A day after doing the 12 Summit Route, I took advantage of the unexpected sun and set out to do a loop on Tiger that mostly avoided snow and soaked in the suns rays on the west and south portions of the mountain. First off, a note about the road. It's passable but the potholes are getting worse. Plan to take it pretty slowly through that section of dirt road from the gate to the parking lot. Warm up on Swamp Trail, Big Tree and Adventure Trail. No obstacles to negotiate. Started my climb up the mountain on Section Line, then traversed over to West Tiger 3 using Talus Rock. No obstacles here. Now usually I avoid WT3 like the plaque on the weekends but only ran into a few people between the section from Talus Rock to West Tiger RR Grade. There is no snow or ice on this section of the trail. I did not get eyes on the upper portion but the people I saw coming down did not have traction on. West Tiger RR grade is entirely snow free until you get close to it's junction with One View and Poo Poo Point Trail. There you hit a few patches of snow. There are a few recent blowdowns and one is a bit of chore to get around unless you don't care about getting your feet a bit wet. One View is snow free. Tiger Mountain Trail from One View to it's junction with Fifteenmile RR Grade is almost entirely snow free. Fifteen Mile is completely snowfree but a bit muddy in some sections. Hidden Forest is completely snow free as it is blasted by the sun. I took my time on this section. :) Felt like spring! Now back on Tiger Mountain Trail headed north, I ran into snow covered portions immediately after it's junction with One View. But it's easy to negotiate. I didn't see any need for spikes. It then clears up until near the junction with the trail to Tiger Mountain 2. As it heads back over to the north side of the mountain, there is still some snow accumulation. It's slick in some spots, but you can stick to the side of the trail to avoid putting on traction. It clears up again until near the junction with West Tiger RR Grade where the trees open up. Again though I didn't need any traction as I could get a good grip on the margins of the trail. After that section, smooth sailing. Lingering Trail has some new blowdowns to cross over but no show stoppers. High Point is in great shape. Fun 18 mile loop to get the legs stretched out and see a wide variety of the mountain. Pictures have been run through the Prisma app to put a new flavor to them. Hope you like.

Nothing like stringing together 17 trails to make a nice long day hike on Tiger Mountain. I made this loop up on the fly never getting too far ahead of myself and making decisions on what kind of section I wanted to tackle next. It ended up being one of my favorite days on the mountain that had a bit of everything. Started up Nook and Section Line. Trail was in good shape with very little snow to be found. Took a right at the intersection with West Tiger RR which had some snow covering and then headed to the summit of Tiger 2 on a seldom used trail that breaks off of West Tiger RR (check the Strava Track for location). This trail was snow covered for the most part and near the summit i had to deal with some postholing. Cut over to Tiger 1 using the road. Well packed trail here. Some evidence of people using traction devices but I didn't need any. Soaked up the warmth of the sun at the summit before heading out on the bypass trail. This has some pretty slick spots under the trees. I hit the Tiger Road from here and because there was solid snow underneath decided to follow this all the way to the junction with Middle Tiger. The trail up to Middle Tiger is rough, lots of snow and long branches to deal with. Dropping down from the summit on the south side, you are faced with some slick spots. I then took Tiger Mountain Trail to it's intersection with the West Side Road. I then followed this to Hobart RR and followed that trail north. Very cool trail that I had only been on once before. I planned on cutting up and back to Tiger Mountain Trail from the end of this trail but noticed a trail on the far side of the creek. I managed to cross without getting my feet wet and followed this unmarked trail until it spit me out on Fifteen Mile RR. Very cool. I then headed east on that trail. It is entirely snow covered but not slick. I crossed back over the road and took the Paw Print Connector to Bootleg. This trail is covered in a pretty good amount of snow but there is an easy to follow boot path. Took a right at the junction with Preston. Lots of slick spots on the descent but again the trail is easy to follow. From there jumped on West Tiger RR (again). More slick spots on a mostly snow covered trail. Followed this to it's junction with Tiger Mountain Trail, then took that on it's re-route back to West Tiger RR. All of this is snow covered with some slick spots. I then proceeded to follow West Tiger around and back to it's junction with Section Line, where i dropped all the way down to Poo Poo Point and finished the loop with Bus Trail to Around the Lake to Ruth's Big Tree and Swamp Trail. Whew! Long story short, trails listed are easy to follow even when snow covered. Lots of spots that are slick so you might want to drag some traction along. I was able to do the whole route without but I had on my go to slick surface trail runners.

Put together this 14 mile loop while out in Tiger Mountain State Forest. West Tiger 3 - Trail is clear until about 1,600' when you start to hit some packed snow. By 2,000' the trail is covered with packed down snow. I did not use traction devices with my trail runners but they have very solid grip on surfaces like this. If you have room for your traction devices it wouldn't hurt to bring them along. Trail is easy to follow all the way up to the the WT3 summit. Connector trail from WT3 to WT1 is snow covered the entire distance but easy to follow. It is not packed down as there looks to have been very little use over the past few days. Took the bypass trail off WT1 and linked up with the road on the east flank of the mountain. Their has been vehicle activity on this road since the last large snowfall so it is easy to descend this road to the Main Tiger Road. 15 Mile Railroad Grade - As many miles as I have logged on Tiger, I have never done this stretch of trail. It is snow covered for the first half mile or so then it becomes pretty much just a dusting of snow on it. Very easy to follow and I enjoyed some new scenery. Linked up to Hidden Forest Trail and dropped down this clear trail to the West Side Road. Took the West Side Road to Poo Poo Point. Road is snow free for the most part and there is a little snow remaining at Poo Poo Point. Poo Poo Point - Trail is snow covered near the point but as you travel under the trees it clears up. Near the junction with West Tiger RR Grade and Poo Top, the trail is packed snow and has some slick spots but only for a short time. Once you drop below 1,500' it clears up again. Nook Trail - Very little snow on this trail. 14 miles with about 4k of gain makes for a nice conditioning hike/run.

About an inch to inch and a half of snow on the peaks.