The route I chose to get to West Tiger #1 (via Tiger and Preston Trails) does not seem the most common, but it was a great day. It's a nearly 7-mile “intermediate to hard” route, which climbs 2,327 ft to a peak of 2,923 ft. (Just 73 ft shy of being the tallest peak in the park! East Tiger Mountain wins that prize @ 2996 ft.)
I got off 90E at Exit 20, and while there were loads of cars, there were still a few spots to grab near the intersection of SE 79th St & 270th Ave SE (on the south side of 90).
The weather was fabulous. Sunny, warm. I started around 11:00 am and returned just short of 3:00 pm. My goal was to hit the peak of West Tiger 1, which is why I chose to follow what looked like the most direct route—as suggested by Trailforks (see screenshot). It involved a handful intersections & choice points, and a total of 5 different trails (SE 79th St/Lovegren Rd to High Point Trail to Lingering Trail to Tiger Mountain Trail N3 to West Tiger RR Grade Trail to Preston Trail to Main Tiger Mountain Road for the final ascent). I now see why (although, as the topo map flies, this way looks like the most direct route), it is not the preferred, recommended, or most popular way to get to this 2nd highest peak in the park!
If you’re already quite familiar with the Tiger Mountain State Forest, then please, go forth with confidence. Otherwise, you might wanna keep either a topo map or your choice map app handy…as I needed to. Didn’t love firing up the smart phone as much as was necessary....and made more than one wrong turn (...thank you good internet connection...thank you Google maps).
On that last leg up via Preston, there’s a resurrected path carved through downed logs and large stumps (last year’s bomb cyclone?) …the work to reproduce this now walkable trail looked like it had been no small feat (shout out to the awesome trail crews!!) – it still requires some scrambling, a sure foot and a steady set of hands to navigate your way up to the last stitch of the Main Tiger Mountain Road safely. The views from this road (above treeline, or just above a bunch of downed trees I'm not sure, but...) are nothing short of spectacular...even if you don't trek up that last bit the hut. All Seattlites should have the good fortune of admiring the vast terrain of this region from such a vantage point. Not to be missed!
The descent is fairly steep until you hit the last ½ mile, so wear thick socks and your best hiking shoes or boots. It’s also at about that first/last ½ mile mark that the din of highway traffic kicks into high gear. Accessing High Point Trail via this route involves paralleling the noisy highway on SE 79th St. Now that I’ve done it, going this way again would not be my first choice.
With stops for pictures, chatting with fellow day trippers and gawking at the stunning, 360 degree views at the peak (and going the wrong way twice), my round trip time was 3 hrs, 45 min. If speed is your game, or you’re a trail runner, this would obviously go much faster, but by whatever means, you’ll get a decent work out...time well spent!
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