Been really getting into exploring the Issaquah Alps, especially Tiger Mtn, over the last year or so, when conditions don’t allow for higher elevation hikes, and fortunate to have a few hiking companions interested also. It’s fun to piece together loops and one-ways and seemingly endless possibilities. And despite the fact that it seems every photo looks about the same ferny mossy green gray, there is more subtle variety in the forests, undergrowth, shadows, and views than meets the phone camera eye.

Today’s exploration with a friend was a south to north one way connecting 11 trails,  from Tiger Mtn Road SE to the High Point trailhead at I-90. We walked about 9 miles with 1900 feet of gain, including one small inadvertent detour described below.

Started on Road 1000 heading west and quickly connected to the Grand Canyon 15 Mile. After exploring the ruins of the coal crushing building we took the unmarked trail heading right off the GC15. I had seen both ends of this trail on previous hikes and learned that it is the connector between GC15 and the Hobart-Middle Tiger Railroad Grade. This trail took maybe ¾ mile to reach the RR grade, then we took a left (north). After maybe a mile on that we saw the little sign indicating Tiger Mountain Trail ¼ mile and headed uphill on that, encountering the only blow-down of the day and the route was marked with flagging. Left on the TMT for another mile or so a short bit past Custer’s Bridge to the well marked intersection of the 15 Mile RR Grade. Less than a ¼ mile north on this brings you to a gravel road at “15 mile Pass” and a flat area where the 2014 Green Trails shows a picnic table (there is none anymore) and another trail report mentions an outhouse (also not there).

We were looking for the Paw Print Connector, and heading straight across the road through the flat area, we found that a rough unmarked road seemed to go the right way. Sure enough it turned more to trail after a bit. We passed the well marked East Tiger trail coming in from the east and shortly thereafter the multi-trail intersection with the Bootleg Trail and the sign indicating that left will take you to Tiger NO.1. This was our high point at 2200 feet. Took a right downhill on Middle Bootleg and after a bit we came to what seemed to be a T-intersection. Not sure how it matched the map we took a right. This was a mistake and after maybe ¼ mile, crossing a big ravine and starting to head downhill we realized it must be an unmarked connector to Road 7500 heading east and retraced our steps back to the “T”. I put branches across the incorrect trail to discourage others from the same error. Then it was down the Bootleg to the Preston-formerly-known-as W. Tiger 1 Trail, left on Dwight’s Way, right on Lingering (a very pleasant trail), High Point trail, and back to our car parked near the High Point Gate.

All in all a fun day of connecting more trails for a nice one-way through Tiger Mtn.  All trails were in good condition with some much appreciated recent tree clearing work on Dwight’s Way and Lingering Trail.

We saw no one at all until the descent on the Preston Trail, then a total of 3 other hikers.  

Decided to to make a short afternoon loop using Grand Canyon of 15 mile creek trail, connect uphill to Hobart-Middle Tiger RR trail, and then walk the 1.5 miles back down the West Side /Road 1000 for a loop. 

Couple things about the wta description should be noted: the connector from Tiger Mountain Road is now a gated dirt road, not a trail, and yes, parking is an issue. 

The 15 mile grand canyon trail is short (under 1 mile) and pleasant and the interpretative signs and waterfall view was nice. The trail splits at the end, one to the little overlook area complete with benches and the upper one to a closed off old mine opening. Both spurs are short and worth a look. To make the loop we tried to find the "boot track" connection trail from the end of the upper spur to the Hobart RR grade that is mentioned on the WTA description. Short answer, it's not really there, it starts off looking like a boot track and then after reaching a brief flat area pretty quickly fades in a tangle of ferns and brambles. Total distance is only about 1/2 mile but it took at least 30-40 minutes of mostly bushwacking and navigating with the phone . We persisted and did find our way uphill to the RR grade and Tiger road to make a clockwise loop. Strava called it 4.4 miles and around 800 feet of gain but with the bushwacking it took longer. 

