There is enough space for two cars just after the access road closest to the hike off Tiger Mountain Road. We were glad to snag a space in front of another person who had kindly parked as far back as possible. Otherwise, this requires parking farther away and walking-- lots of "No Parking" signs in the area.

We walked down the access road, turning left onto the main road and then around the bend to the trail, which isn't really marked but you can see a horse unloading deck and hitching posts. 

The trail is a little muddy but no other problems. Lots of ripe berries along the road and trail. We enjoyed the roaring of Fifteenmile creek, the gated old mine, a new dig near the first major bridge and found our own lump of coal! A great easy family hike. We went about 3.25 miles, not much elevation gain, it's really only slightly uphill at the very end towards the last viewpoint. However, the viewpoint before that (a left fork) is probably better overall for seeing the creek. 

Left the car on a residential side street around noon (no parking on Tiger Mountain Rd or at the gate).

Followed a connector trail and the West Side Road for a bit before reaching the actual trailhead. Surprised to see several cars parked there.

Once on the trail, it was less than a mile to the end, which was marked with a small wooden gate. There was a small, somewhat eroded trail that continued for a few hundred feet before ending down by the river. Didn't see any option for continuing, at least not without wading up the river...

Lots of salmonberry blooming.

Encountered half a dozen parties, including one large group with children (who were put to work collecting coal, like in the good old days)...

This trail doesn’t get many trip reports, so I thought it would be worthwhile to give an update. My report starts along Tiger Mountain Rd where there are numerous “No Parking - Violators Will be Towed” signs. 

 

The photo of the connector trail in the report is dated. The trees in that photo have been mostly logged. But a short walk brings you to a T at Road 1000 on the Green Trails Map. It wasn’t obvious to me, but from there you should go to the left. The road will turn to the right and you will shortly arrive at what used to be the parking lot and trail head.

 

Past trip reports suggest disuse but today the trail was smooth and not at all overgrown. Interpretive signs are still present and show the whereabouts of remnants of the former coal works.

 

The creek is 60-80 feet below the trail and perhaps 300 feet below the top of the hill. Not exactly “grand” but not too shabby either. The trail has a brighter and more open feel than you usually find on Tiger.

 

The trail continues for a short way past the coal mine entrance. This is shown on the Green Trails map but not the interpretive sign. It’s a little muddier than the preceding trail and has a couple of trees to go over and under, but is not at all hard to pass. It brings you down to the creek in a very pleasant and open setting. I did see a trail heading up the slope to the east, possibly intersecting the Hobart middle Tiger trail above. But I didn’t verify that.

 

 

This was one of the few trails on Tiger Mtn. I had not hiked. Since the trailhead on the Westside Road would be a long hike from either Tiger Summit on Highway 18 (extra 9.8 miles round trip) or from the Chirico Trail (extra 8.8 miles round trip), so I parked at a friend's house for only about a 15 minute hike. The DNR trailhead parking area still has a horse hitching post, bicycle stand and a wheel chair ramp. The trail is on the old coal mine railroad grade and begins by some concrete footings for the former coal crusher building. Further up the trail I crossed a wide foot bridge and came to an interpretive sign telling about the old coal mine. Near by is the coal washery concrete foundation where the coal was washed before being crushed. I then crossed another wide foot bridge and followed the trail around a corner and along Fifteen Mile Creek. I soon came to a wye and went left on the flat trail out to the waterfalls view point. There is another interpretive sign with information on the formation of the canyon. There are two wooden benches and a wooden pole fence above the steep creek bank. People have pulled some of the railings out of the fence posts and thrown them down into the creek. I then back tracked to the wye and went up hill on the right fork (this trail is not shown on the GT map for Tiger Mtn.) to the old coal mine entrance. It is gated off. The mine operated from 1925 to 1940. A little further on is the end of the official trail. The trail continues on but is very over grown and part of it has slumped off down to the creek. I could see that this trail built by the DNR was at one time an ADA accessible trail with a smooth gravel surface. After the DNR gated the Westside Road down by Tiger Summit and closed the road to vehicles, they removed the restroom and trailhead signs. There are a few wooden benches along the trail to the waterfalls viewpoint, but most are now over grown with berry bushes as well as the a lot of the trail it self. Looks like DNR has abandoned this trail and no longer does any trail maintenance on it. It would be hard to get a wheel chair up this trail now. Looks like this trail was named the "Grand Canyon of Fifteen Mile Creek" because it is the deepest creek canyon on Tiger Mtn., not because it has any resemblance of to one in Arizona. Did not see any other hikers on this trip, or any animals or birds. When I got back out to the Westside Road, a paraglider mini bus and trailer full of chutes came by heading up to PooPoo Point. I understand they pay a fee to DNR to be able to drive on the road.

