We did a small loop today morning starting with swamp trail and going onto big tree trail, power line trail and then going around tradition lake back to the trail head. We reached the parking lot around 10.00 am and it was almost full, two or three slots were free from cars leaving just then. Trail conditions were pretty good along all these trails - some bugs at parts of the trail. But, the parts where trail goes onto brink trail and wet land trail was very overgrown. We initially started along the wetland trail loop, but decided to come back. The trail was flat along the entire route and shaded for most part (except for the stretch in power line trail).

Needed a walk with a bit less incline today after making a blood donation on Friday and ended up doing a loop around the Tradition Lake plateau area from the highpoint trail head off I-90. The access road up to the lot is as full of potholes as ever - better to just park along the road below and take the short cut trail up. We made a counter clockwise loop starting on Around the Lake, right on Bonneville, left on Brink, a quick back track along Big Tree to see the big tree, across the power lines to Adventure trail, left on High School, another left back on Bonneville then back around to the trail head on Bus trail. Not much vertical at all and total mileage is a bit over 4. The trail head was packed, but surprisingly there were hardly anybody else out on these lower trails today. The fog muffled the sound so once you get away from I-90 the forest was super quiet. The one remaining old growth fir along big tree trail is worth a stop - who knows why the loggers decided to leave just that one tree. Don't miss what is left of the old Kenworth split-level bus abandoned by logging crews in the 50's.

As a trail runner, I've been inspired by the feats of Scott Jurek, especially given that he lived and trained in the Pacific Northwest as he took the trail running scene by storm. One of his famous runs is an out and back in the Tiger Mountain NF that he called the "Twelve Summits". Thirty four grueling miles, up and over the major summits in the area, and then back. I wanted to create my own training run in this area, but with less elevation gain, and in a "loop" as I am not a big fan of going over the same terrain twice. So armed with my trusty map, I left the Tiger Summit Trailhead at 0800 and got down to business. I won't get into a mile-by-mile, detailed account but just the concentrate on listing the trails used. I started on the Northwest Timber Trail (no obstacles) as I like a nice warm up before going up the hill. The two miles was a great start. At this point, I jumped on a newer trail, Joy Ride which is purposed more for bikers than hikers/runners. However, it is well built, easy to follow and has a gradual incline. Once I intersected with Fully Rigid Trail, I continued on it. Again, well built, gradual and it weaves it's way through some very interesting forest. A bit eerie even. This trail eventually intersects with East Tiger Summit. I followed this trail to it's intersection with East Tiger Summit Road and ascended that to the summit of East Tiger. Unsure of whether I would come back over this peak, I descended via the same road. In hindsight, I would've descended via the East Tiger Summit Trail since I did not come back over this terrain. I followed that road to the intersection of Road 4000, which I than ran to it's connection with the Preston Railroad Grade. I then followed that the short distance to it's junction with East Tiger Trail. This trail is pretty faint, and hasn't seen much traffic. But still easily ran. I followed East Tiger until the junction with Upper Bootleg (nice decorated tree here) and turned left and began to follow this trail towards Tiger I. I hit West Tiger and here is where the major obstacle of the day faced me. At the clearcut there, it appears as if WWI hit the trail. An amazing amount of trees are down across the trail. The trail itself for a hundred yards or so is decimated. I weaved my way over, under and around tree's. But if you are not comfortable doing this and taking some risks, I advise to stay away from this section. You could climb up to the road and continue on there. Once I hit the Hiker's Hut, I was on part of the Twelve Summits Route. I ran along to the summits of Tiger's II and III, the dropped down using West Tiger No. 3 trail. At the intersection with Talus Rock Trail, I turned left and followed that fun little trail to Nook, which took me down to the Bus Trail. I took a quick break at the High Point Trailhead (15.5 miles), then cut over on the Around the Lake to the Puget Power trail. I started my return journey by taking Adventure Trail to Poo Poo Point Trail. I power hiked this trail to the point and was able to enjoy watching some dudes leap off of it and float around for a bit. I then took the West Side to it's junction with Hidden Forest. This was steeper and more difficult then I anticipated and I was starting to bonk a bit. Fortunately, the terrain eases up when you hit the TMT which I followed to Fifteen Mile and it's junction with Rd 4000. I walked the 1.6 miles on this road, refueling to it's intersection with Preston RR (again). However this time I descended the full trail until it's junction with Road 7000. I was treated to the sun slowly setting as I followed this road back to Northwest Timber. I hit the parking lot and my car at 33.5 miles just as dusk hit. 8:45 total time. I have uploaded the route to Runkeeper for those interested. I have called it the "Easy Tiger 50k".

I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and explore lower parts of Tiger Mountain. I have explored the summits multiple times, but never the lower trails. Since I wasn't climbing much elevation, most of my time was spent running. All of the trails were in great condition, and even with Mother's Day traffic and a few previous days of rain, the paths held up great. Starting from the High Point Trailhead I warmed up with a lap Around the Lake. This was a good trail around Tradition Lake, very easy. Saw lots of children who were enjoying the outdoors with their mothers. After I was warmed up and done with my lap, I decided to get lost. The trails around lower Tiger are a seemingly endless maze, but if you have a general idea of where you want to be, and follow the signage, you'll be just fine. Every trail leads to another trail, and the signs do a great job pointing out which fork to take. Overall, I touched most of the trails on the map. Around the Lake, West Tiger #3, Nook, Bus Line, Bonneville, Adventure, Big Tree, Swamp, Wetlands, and the boring-but-functional Puget Power trail. NOTE: For those who complain about mud on the trail or blowdowns - stop. This is nature. YOU volunteered to venture into the forest. If you wanted a clean, pristine place to explore you should go walk the Malls in the morning. The floors are freshly cleaned and waxed each night. Nature happens - trees blow down and ground gets over-saturated. Gear up and deal with it.

Gorgeous day! Saw a lot of others on some parts of the trail including a school on a class trip. Everyone was pleasant to encounter. We started out with my mom, my almost two year old niece in a backpack and I on the trail with the intent of taking the trail listed here. However, we got to a T in the trail not listed in the description... We took the branch left not really caring about our route planning on doubling back after 3 or so miles if we didn't cross more signage. We ended up on the adventure trail which afforded us much greater incline and decline than the other trails found here I imagine from the other parts of the trail we experienced. All still easily doable with a kid on your back. It was surprising to me that there was no signage at that junction on such a well used trail. Anyway we followed the adventure trail to the junction with the high school trail, where we hiked out along the power lines after hanging a left onto the high school trail. It was ankle deep mud! We went back to the junction with high school trail and tradition plateau and hung a left toward tradition plateau past poo poo point to our right and home along the bus trail and the around the lake trail. It was a beautiful day to ramble along, should have brought a map if I had wanted to do a specific trail.