Tiger Mountain: West Tiger #3

West Tiger 3 - March 23rd, 2014
Mileage: 5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2100 feet
Issaquah Alps: I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Intermediate

As we began to hike Tiger Mountain we had many questions, most of which we initially kept to ourselves. It's hard to talk and breathe heavily at the same time... However after about 3/4 of a mile our muscles were warmed up and we could speak again. Why the hell is it called Tiger Mountain? There are no tigers, to my knowledge Tiger is not a Native American word, nor is it a popular surname. So why? The other two popular hiking areas in the Issaquah Alps (Soaring Eagle and Cougar Mountain) both have appropriate Pacific Northwest Names? So who fell down on the job with Tiger Mountain? What's more did they just suffer from the most stupendous lack of creativity ever? Not only did they give it some arbitrary animal name, but they actually named THREE mountains that! This is how I imagine the dialogue:

Nameless Bureaucrat #1: Hmmmm how about an animal?
Nameless Bureaucrat #2: Well you've already used Eagle, Cougar, Rattlesnake is just up the way a little bit, what animal do you propose?
Nameless Bureaucrat #1: Well my daughter likes tigers....
Nameless Bureaucrat #2: But sir there's actually 3 mountains!!
Nameless Bureaucrat #1: Damn it man! I'm an ideas guy! I'm not practical sort it out yourself!!
Door slams
Nameless Bureaucrat #2: Fuck it. I'll just number them.

And that is the completely realistic, definitely NOT completely fabricated story of the naming of Tiger Mountain!

Aside from the inane naming (say that 3 times fast!) we really enjoyed this hike. We had some later engagements so we did this hike pretty early in the day, which was nice for a couple of reasons. 1) Fewer people, by all accounts West Tiger 3 is pretty crowded, so I'm guessing (especially later in the season) do this hike early. 2) There is something awesome about summitting a mountain early (even if it's just a small one) you feel very accomplished and you've still got the rest of the day to gorge on nasty food! Hey you earned it!

Overall the trail itself is in very good condition. The grade isn't terribly steep, but it does pretty much start out going up with no real warm up (the virtues of which I've expounded on before). Maybe if you park at the lower parking lot that would help and then you could avoid the horrendous pot-holes on the road up to the upper parking area.

My biggest problem with West Tiger #3 is the lack of payoff. You do a fair amount of work 2100 ft of elevation gain in a little over two miles is no slouch. Despite what WTA says though, the soaring views of Issaquah, Lake Sammamish and paragliders off of Poo Poo Point just really aren't visible through the tree tops. You get glimpses and you keep thinking it'll open up, but it doesn't. For better views in the area I would say Mt. Si, Poo Poo Point, Rattlesnake ledge (if you can bear the crowds), are all better options.


Overall I think this is a pretty good hike as long as you are enjoying the hike itself and not looking for a reward. The grade is decent, the trail in nice condition and the interior pretty. But if you want views go elsewhere.

Thanks to our friend Daniel for the pictures. Our memory card got fried!

Poo Poo Point via Chirico Trail

Poo Poo Point via Chirico Trail - March 20th, 2014

Mileage: 3.6

Elevation: +1700 ft

Issaquah Alps

Dog Friendly

Difficulty: Medium

It amuses me to no end the forest service allowed a five year old to name this trail. Probably the best part of the fact that is is call Poo Poo Point is the complete lack of explanation about the origin of the name.  Don't let the name fool you, though. Regardless of the childish name, there is nothing childish about gaining 1700 feet of elevation gain in just under 1.8 miles.  Imagine walking up normal height stairs now multiple this by 3,600 and enjoy. While this may sound pretty daunting, the trail builders did an amazing job grading the switch backs on the trail.  They seem to alternate between one steep switch back and one gentle switch back, which gives your legs a much needed rest without having to stop completely.  

