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"

Storm damage and logging have effected a good portion of Custer Bridge-Middle Tiger trail loop, but you can still use parts of it alongside roads to get to the Middle Summit and other areas of the Tiger mountain park. I've done this loop before but decided to trek out towards West Tiger #1 to try something new.

Arrived at the Tiger Summit Trailhead around 8:30am, parking lot had plenty of space to park. Iverson Railroad Trail was closed off due to storm damage, so I took the West Side road past the yellow gate near the entrance of the parking lot. Followed the road all the way to the Tiger Mountain Trail.

The TMT was covered by lots of small debris, but was easy to follow as it pretty much carved through downed trees and branches that littered the sides. Despite how it looked the trail was cleared of most obstacles with only one branch that I had to duck under. Got to the junction where a connector meets with TMT, where a sign said the rest of the trail was closed, but you can ignore this and continue on.

After another half a mile I came upon the logging road and the lower portion of the loop that had been logged out. I opted to take the road instead of continuing across, as I was unsure of how usable the trail would be.  I followed the road past the Middle Tiger trail and continued below the middle summit until it connected to the Main Tiger Mountain road.

From there I took the main road to the Fifteenmile Creek Railroad Grade and took that to the Bootleg Trail. Bootleg trail took a steady climb up to towards the top of the ridge, where it connects with a road that lead to West Tiger #1. Had a great view of the entire surrounding area, with Rainier standing out front and center.

Followed the road instead of taking Bootleg back down towards Middle Tiger. Once I got back towards the middle summit, I chose to take the new portion of the Middle Tiger Trail to cut along the north side of the summit and keep out of the sun. There was one uprooted tree along the trail that was easy to walk around. Once the trail meet back with the logging road, I followed it back to TMT, and continued back to the parking lot following the same portion I came in on. Returned to the parking lot around 3:00pm, with my watch recording 2,600ft of elevation gain and 13 miles of trail in around 6 hours. 

Did a quick out and back in somewhat random directions.  Started on the Preston trail (took the direct shortcut on the way up, and the full trail on the way down).   Switched to Bootleg Trail, then Bootleg Connector (I think WTA calls this the Paw Print Connector?  The signage says otherwise).  At the end of the connector I continued onto the 15 mile RR grade for just a few yards until it met the TMT on the South Side of Tiger Mtn.  Was thinking to walk on that, but it was closed for logging. 

The flowers were pretty.  Took a photo of a white/purple trillium whos leaves were 9" across. 

The trail was not too muddy, except for a couple of spots low on the Bootleg trail.

The Hidden Forest, 15 Mile RR grade, and the 2 miles of the TMT that runs between them have very few visitors. They are in good shape with only a single blowdown (on the TMT just north of the 15 mile junction, there's a bootpath workaround). They are south-facing with lots of deciduous trees; they are very sunny in the spring. There were lots of visual delights: Siberian springbeauties (photo 1), fading salmonberry (photo 2), just bloomed red elderberry (photo 3), evergreen violets (photo 4), and more (see slideshow).

Newly blooming flowers: Hooker’s fairy bells, woodland strawberry, and purple deadnettle.

The gate to this trail was closed with signs forbidding entry.