I'd wanted to do this hike for a long time but had put it off because the trailhead is somewhat hard to get to or, I should say, to park near. Ironically, the DNR's gated entry point along Tiger Mtn Rd SE is only a quarter mile from the trailhead, and there would be room for two or three cars to park without blocking the gate. But multiple signs proclaim "No Parking" and threaten violators with towing and fines. This image meshes well with the adjoining Mirrormont neighborhood which bristles with "Private Road" and "No Parking" signs. I know some hikers risk it, but I preferred to avoid the problem. The obvious alternative trailheads are at Tiger Summit on Hwy 18 or at the south end of the TMT, and there is a very long northern approach from High Point. But I wanted to try something more novel. I parked at the glider landing field along Issaquah Hobart Road and began hiking up the Chirico Trail. The first half mile of this trail is one of my favorites in the Tigers, and I hoped I could avoid climbing all the way to Poo Poo Point. My map shows a former spur road leaving Road 1500 and approaching very close to the Chirico Trail at about the 950 foot level. I knew that, when close encounters happen in the Tigers, boot paths often appear magically to connect them. All I had to do was find the path, if it did exist. I climbed the Chirico past the first switchbacks, past the bench and up more. At the end of one switchback an obvious trail continues on straight, but it goes only a few feet. That wasn't it. A bit further up a more subtle path appeared on the right. The first few feet seemed minimal, but after 100 feet I was sure I had found the route. A narrow boot path bordered by tall, very moist grasses followed a much wider grade, clearly a former spur road heading downhill at a uniform slope. I was relieved since the alternative would have required several hundred feet of additional climb to access the West Side Road at Poo Poo Point; elevation I would have had to descend to reach Fifteen Mile Creek, then ascend again on my return. Soon, my downward path reached Road 1500 and I turned left to follow the road. As road walks go it's rather pleasant: very green along the edges and in the center strip, and there is little evidence that vehicles pass this way (none did today.) A short way along, the road is joined from the south by a prominent trail not shown on my map, one marked by hoof prints: apparently an equestrian access from Mirrormont. I continued on Road 1500. Just past a hairpin turn my map shows another former spur road joining Road 1500 and I noted that it, like the spur I had walked down, is overgrown and shows signs of a boot path of its own. I resolved to explore that path later in the day, as part of my return route. Road 1500 meanders, mostly downhill, and eventually joins the West Side Road. A right turn there soon brought me to a bridge over Fifteenmile Creek, and I was astonished to see a great blue heron rise from the creekside and fly further upstream. The creek seems too small to offer many delicacies for such a large bird. Another quarter mile along the road an obvious trailhead appeared on the left. There are no signs to identify it but it's clearly the Fifteen Mile Creek trailhead shown on the map. Very old trip reports mention a restroom facility here, often vandalized, and it is depicted on older editions of the map. But it's been removed and there is no sign of it today. Near the beginning of the trail there are a few mysterious large concrete blocks of unobvious function. But further along an information sign comments that coal was mined here from 1925 to 1940, that the foundation of a "washery" can be seen near the sign, while those blocks near the beginning of the trail are from the foundation of a "crushery." Quaint terms from a bygone mining era. A short way past the sign the trail forks. The left fork ends a few feet above the creek at a viewpoint for a "waterfall." The fall is not particularly large and the view is partially blocked by blowdowns. The right trail fork leads further upstream. Another signboard mentions former coal mining tunnels, and a path behind the sign leads to a tunnel entrance closed by a wooden lattice. Water drips from above the tunnel, and an orange sediment of uncertain composition emerges from within. The trail continues a bit further and ends officially at a railing with a view up the steep-sided canyon. An unofficial boot path with blowdowns, washouts and some mud, continues another 100 yards or so upstream, then bends sharply right and heads up a steep hillside. It looks like a very minimal route, although a set of boot prints indicates at least one hiker has braved it recently. Presumably it would lead up to the Hobart - Middle Tiger RR Grade. I mused on the possibility, but decided it would take me too far off my intended route today and would lead to trails I already had hiked this spring. So I began my return the way I had come. Near that hairpin turn on Road 1500 I detoured off on the boot path I had noted earlier. The map shows the former spur road ending well short of the Chirico Trail, so I was uncertain what I would find. The road grade does end soon but the path continues as a minimal track, sometimes traversing a steep hillside and occasionally heading a few feet steeply uphill. At one point I stepped over a couple of larger blowdowns and, abruptly, found myself back on an overgrown spur road, but with the boot path now heading downhill. This spur does not appear on my map. It passes through some prickly overgrown areas and eventually I could hear voices up ahead. The path does connect with the Chirico Trail some distance above my morning route, and I descended the Chirico back to the parking area. This was an unusual hike, covering what for me were new roads and new routes. On the popular Chirico Trail I always encounter other hikers, but elsewhere today I met only a single hiker, on the road near the Fifteen Mile Creek trailhead.