Began my hike by taking the connector road from Tiger Mtn. Road SE to West Side Road. The West Side Road was built back in 1976 by the DNR and Weyco for their logging operations at the time. The old trailhead parking area for the Grand Canyon of 15 Mile Creek Trail was built back in 1995 with a restroom and ADA ramp. After the West Side Road was gated at Tiger Summit several years ago, DNR removed the restroom since you can no longer drive to it. Today there are some bike stands and the ADA ramp is still here. Since I last hiked this trail over seven years ago, the trail has been brushed out and some drainage work done. There are a couple of blown down Doug Fir trees, but you can duck under them. At the start of the trail are some old concrete foundations for the former coal crusher building. The trail follows along on an old railroad grade, crosses a creek on a bridge and passes the remains of the coal washery building used to wash the coal before it was crushed. Further on the trail crosses a creek where a bypass trail is due to the fact that the bridge over the creek is in really bad shape and is no longer safe to cross. Before getting to the end of the trail on the railroad grade is a side trail that goes up an old roadbed to the coal mine entrance. This was the Caroline Mine used from 1925 to 1940. I hiked out to the end of the railroad grade to the canyon viewpoint. This was where coal was dumped into coal cars on the railroad. The water in the creek this time of year is really roaring. There are some signs at the viewpoint telling the history of the canyon. This one is a youthful valley while the Cedar River is a mature valley and the Snoqualmie River is an old valley. After a snack I headed back on the trail and took the one going up to the old Caroline Mine entrance. It is closed off with water running out of it. The trail goes up further to a viewpoint looking up the creek where the trail has sluffed off the high bank above the creek. Years ago this trail continued up stream, then crossed the creek and went through Three Creek Flat to meet up with the Hidden Forest Trail.

The coal mined in this area would have gone down to the Hobart area on a spur track to meet the Taylor branch line of the Pacific Coast Railroad. One of the small mine hopper cars was found near the Caroline Mine several years ago and is now on display at the Issaquah History Museum at the former Northern Pacific Railway depot.

After getting back down to the broken bridge, I saw a short trail heading up hill to another old mine entrance, now filled in. There was a brass cap in a large metal pipe for the USDI Office of Surface Mining for Tiger Mtn. Mine Reclamation of 1995. I also noticed large metal pipe at the end of the broken bridge. This may have been the water pipe going down to the coal washery building. When I got to the bridge near the coal washery building remains I started hiking up the connector trail that meets up with the Hobart-Middle Tiger Railroad Grade Trail. This trail begins right by the bridge. I had not hiked this one before and found it to be a good one most of the way. The last couple of tenths of mile are the steepest part of this one. Once up to the Hobart-Middle Tiger RR Grade Trail I headed south and soon found a fallen Doug Fir for lunch time bench. As I finished eating it hailed for about three minutes. I then hiked this trail back down to the West Side Road by the cement concrete road bridge over a fork of 15 Mile Creek. The railroad grade of Wood & Iverson who logged the south side of Tiger Mtn. had a large trestle to cross this creek. No signs of it now. I hiked over the road bridge and went up hill a short distance to where I found the old logging railroad grade on the up hill side of the road. On the down hill side of the road I saw where a trail was going on the railroad grade heading south. This was the W&I railroad tracks that went to their saw mill in Hobart. I hiked the trail a couple of hundred yards to where it left the grade, and made a sharp turn to the right and was going down hill. Looked like it does not get much use. I turned around here and hiked the West Side Road back down to where I had parked.

I only saw a handful of other hikers on my trip. No birds or animals were seen. Makes for a fun history hiked along with a new trail for me to hike. As I drove home past the Chirico Trail to PooPoo Point parking lot, I saw that it was full along with the $5 pay lot near by. There are other trails on Tiger Mtn. to hike with no big crowds, check them out.  George

A delightful walk with very few others seen. Looking for fossils in the chunks of coal was fun.  The interpretive signs were nice.  Someone was hanging christmas balls off of plants.  We parked in the neighborhood and walked to the gate.

Plan on walking to the trailhead from somewhere down Tiger Mt Rd SE as there are maybe 2 spots not plastered with 'no parking' and/or 'vehicle will be towed' signs on the roadside and at the gated entrance.

We walked up Road 1000 for about 2 miles, exploring a few spur trails and eventually backtracked to the concrete bridge, which is where you head down to the creek and Middle Tiger Trail starts. We decided on making a clockwise loop so we headed off onto Hobart-Middle Tiger RR after 0.1 mile. This is an easy grade with lots of tree cover, moss, fungi, soft damp tread and the sound of water is a common companion. At 1.6 miles at the turnoff to TMT, you can walk down into Fifteen Mile Creek, which at this point isn't more than a foot deep. Heading to TMT, there is a map posted. On this connector trail there's a downed log with ribbons along it which you must walk up 40 feet to get back onto the trail. The intersection with TMT is nondescript, but head right to Middle Tiger and Millan's Crossing. The return down to complete the loop on Middle Tiger Trail is quite overgrown with ferns which release their spores all over and long salmonberry vines which make using poles helpful, but also cumbersome as they get tangled. Near the end of this 4ish mile loop we ran into the first 2 people we had seen in 5+ miles - they were doing counterclockwise.

Headed back toward the road and decided to do the Grand Canyon of Fifteen Mile Creek Trail - how could you not want to after reading that name. It's a short interpretive trail which has signs talking about coal mining and valley formation process. Saw 2 people on this trail so probably 7 total over 9.5 miles. Great distancing hike!