At about 1.6 miles into the first part of the hike you emerge from the woods into a perfectly open meadow with a beautiful 180 degree view of the valley below.  We were lucky enough to arrive here just before sunset on a clear day and could see for many miles.  The trail continues another .2 miles to end at Poo Poo Point itself.  This also has a really nice 180 degree view facing the opposite direction.  This point is a popular launch location for para gliders and we were lucky enough to summit just as one was taking off.  

Our friend Nick brought along a musical instrument and picked around on it while the sunset.  After taking a much earned break we strapped on headlamps and started the descent which took about half the time as the ascent had.  We arrived at the car just before it was completely dark.  

I would recommend Poo Poo Point to anyone who is in moderate physical shape and would like a challenging, yet doable training hike to increase their uphill endurance.  It also has a pretty great payoff for the amount of work.  We will be doing this hike as a training hike, once a week throughout the summer 2014 season.

WTA Link

Tiger Mountain West

Tiger Mountain West - March 16th, 2014

Mileage: Various
Elevation Various
Issaquah Alps
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Various (mostly easy-med)

Tiger Mountain is similar to Soaring Eagle and Cougar Mountain in that there are a lot of well signed small individual trails that can be mixed and matched together depending on your own preference. Today for instance: We were all kind of hung over from our awesome St. Patrick's day dinner. So what we wanted was to be asleep. I actually told Chris on the way to Katie's that if she said anything about staying home and watching movies all day I would say "YES!!" I found out as we started our hike Katie had the exact same plan. Luckily neither of us said anything.

Out of the parks I mentioned above, this is by far my favorite. The trails are in pretty good condition. Bonneville trail has some small lake-sized puddles, but other than that it's all pretty nice. This would be an awesome park if you were into mountain biking or trail running. We did the Around the Lake trail, Bus Trail, Bonneville trail and High school trail. Around the Lake trail is something of a misnomer since it really only goes on one side of the lake, but it does provide you access to trail options if you do, in fact, want to go around the lake.  Which is basically what we did, with one important/terrifying extra. Which I'll get to later...

Around the Lake and Bus Trail are both in forested area, it's really pretty in here. Despite the fact that it was cold and wet, the weather gave a really nice ambiance to the surrounding forest. Then all of a sudden there's a freaking bus. What?! That's right, a bus. It's all rusted up, with bullet holes, and it's been totally gutted. It's creepy as hell. Katie and I are both convinced it's haunted by dead children. There's just something unsettling about gutted machinery in the middle of the woods. 

At first we thought we were going to go up Nook trail, but then when it started to climb uphill we decided that was for another day. So we went back down and back along Bus trail and found the connecting trail to Bonneville trail, which is mostly not terribly pretty as it runs under huge power lines, it is pretty when you're near the lake, but we didn't do that until later.

There aren't a lot of maps throughout the park and we weren't thinking terribly straight and we just sort of glanced at one on the way out. We figured we'd just keep making rights-ish. But we turned left onto Bonneville, but that's not where the trouble started. 

We got onto High school Trail. Katie and I wanted to take Adventure (Time) Trail. Chris didn't want to but we did stop for a photo op. By the way if you don't watch Adventure Time you should probably do that. NOW.

So we continued down and just planned on taking our next right. Then, suddenly, we heard a loud popping noise that sounded a lot like gunfire. Nah, must just be metal scraping metal or something and the trees are just filtering the sound. Then it happened again. And again. HOLY FUCK THERE IS SOMEBODY MURDERING PEOPLE!!! We heard a bunch of sirens and emergency vehicle noises headed in that direction and pretty much freaked out, not full blown panic though. Have you ever heard the phrase "They turned and fled?" Yuuuup. I was actually more scared when the shooting stopped because I figured the shooters were now on foot racing through the trees and they can't leave any witnesses!!! We met some people coming along the trail and freaked them out with our crazy tales of gunfire and sirens. A very nice old lady, who was now pretty concerned, told us that it was most likely just the gun range that was down there. So now we felt a lot less frightened, though perhaps a bit sheepish. While it was just a coincidence that the sirens happened at the same time it was enough to scare the bejeezus out of us. Why on earth there isn't a sign saying "Don't worry it's just a gun range!" is kind of beyond me.

