Trailhead Direct ends -- Mt Si crossover loop

Last day of Trailhead Direct -- let's do Mt Si...but with a (literal) twist. We'll start from the Mt Si trailhead, but when we get to the lower end of the Talus Loop, we'll cut over to the Mt Teneriffe new trail, continue up, and cross over to Mt Si on the Si-Teneriffe connector. We'll stop at our favorite rock pile lunch spot -- weather forecasts haven't settled yet, but we'll hope for a view of Rainier. Then we'll start down the Mt Si new trail, but when we get to the upper Talus Loop, we'll cross over to the Mt Teneriffe new trail, and take that down to the Mt Teneriffe trailhead. This lets us take the lower Talus Loop and Si-Teneriffe connector, which are both quite pretty, we get to see the weird talus slope, and it's a nice finish to the Trailhead Direct season.

This is 8.4 miles, 3400 ft elevation gain (according to Google Maps). Here is the route -- notice that the only overlap between the routes up and down is the 0.1 mile segment from eastern tip of the Talus Loop to the Mt Teneriffe new trail.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/AQnXybTrve3N87gv9

(Note if you were on this past weekend's "trail sampler": This hike is all on Official Trails. None of the trails for this Mt Si route have long stretches of slippery loose pebbles and rock shards and dry dirt, nor places where the "trail" is a scramble up tree roots. The Mt Teneriffe new trail has some bare rock chunks, since it's new enough that the crevices haven't yet filled with mulch and dirt. The more we walk on it, the better it will get.)

Logistics

Bring lunch, snacks, plenty of water. No, more than that. I recommend at least 2 liters. That's not two of your little 16 oz bottles -- it's four. There are pit toilets at the trailheads. There may be one spot (just after we start down the upper Talus Loop) to use a water filter, but I wouldn't count on it having much flow.

Hiking shoes or boots with good traction recommended, and you may want to bring your trekking poles if you have them, for the downhill part on the Mt Teneriffe trail, and the one spot on the upper Talus Loop where the trail could stand some work.

Use comments to coordinate. That way, anyone who has a cell signal can see them and respond.

Getting there:

We'll be on the Trailhead Direct bus that departs from Capitol Hill (southbound on Broadway just south of E Denny, near the Capitol Hill Link station) at 8am, gets to South Bellevue station at 8:24am, North Bend Park and Ride at 8:50am, and arrives at the Mt Si parking lot at 9:06am.

You can catch this bus run wherever it's convenient -- South Bellevue just happens to be convenient for folks coming from either the Seattle side (now that we have Link Line 2) or Eastside, and for drivers, since South Bellevue station has a parking garage.

If you're taking the bus, you can use your favorite route planning app -- tell it you want to arrive at the Mt Si trailhead parking lot at 9:15am. But beware if it wants you to make a tight connection.

Drivers -- I recommend not driving to the Mt Si trailhead and trying to park there. It does fill up, and if it does on Sunday, it's no use waiting for a spot to open up, because folks won't be getting down the mountain and leaving in the morning. Instead, drive to South Bellevue station, or the North Bend Park and Ride -- be there in enough time to be waiting at the bus stop 10 minutes prior to the times above.