To enjoy the fine weather on Thursday, I took a long ramble on Tiger Mountain. Here's a rundown on the condition of the trails: **TMT from tradition plateau to K-3 trail: The trail is in generally good shape. Around the cable line trail, the TMT gets muddy (clay soil?). Slumped tread near the two large bridges crossing a branch of High Point Creek (elev 1500'). Junction with K-3 trail is messy and ill defined. No sign. **K-3 trail: Near the TMT junction (elev. 1500') the trail is a bit of a mess and needs treadwork. The rest of the trail is well laid out and in good shape. **West Tiger RR grade from K-3 trail to Freds Junction: Pretty good condition. Areas of slumped tread need rework. **Connector Trail from Fred's Junction (elev 1800') to West Tiger I (Preston) Trail: O.K. Condition. This trail is brushy and has sections of slumped tread that need work. **West Tiger I trail from 2100' to Bootleg Trail junction: Good condition. Drainage work that I did last year is paying off. Some brushing needed. **Poo Top Trai: Lightly used trail is in good condtion. Some steep sections could use a reroute, but this work is hardly a priority. **Hidden Forest Trail from upper end to TMT: Good condition. Steep section needs to be rerouted to reduce the gradient. **One View Trail: I still don't know where the one view is. Good condition overall. **Poo Poo Point Trail. Great condition. A trail crew came through and worked on the drainage system (which I had already improved last fall). Now the drainage should be good for years. Bike exclusion fence at the upper end is still wrecked and needs rebuilding.

This was my third time to Middle Tiger but my first visit via the Preston Trail. Our group lead by Tom from IATC went up the Preston Trail to the Paw Print Rest Area and then via the TMT to the Middle Tiger Trail, over Middle Tiger and then back to Paw Print via an abandoned road and the Tiger Mt. Road and returned via the Preston Trail – about 12 miles round trip. The Preston Trail goes through some great woodland areas and is shady all of the way up, a real plus on a warm Sunday. Some of the upper trail is quite brushy but not hard to follow. The TMT is in very good shape on the two miles we traveled. Going up the Middle Tiger trail from the TMT is steep but it is short so no problems. We stopped for lunch at the summit; someone commented that the last time they were here there were mosquitoes, well up to that point no bugs, but as if on queue they came out with a vengeance after this comment. My last trip down the road from Middle Tiger was very pleasant. This time brush was had grown up on the upper part of the road; eliminating much of the views but again no navigation problems. The return from this point was fine, with no problems. We did encounter a territorial dog at a house on the “power line” section of the Preston Trail. He or she barked and followed our group coming and going but was not a problem. There are still an number of blow downs on all the trails and roads noted except the Tiger Mt. Road. Logging is going on in the general area and has closed the East Tiger Trail.

This was an Issaquah Alps sponsored hike which started at High Point parking lot proceeding the 1st 3 miles on the TMT and then wandering down the High Point Creek trail head back to the road. Since I have last been on these trails several things have changed and been improved. 1. A number of new bridges span the creeks on the TMT in this section, the attached photo being the last and longest of the bridges. 2. New trails have emerged as cut offs that allow a faster ascent to the West Tiger Ridge (the K3 trail). 3. There are new trail signs which help greatly at junctions and should help from getting off on the wrong trail. Our group did this anyway but the signs helped confirm we made a mistake. The TMT is in excellent shape with only a slight amount of mud on the tred. The trail is tree covered making it a great hike in the hot weather that marked this day.

Last December after the big wind storms, a group of us tried to hike the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT) from south to north. We failed miserably and had to bail out a side trail at about 1/3 of the way in. On that trip we lost track of the number of blowdowns at 200 or so. This trip was much more pleasant and enjoyable. We dropped a car off at the High Point parking lot at 6:30 and were on the trail just north of the Issaquah-Hobart Road by 7 am. Throughout the day we kept marvelling at the amazing trail repair that had been accomplished over the entire 15 miles of the TMT. The weather was amazing – sunny with a light breeze. The trilliums were huge; there were a few samples of skunk cabbage around; and there were lots of YWF’s (yellow wild flowers). Very few people were on the southern 2/3 of the TMT (3 other people and 3 or so dogs). We stopped for our third lunch break on the summit of Tiger 2 and enjoyed the views to Rainier and out to the sound. The sound of the generator running near the antenna tower seemed better to us than the hordes of people that we knew must be over at Tiger 3. The parking lot was entirely different at 3 pm compared to 6:30 am. There were so many people and cars that we even considered trying to sell our parking spot.

On Sunday I led my favorite Tiger Mountain hike for The Mountaineers. It is a loop trip where we take the normal route up to Tiger 3, then over to Tiger 2, and return to the parking lot on the Tiger Mountain Trail. This route is an 8 mile loop that offers both views and beautiful forest in the lonesome Northeast corner of the mountain. We saw the evidence of the devastation from the November storm immediately upon leaving the parking lot. Both the shelter and the rest rooms have large trees laying on them. The trail to the top of Tiger 3 has been logged out, although there are a few difficult places where the trail is gone due to the damage from root balls of blown-down trees. The side trip to Tiger 2 was not logged out, but was not too bad. After Tiger 2 we dropped down to the TMT, and there the ordeal began. I can confirm that the devastation reported by John Deer, in his report last week on the southern stretch of the trail, is also applicable for about two miles past Tiger 2. At one spot, there was about a quarter acre of total devastation. Think of Mt. St. Helens. We lost the trail and had to drop down to the railroad grade. Finally, past Fred's corner the conditions improved until we got within about a mile of the Tradition Lake trailhead, where it got bad again. There will be a great need for trailwork this year. My New Year's Resolution for this year will be to double the hours of trailwork I do in 2004.