1, 2 & 3 - West Tiger Peaks

Saturday, 2/13, Alyssa and I headed out on an adventure. You see, this year, we are slowly piecing all the routes on Tiger Mountain together, "TRAIL and ERROR". It has been so great to take advantage of this mountain in our back yard. WOWZA.

Us 3 girls headed out for the hike. Roxy is enjoying Troy's Valentine's present, his bed liner! Alyssa is enjoying her new gloves and hiking shoes. And I got my ear wind stopper, new jacket and new hiking pants. After 8 years of living here, I finally bought the $9 map. We parked on I-90, exit 22 on Preston Way. The PINK highlighted trail is what we hiked today.

Also on the map, you can see GRAND CANYON at 15 mile creek. WIKI says it is the most remote part of the forest. That is my next planned hike, I hear it is pretty and our own little Grand Canyon here in Washington. HMMM. I will let you know how that one is too! Also, I plan to see the artifacts from a 1924 train wreck near Middle Mountain. (double click on photo to get zoom) It was a 9 mile hike, took us 5 1/2 hours and this shows our elevation. I didn't know if we would hit all three peaks today, but it worked out.

PROOF

Beginning of trail. I knew we would at least go 3.8 miles up but from there, it would be all whim and adventure.

Xmas Tree in February.

We made it. Along the way, we saw a few charred trees. Alyssa asked me why some were burned and others not. Then she reasoned that some trees were smarter than others and they told their leaves to fill with water to resist the fire. UMMMMMM, ok then!! FUNNY.

And what would any good hiker do at the top of a trail called POO? You know me best if you can guess!

Here is the little HIKERS HUT that we sat in for a few minutes.

Quick view from WT1, looking south to Maple Valley.

And we made it to another peak! And another.

This is when we got into a fight because she thought we should not disobey the sign. I made her cross the bridge and she didnt speak to me for 10 minutes. From afar, you can see the bridge has been damaged in the last storm. It was knocked off kilter. I heard this was a $20K bridge, helecoptered in, but poor bridge needs some loving now. Well, it was a beautiful hike, lots of streams and ferns. We saw only 18 people in 9 miles and after this hike, it makes the rest of what I have done, like Disneyland. This very rustic hike was great. I carried my gun with me, but am bummed to say, we saw no wildlife. Darnit!

Now, I am nearly ready for my CROSS TIGER MOUNTAIN HIKE. I have done East Tiger to WT1. I have done WT1-WT3. I have done Issaquah High School to Poo Poo. All I need to do is link WT3 to Poo Poo and I am ready to do the entire mountain (I guess 16-20 miles) from East to West. Park at Hwy 18 and hike all the way to Issaquah High School. It isn't that tough. Who wants to do it with me in April or May?

So now with WT1,2,3, done, I need to do East Tiger Summit, Middle Mountain Summit and South Mountain. In total there are 6 peaks for me to feel accomplished. WOW, what a great mountain. Who needs to travel anywhere else when this one is so close.