East Tiger Mountain & West #1 - Feb. 23, 2012

A few weeks back, while looking up the the elevations of all the peaks in the Issaquah Alps, I realized that West Tiger Peak # 1 (2,948 feet (899 m)) was NOT the highest summit on Tiger Mountain.  That title went to East Tiger Mountain, elevation 3,004 feet (916 m).  Therefore, Michael and I decided we'd gone too long on Tiger without actually peakin' the highest point.  This Thursday, February 23, would be the morning to do it...and, for good measure, we decided to throw in the second highest point on the mountain as well.

As is happens, we were both training for the Chuckanut 50k in March and knew it would be great training to do both peaks in one run; so two it was!  We started our morning run at Tiger Summit Trailhead parking lot, right next to Highway 18.  We took the scenic route to Main Tiger Mountain Road, via the bathrooms and Iverson Railroad Trail.  Once we got on the gravel road and took a left, it was a steady 3 mile climb until the road split and we took a right on Crossover Road.  Here, East Tiger is directly to your left, with some nice views of Middle and South Tiger Mountain to the right.  We followed this road for about .5 miles to the next gravel road that continues straight.  Don't take this road!  Instead, continue left, around the curve, and keep heading up.  Here, snow under our feet made the running more difficult, but we kept trudging ahead and up, hoping the top of the summit would come soon.  Sure enough, it did.  After about 8 minutes of somewhat difficult snow running, we were on top of East Tiger Mountain, enjoying the great views from the TOP of Tiger Mountain.  BOO-YA!

Top of East Tiger Mountain from Main Tiger Mountain Road below.  Take right at next Y.

After a few minutes of walking around and checking out the summit a bit (it's a rather large area with a bunch of towers), we continued back down the mountain to Main Tiger Mountain Road, passing a rather angry looking man in a service truck.  Once back on Main, we continued our run toward West Tiger #1.  As we did a few weeks back (see post "Tiger Summit to West Tiger 1 - Feb. 9, 2012"), we enjoyed 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.  We turned right on the road that heads up (a nice little sign on a tree points you the right direction), this time knowing the difficulty of the next mile to come.  This time, it felt easier for both of us, despite the few inches of snow covering the road.  It was nice to come back and run where we had a few weeks earlier and feel much stronger, knowing all the peakin' we'd done was paying off. 

From the east side of #1, we took the little Bypass Trail (sweet little trail!) that bypasses the summit (because it's gated off) and comes out right behind the Hiker's Hut.  Taking in the views from the top only briefly, we continued down the steep hill to Main Tiger Mountain Road.  Taking a left at the road, we ran until we hit Poo Top Trail, took a right onto the singletrack, then took a left onto Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT!) when we hit Larry's Crossing.  TMT is by far my favorite trail on Tiger Mountain; have I mentioned that yet?  This section here is a nice alternative to Main Tiger Mountain Road because the trail parallels the road from Larry's Crossing all the way to 15 Mile Railroad Grade Trail.  Here, TMT turns sharply to the south towards Paul's Cove, so we took a left on 15 Mile RR which took us back to the Road at the 15 Mile RR Grade rest area.

We passed Lone Rock on TMT right before 15 Mile Railroad Grade.

Once we got back onto Main Tiger Mountain Road, it was a direct 5 mile shot, up and back down, to our cars waiting for us at Tiger Summit Trailhead.  Overall, this was a great run; one I'd highly recommend for anyone training for an serious trail run/race.  You get two great peaks (both with great views) in on one Mountain, and it's a good training run for any ultra with more than one hard climb.  Michael and I both felt like this run, both physically and mentally, prepared us well for the Chuckanut 50k course. 

For more info on East Tiger Mountain and directions, check out:  http://www.summitpost.org/east-tiger-mountain/408366

Run Stats:  Total Distance: ~17.5 miles   Time: 2:29:41    Elevation Gain: ~ 2,700 ft.    Pace: 8:33