The rest of the hike was pretty uneventful, we went back the way we had come, just going around the backside of the lake, which was quite lovely in a late winter kind of way. The viewing area that we took a picture of is going to be perfect for a class that Chris and I are going to give for our friends on survival, basic forest first aid etc. All in all, despite the ill effects of Irish whiskey, it was a good day. And it ended with some of the best Chinese food I've had (China Gourmet in Shoreline) I'd highly recommend this as a nice early season hike with a lot of options and variability. 

Evans Creek Preserve

Evans Creek Preserve - March 9th, 2014

Mileage: Various
Elevation Gain: Negligible
Off Hwy 202 in Redmond
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Easy

After we finished Cedar Butte a few of us still wanted to be hiking. So we went to Evans Creek to walk around. This is a very pretty little park. We did a circuit of the outside, which was about 1.5-2 miles. The trails were in very good condition and they have some very nice little boardwalks and bridges through the wetlands. There's apparently a pretty big bridge that spans the majority of the wetlands, but somehow we missed the turn to go see it and were pretty ready to go home afterward so we didn't go back.

This is definitely not a spend all day walking around type park (like Discovery, Tiger Mountain, Soaring Eagle or Cougar Mountain would all be better choices for something like that). It definitely would be a great place to go for a picnic and a stroll. My favorite part of this park is that there are little gnome statues all over the place. We found one that had a note attached to it that read something like this:

Hello! You've found [insert cute gnome-name] of Evans Creek. You'll now receive 999 wishes! But you have to put me in a new secret hiding place. 

So, that was pretty adorable, and we did in fact re-hide him. One of the group took a picture, but I don't have copies. Just imagine a gnome. Good. Is he really cute and about 3 inches high? Perfect.

The rest of the hike was pretty uneventful. There were some wetlands, a really pretty meadow and nice mossy tree areas (my favorite). The trails themselves are pretty flat and very well maintained. We saw a couple pushing a stroller along them, and it wasn't one of those crazy off-road strollers, so that gives you an idea about how nice they were. 

Cedar Butte

At the Trail Head

Cedar Butte - March 9th, 2014
Mileage: 3-4 miles
Elevation Gain: 900 feet
Olallie State Park: I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Easy

A little over a month ago I decided I was going to try and get some of my other friends to go hiking with Katie, Chris and I. In an effort to facilitate that, and also to get some of them in shape for an upcoming trip to the Hoh Rain Forest, I created a hiking group called: Allison Pushes People Up Mountains. Now that we've completed our first hike I am almost concerned at how appropriate that name is.

Katie Admiring Rattlesnake

WATER!

I forget that not everybody likes being outside and in nature. The first hike we chose, to my mind, was easy-peasy, even with it being the first official hike. The undergrowth was beautiful and even though the views weren't as awe-inspiring as some of the other hikes I've done I thought it was a good start. I don't think everybody enjoyed it as much as I would have liked, but I definitely converted at least one friend. So I'm chalking that up as a win.

Cedar Butte is basically across the street (literally) from Rattlesnake Ledge. Which is kind of awesome because you drive past Rattlesnake's parking lot and see the 10 billion cars in the parking lot and then you go into the Cedar Falls trailhead and there is nobody. Maybe 4 cars. I'm sure this changes once summer is in full swing but at this point in the season it's pretty solitary. We saw 4 people on the trail total.

One thing I really appreciated about Cedar Butte is you get a warm up. So many times I get out of 1+ hour car ride and then have to go straight up a hill. That is totally mean. I always wish they would move the trailhead like a half mile further away on flat ground so my legs can get warm. For this hike you walk in along, what I'm guessing, is a service road. Even though it definitely doesn't quite feel like you're in nature yet, it's still pretty. There's some swampy marshland and a couple of small creeks.

