Started around 5pm from Bus trail and the parking lot was half full. On the Poo Poo Point trail, saw plenty of hikers and runners of all ages and the views from the top were spectacular.

On the way back down, we decided to take another dip into the woods on the Section Line trail (needed the second wind for this one) and where it joins Nook trail, there is an "Unmaintained Trail" sign, and just beyond that I saw what looked like bear scat on the trail. While going down the Nook trail I believe I heard a bear in the bush close to the creek a little distance away from the trail.

A few off-leash dogs, as usual, on Poo Poo Point trail / High School trail. After the junction with One View trail, I didn't see another person until Middle Tiger trail. The TMT closure sign is gone at the junction with TMT-Fifteen Mile, though there was an older Danger: Logging sign that someone left up along the TMT, just after the intersection with Hobart Grade.

TMT is quite overgrown in areas, a little challenging.

The clearcut along the TMT, before the Middle Tiger Trail, is brutal: sunny, exposed, dusty. Wild, but you can see South Tiger from the TMT now that it's all stumps. A work crew was repairing the TMT, thanks folks!

"East Tiger Connector" (which doesn't connect there anymore) between the road over Soderman Creek and Bootleg Trail was incredibly overgrown - no trail closure sign, but I really wouldn't recommend it - easier to go around the old Paw Print Connector way (Fifteenmile Creek / Bootleg).

Lots of ripe berries, still: huckleberry, salmonberry, a few thimbleberries. Flowers are dying back and bit, with some old vanilla leaf and bleeding heart, but foamflower and foxglove still looks fresh. There's a spot along TMT near W Tiger that has ghost pipe and coralroot, and between WT1-Middle Tiger there's some bog wintergreen along it too.

The whole way was runnable except for portions of TMT and that "East Tiger Connector"

Lovely afternoon meandering around Tradition Lake and discovering new trails around Tiger Mountain that I had never hiked before. My original plan was to explore the Wetlands Trail but I started on the Tradition Lake Loop like the description page suggests, with the Around the Lake Trail, then heading west on the Puget Power Trail for a bit before joining up with the Wetlands Trail (see sign in photo). I was a little lost in this area, but followed Google maps and soon found some signs that guided me in the right direction. I eventually made it to the Bus Trail which was really interesting as there is a bus relic there partway through the trail.

It was a weekday afternoon so thankfully not too many people out. I have been doing a kind of therapy called EMDR, and had some major grief and emotional releases in the beautiful forests here. I highly recommend hugging the trees out here, they are so grounding and wonderful. I was able to find a small beach on Tradition Lake as well as Round Lake to hang out on for awhile. 

Spring is arriving in the Tiger Mountain lowlands! I saw my first 2 blooms of the season, skunk cabbage off of the boardwalk on the swamp trail (photo 3) and oso berry near the bus on the bus trail (photo 2). I also saw my first lichen-eating American idia moths (they are small, tan-reddish, nocturnal, and flighty when disturbed during the day). As usual the first sign of spring (to my ears) occurred 10 days ago when the male Pacific wrens started singing for territory and love. Many of the tall Oregon grapes are budding (photo 1) along with lots of other shrubs and trees.  

SARAH

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