Deep cold front moving in. Snow predicted. High winds on the way. A perfect recipe for getting up Tiger Mountain early and getting back down before it all hit. Jon and I started at the trailhead at 8:45 and summited Tiger 3 at 11:15. We went up the TMT, crossed two bridges, and continued up K3 trail (which is not on the map)to Tom's Crossing. From there it was a quick sprint through the snow to the summit of Tiger 3. The trail is in pretty good shape, although there are some substatial blowdowns before the bridges. Not really any more mud than one would expect after all the downpours we've had. Somebody has been sawing out some of the blowdown but there is still a bit of work to do. At the top we saw the front moving in and watched the barometer plummet. So we took off at 11:30 and got back to the car by 1:00. This time we took what is signed ""unmaintained trail"" but is sometimes called ""the Boeing slash"". It is steep and well littered with fronds from the fir trees. Several large blowdowns here before we reached the Section Line Connector. The way out on the Nook Trail was very pretty and uneventful. Got home just before the storm hit.

With a ""free day"" off due to no power at work, I decided to see what the storm had to to some of my favorite Tiger Mountain trails. I started up the Cable Line, turned off on the main Tiger Mountain Trail, took the K3 connector up 'til hitting the TMT again, then Tom's Crossing up to the top of West Tiger 2. Down the roads to the One-View trail, down to the Poo Poo Point junction, down Poo Poo to the Power Line road, and the Bus line trail back to the parking lot road. In short - quite a mess ! But not everywhere, some sections were nearly untouched. TMT from Cable line to Tom's Crossing (not including the loop the K3 trail cuts off) is in fairly good shape. Endless amounts of ""ankle biter"" debris - which would be a constant - but only a few larger blowdowns. At the NE corner of West 3 there is another good sized blowdown - too big for one guy with a camp saw - but I trimmed enough to make it an easy pass through. One or two step overs above that, plus lots and lots of moveable limbs, but generally no problems to passage. That went so well that I decided to go down One-View and Poo Poo Point - oops ! Should have realized that the SW winds would have hammered that side. The One-View trail and the upper Poo Poo Point trail are now moderately clear. I cut out and/or moved everything I could handle, and trimmed around the larger stuff to allow easy step-over or -under. The big bridge over the southern-main creek in Many Creeks Valley took a pretty hard hit. A good sized fir fell into the creek and slammed into the west/downhill side of the bridge, near mid spam. I topped and branched the tree enough to clear the bridge deck. The main structure and deck seems to be undamaged, but several chunks of railing are gone and the tree is still leaning up against the structure. Below/north of that bridge things get messy. There are 5-6 major blowdowns across the PPP roadbed-trail. All can be worked around/through/over but it is interesting. At one spot, a large cedar tree has done a 180 flip and is now upside down in the trail. You can just push thru the cedar fronds like it was a curtain - pretty cool! The others are less fun, and one is a 5 foot high stack of trunks with up-and-over the best option. The Bus Line trail has 5 blowdowns across it. 4 are easy step-overs, but #5 is the champ of the day ! And of course, it is between the parking lot and the West Tiger 3 trail junction. It's a massive stack of huge trunks - maybe 6-8 feet high and wider than that. It is fairly easy to loop around and under the main trunks on the north side of the trail - to the right as you're heading in - but you have to look for it (tho maybe it'll look better in daylight-working thru by flashlight was fun !). Nice day, but I'm done hand-sawing trees for awhile.

Took a long ramble on Tiger Mountain today and enjoyed fine weather and even a little sun. The recent heavy storms seem to have done little damage to Tiger Mountain trails for the most part. Here are some reports on trail conditions: Tiger Mountain Trail from Tradition Lake to K3 Trail: In great shape. Drainage is good and there is no mud. Two easily stepped-over trees are down on the trail. K3 Trail: At last, signs have gone up to mark both ends of the trail. The signs are of a peculiar sort, saying that the trail is ""not maintained"". However, the trail clearly is maintained, but not by official crews apparently. Other than being steep in spots, this trail is in good condition. West Tiger RR Grade, from K3 to Preston (W Tiger I) Trail: This trail is in places quite nice, in other places slumped downhill and a bit overgrown. East of Fred's Junction, the trail has been intensively reworked for a short distance, then further east reverts to its slumpy, rough norm. Storm runoff has eroded the trail at two stream crossings. W Tiger I trail from 2100' junction to Bootleg Trail: This trail is in quite fine shape, not much to complain about. There's no snow at all on top of the mountain. Poo Top Trail: In good shape. Oversteep in spots, could use some switchbacks, especially at the lower end. Hidden Forest Trail from upper end to TMT: Oversteep, needs switchbacks. Otherwise, in good shape. One View Trail: In good shape. The east end is a bit rough, the west end has been rebuilt and is smooth walking. Poo Poo Point Trail: From W Tiger RR Grade to Many Creeks Valley bridge, the trail is in good shape. From the bridge on down, the trail has been hit with a number of downed trees, including one monster that is a pain to get around. I managed to partially clear some of the smaller blowdowns. Drainage features are still functioning but need cleaning out. Bus Trail: The massive drainage features on this trail withstood the flooding in fine style, although it looks like the culvert at the ""Around the Lake"" trail junction (near the old bus) was overtopped, sending water down the Bus Trail for a short ways. But little damage was done.

Things are looking pretty good on Tiger Mountain trails. Here are some short reports on trail conditions: High Point Trail: In good shape, but drainage dips need to be cleaned out and repaired on this runoff-prone trail before the rainy season sets in. TMT (Tiger Mountain Trail) from High Point Trail to Freds Corner: In good shape. As always, more and better drain dips are needed. Ruth's Cove could use another bench to replace the old one that disappeared. It's such a nice place to take a rest. West Tiger RR Grade Trail, east end from Freds Corner to West Tiger I trail: Poor condition. Tread is narrow and slumped in many places. However, major repairs are in progress near Freds Corner. West Tiger I trail above 2200': In good shape. I did some drainage work and brushing here. West Tiger II trail from summit to Toms Crossing and TMT below Toms Crossing to RR Grade: In good shape. I built some drain dips on the TMT below Tom's Crossing, more are probably needed in this area. West Tiger RR grade from TMT to K3 trail: Fair, a bit brushy and slumpy in places. K3 Trail: in good shape, sign missing at lower end. Upper end could use some drain dips. TMT from K3 to High Point Trail: In good shape.

Since the weather was fairly nice, the parking lot was about a third full when our group arrived at 8:15. We started off from the Tradition Plateau trailhead and started up the Tiger Mountain Trail. There’s a connector trail -- unmarked where it intersects the TMT at the South end of Anschell’s Alley, and marked simply marked as ‘K-3’ at the junction with West Tiger RR Grade -- which shaves off a good portion of the TMT. It rejoins the TMT as a steep and narrow path to Tom’s Crossing and Tiger 2. From there we joined the hordes going to and from Tiger 3 summit. After a quick lunch and some pictures, we descended via the West Tiger 3 trail. It’s a shame what the hundreds of thousands of boots have done to this trail and the parallel utility trail -- it felt like more of a scree scramble in spots. We took a side trip through the Talus Rocks Loop, where some nice-looking railing has been installed to discourage folks from climbing into the boulders. We returned to the parking lot via the Nook Trail. These last two sections of trail were in very good shape, and make for a great forest walk.