Grand Canyon of Fifteenmile Creek, Hobart - Middle Tiger Railroad Trail, Fifteenmile Creek Railroad Grade, Tiger Mountain Trail South, Middle Tiger & West Side Road — Monday, May. 9, 2022

I took advantage of some nice weather today to fill in some more lines on my Tiger Mountain map. Today's adventure was mostly in the Middle Tiger area. My route is perhaps best described as a very distorted lollipop loop, from the gated entrance to Middle Tiger off Tiger Mountain Road. Or perhaps you could describe it as a "Middle Tiger / Fifteenmile Creek Loop", since many of the trails are alongside Fifteenmile Creek / Canyon. 

First things first - there is really nowhere to park if you want to start hiking at this "trailhead", which is at 47.47355, -121.99357. There are about a dozen No Parking signs plastered everywhere here, including all along Tiger Mountain Road for a ways around the gate, and in front of some of the nearby private residences. The road has no shoulder, and the only "safe" parking I found was 0.7 miles south across the street from a fire station. I wasn't happy about an extra 1.4 mile walk, but I didn't want to risk parking near one of the No Parking signs. On my return, there was a truck parked right near the gate about 15' south of one of the signs, in a spot that could hold one or two cars. This might be allowed, but it's really hard to tell.

Anyway, on to the hike. Starting at the gate, you walk north through the gate about 1/4 mile until you reach the West Tiger Road. If you go left, you ultimately reach the old parking area and trailhead for the Fifteenmile Canyon Trail (aka Grand Canyon of Fifteenmile Creek). There is a sign and some caution tape indicating that this trail is currently closed, due to a damaged bridge, so proceed at your own risk. I don't know how long this trail has been closed, as this was my first time there.

Going the other way (right) on the West Side Road, you go around a few corners, up some hills, and eventually find yourself at a large concrete bridge. To the left before you cross the bridge is the Middle Tiger Trailhead. From here you can hike about 1/10 of a mile and you come to a split, with the Hobart Railroad Grade going left and the Middle Tiger Trail (unsigned) going up to the right. For today, I took the Hobart Grade up and came down Middle Tiger, but if I had to do it again, I would go the other way. The Middle Tiger Trail is steep and sort of sketchy, whereas the Hobart RR Grade is very mellow and a much better trail - better to go up the steeps and down the gentle stuff.

The Hobart RR Grade was a really nice surprise of a trail. I figured in this hind end of Tiger Mountain, all the trails would be pretty bad - my past experience with the Fifteenmile Railroad Grade being a prime example. But the Hobart Grade is really nice, mostly in deep woods with very little brush to contend with. There were no blowdowns, and very little mud - just a really nice trail, with remnants of the old mining / logging activity seen occasionally along the way. As you slowly climb, Fifteenmile Creek climbs up to meet you from the left and you get occasional glimpses down into the canyon that are pretty cool. Just before you reach Fifteenmile Creek, there is a junction on the right that is a connector trail up to the TMT. If you want a shortish loop, you can take this connector up and then hang a right on the TMT to get back to the Middle Tiger Trail.

I needed to color in a bunch of trails above this, however, so I stopped for lunch at the creek and then continued across and up the other side to the Fifteenmile Railroad Grade. NOTE: There is no bridge over Fifteenmile Creek here, and right know it's running pretty good, easily ankle to knee deep in parts. Right at the crossing, there are two very slippery logs that I used to cross, and almost bit it as I slipped on the second one. Poles would have helped, but regardless, I made it across without dunking myself. The trail up on the other side is pretty sketchy and primitive, but it gets you up to the Fifteenmile RR Grade pretty quickly.

At the Fifteenmile RR Grade, I took a left and followed it until reaching the Hidden Forest Trail. In my opinion, this trail is one of the worst on Tiger Mountain, especially this particular section. It gets very brushy in spots (like you can't see the tread brushy), and there are several big mud bogs which also happen to be surrounded by stinging nettles - fun! At least the blowdowns are pretty minimal, and it's a RR grade so it's pretty flat. I did unintentionally discover a geocache next to the trail. There is also a very new-looking metal bridge that is totally out of place for this trail, and whoever placed it there didn't even bother to grade the approach to the bridge or improve the trail on either side. I was happy to reach the end of this primitive trail and take a right (uphill) on the Hidden Forest Trail.

Hidden Forest is its usual brushy and very steep self. Nothing too much to report here other than some minor blowdowns - I only did the section between the Fifteenmile RR Grade and the TMT, where the junction is labeled "Larry's Crossing". You start to get some pretty decent views of Middle Tiger from here, not that it's much too look at.

Heading right (east) on the TMT, I was still in the brush for just a bit, but all of a sudden it just disappeared and the TMT turned into a primo example of a single-track forest trail. Honestly, this section of the TMT is a hidden gem - narrow but with nice tread and no obstacles of any sort. There are cool gullies and a few minor stream crossings, plus this monstrous garage-sized glacial erratic that someone has bolted some rock-climbing devices into. Eventually, the TMT drops down and crosses the Fifteenmile RR Grade Trail, then crosses Fifteenmile Creek on an actual bridge (yay!). It passes by a clearcut on the way, but the clearcut is above the trail so you don't get much of a view anywhere. Shortly after this you pass the connector trail that goes back to the Hobart Grade - this is another good place to return to the start.

I chose to keep going on the TMT as it contours around the south side of Middle Tiger. This results in a lot more elevation gained, but it's also very nice trail. You pass through some more named spots like "Paul's Cove" and "Hal's Cove" with nice creeks. The trail keeps climbing, even using a few switchbacks at times, until you finally reach a junction with the Middle Tiger Trail south of the actual summit.

At this point I took a right down the Middle Tiger Trail. This drops almost 1000' back to the junction with the Hobart Grade and the Middle Tiger TH. This was my least favorite trail of the day - it's quite steep in places, and quite brushy in others. It had been raining, so I kept getting doused with water from the brush overhanging the trail. Also the steep parts of the trail were occasionally muddy, and my lack of poles meant I had to go really slow to keep from slipping.  Fortunately, someone had recently cut back most of the sword ferns along the route so that was a big help. There are some good parts of this trail near the bottom, but overall I'd say it was fairly primitive.

The best part of the hike today - I saw absolutely no one for almost the entire day. The first person I saw was a biker riding up the West Side Road (east) as I was on my way down, followed shortly by a hiker and another biker on the same road. I saw zero people on my way in or on any of the TMT sections. So, if you can stomach the annoying parking situation, and don't mind the lack of distant views, this is a great way to get some solitude on Tiger.

The 0.7 mile road walk back to my car at the end really sucked on my tired legs. Maybe next time I'll risk parking in the one spot next to the road, but with such a long hike I didn't want to chance it. I was out for about 5:15 and did about 12.2 miles, 2400' of gain - this includes the 1.4 miles on the road.

Trails I would recommend on this route

TMT: This is like the PCT of Tiger Mountain - very well maintained and nicely graded. The section east of the Middle Tiger Trail and down to the Hobart TH is also very nice and newly reconstructed - this would be the alternate way to get up there instead of the Tiger Mountain Road TH.

Hobart Railroad Grade: Another lovely trail, can be used to do a nice loop with the TMT

Middle Tiger summit: I didn't do this one today, but the section of the Middle Tiger Trail above the TMT is actually quite nice, and it doesn't take that long to get to the summit from the TMT. Just don't expect any views at the summit, it's all trees.

Trails I would NOT recommend

Fifteenmile Railroad Grade: Just say no

Middle Tiger Trail below the TMT: No redeeming qualities about this trail, in my opinion, other than it's the shortest way to Middle Tiger