Tiger Summit to West Tiger 1 - Feb. 9, 2012

After our disappointment from last week (our first fail at peakin'), Michael and I were back on Tiger Mountain this week to conquer West Tiger 1 from the south.  This time, we started out a bit closer to our goal - to hedge our bets - from Tiger Summit off of Highway 18.

Our starting point; south-east side of Tiger Mountain State Forest.  We started to the left, ended to the right.

We started our run by heading northwest on the access road that passes the bathrooms on the right side of the road.  We continued a few miles until we came to Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT) that crosses the road heading north and south.  We took the right onto TMT and headed north on the singletrack toward Fatal Train Wreck Site, not having to jump and climb over as many trees as the week before but still having to do so periodically.  Once we got to the Fatal Train Wreck Site however, things got interesting.  This area was torn up from January's heavy storms.  There were several large fir trees lying over the trail and it was so bad that it was hard to even see where the trail went.  If WTA can clear this part of the trail in under a year, I'll be super-impressed.  Because of the little detours involved in moving around and over the natural wreckage, we missed our intended trail, the TMT. Instead, we ended up on the Artifacts Trail, which is nice but it leads to a logging road that again led us to a dead-end - not again!

This week however, we were not going to be stopped from reaching our destination peak by a little dead-end in the road.  Instead of doubling back, we forged our way into the forest and headed uphill and north (I smartly brought a map with me this week), knowing that was the direction of West Tiger.  For about 30 minutes, Michael and I ran/walked through the forest which ended up being very fun.  We were able to actually get some good periods of running in, albeit slow, on the nice uber soft pine needle forest floor.  We were slowed a bit by having to cross a few swampy areas (Michael got a nice flesh wound on his hand) but somehow, we ended up coming out on the road that goes from East Tiger Summit to West Tiger Summit.  We were so happy to find a road (Main Tiger Mountain Road at that!) that in our hysteria we headed the wrong direction (toward East Tiger) when we continued.  Luckily, we quickly figured this out once we ran into Preston Railroad Trail (right below East Tiger Summit) and so doubled back to start the second part of our run: the climb to West Tiger 1.

A cool thing about Tiger is it's size.  Overall, there are 13,500 acres (55 km²) of designated conservation area with so many different trails and dirt/gravel roads that it's easy to get lost.  On this run, we discovered that there's a beautiful valley, Fiftteenmile Creek valley, between East and West Tiger.  We ran down into the valley, passed 15 Mile Railroad Grade rest area, then back up toward West Tiger 1.  When we turned right on the road that heads upward (a nice little sign on a tree points you the right direction), the run got VERY STEEP.  This was by far the most difficult part of the run.  The last mile to the summit is slow and tough.  Mikey and I put our heads down, stopped talking and focused on one step at a time (cliche I know, but it works).  After what seemed like forever (more like 10 minutes), we reached the top of West Tiger 1 and were rewarded with great views looking north: Lake Sammamish, Bellevue, Lake Washington and beyond.

Returning was nice because we got to go back a slightly different way which is always a bonus.  Not only that, but we ended up on the far west side of West Tiger 1 (hiker's hut) and got to take in the incredible views looking west towards Puget Sound and south toward Mt. Rainier.  We continued down the steep hill toward West Tiger 2, taking the sharp left before the gate (that heads up to #2) onto Main Tiger Mountain Road.  Once we were on this road, we took it down, back up and back down (you got to love the secluded Fifteen Mile Creek valley!) all the way back to the car and Tiger Summit Trailhead.  The last few miles coming down the old forest road were pretty steep (from East Tiger turnoff down) and fun.  Michael and I commented on how we looked forward to running UP this sucker instead of down it.  Once we got back to the Highway 18 parking lot, we decided to cool-down are downhill-tired legs with a little 5 min. out-and-back on the road we started our run on.

Michael's great mobile photo on top of West Tiger 1 - looking west toward SeaTac

Overall, this run was awesome considering we survived our off roading experience (not advised!) AND made it to our destination peak in one go.  My take: running south of the West Tiger peaks are great because there are loads of trails and old mountain roads without the crowds and hubbub of the other side of Tiger. 

For Directions to trailhead from Seattle:  http://g.co/maps/7d755

Run Stats:  Total Distance: ~16 miles   Time: 2:14:31 (running)   Elevation Gain: ~ 2,200 ft.    Pace: 8:25