Two completely unrelated things. The only need-to-know about hikes in my book is the mileage (and length for musicals). Everything else I like to be surprised. So when we came upon the lookout, I was pleasantly surprised. I take for granted that we live in such a gorgeous area. When I see it all day, every day—even from our backyard—I forget how green and beautiful the natural world is around here.
Approaching the lookout. Almost there.
Lookout views.
After snapping some pictures and taking in the view from the lookout, we made our way back to the Mt. Si trail, where the Talus Loop meets it from the other direction. The Mt. Si trail was starting to get busy, and by busy I think we passed maybe 10 hikers making their way up to the top? It was still early. I can only imagine how busy it gets as the day goes on, especially with everyone working from home these days. As we walked down, passing hikers walking up, I was still taking in the dense forest. Beautiful. And still no bears. Or cougars. Or mountain goats.
Massive downed tree on the trail. And a view of the Mt. Si trail heading up (where we headed down).
Nothing particularly special about Talus Loop, beautiful for sure. But anything forest is beautiful in my book. It’s a hike I’m glad I can add to my completed hike list. And a hike I can add to my kiddo-friendly hike list.
Pretty trees. And a pretty dead tree.
Trees galore. But it’s a forest, so of course there are trees galore.
Jumping Raccoons 