I'm OUTSIDE!

After the easy walk in you start ascending the mountain. I really enjoyed how misty this hike was. That kind of weather really suits the mossy undergrowth that you see around North Bend at lower elevations. The grade isn't terribly steep but it is pretty consistently up. Occasionally it flattened out for a bit but not often. When you consider you're gaining about 900 feet in about 1.25 miles it's really very reasonable.

Mediocre views!! And so much more!

The views were not incredible once we got to the top. There's a clear view of the valley below but it's still just looking down on North Bend... As much as I love walking in the mist, I kept hoping it was going to clear by the time we got to the summit. If it had been clearer I know you can see Si, Teneriffe and some other surrounding mountains, but the weather was not cooperative.

All in all I think this is a very decent season opener and a very nice beginner hike.

Guest Post: Chris hikes in Discovery Park cause the Mountains are covered in Angel poops.

Discovery park is a very unique place.  There are very few city parks in the country where you can be in the city one minute and then be transferred to a completely remote, incredibly naturally diverse setting in literally about the time it took me to write this line.  This is the magic of discovery park.  Located on the property of a former US Army base, Fort Lawton, Discovery park at 534 acres is the largest city park in Seattle.  It is located on the Puget sound in the neighborhood of Magnolia and is easily reached in 20 minutes or less from about any location in the city.  The park offers expansive views of the Puget Sound from atop high cliffs overlooking the water, an incredible view of Mt. Rainier (on the five days of the year it is clear enough to actually see that far), hikes through fern laden forests and access to several miles of Puget Sound sea shore.

Katie, Amber and Eric were fortunate enough to accompany me on this trip to the park.  It was a perfectly nasty, cold and rainy Pacific Northwest day, but that didn't stop us from going and in my mind only served to increase the neat atmosphere of this park.   Katie and I have spent lots of time in Discovery park but Amber hadn't been there for years and Eric, who is new to the area, had never been.

We started at the main visitor center, then after getting lost because of my flawless sense of direction and orienteering training through BSA, we finally made our way out to the cliffs overlooking the Puget Sound where we were luck enough to capture Epic Eric epicly surveying the landscape.  

After seeing a couple of people who we though were our friends Kevin and Jamie, but turned out to not even be the same nationality once we got closer, we made our way down to the beach and the lighthouse (photo: David Unger, 2006).  Unfortunately because of the weather, we weren't able to see the great view of Rainier.  Here is what it would have looked like.  

After the lighthouse the friends went exploring tide pools and messing with sea anemones, we hopped back into the forest and began the ascent back up to the upper part of the trail.  We also during the beach part of the hike were able to see several seadog saltwater merpeople (Sea Lions) playing around in the water.  I don't know about everyone else, but for me, it is always a treat to see large animals of any kind in the wild instead of captivity.  After much huffing and puffing we finally got to the upper trail and had a relatively flat hike for the last mile.  We hiked the loop trail (3.5 miles).  Our total mileage, because of getting lost and exploring, was closer to 4 miles.  For anyone who is interested, there are another four miles of trails besides the loop trail in the interior of the park.  If you have some time to kill in Seattle and want to get into nature fast I would highly recommend you checking out Discovery Park. 

Twin Falls

Twin Falls - January 12th(ish), 2014
Mileage: 3 miles
Elevation Gain: 500 feet
Olallie State Park: I-90 Corridor
Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Very Easy

So this post is going to visually look a little confusing, because in some of these pictures you'll notice it's gray and rainy and in some of them it's sunny and beautiful. That's because when we hiked in January it was raining enough that we didn't use our cameras very much at all. Most of the pictures are from when Chris and I hiked this back in October of... 2012 maybe? Eesh.

The pictures from our hike in January were taken by our friend Eric (pictured above far left). So thanks to Eric for covering our lazy butts. So! On to info about the hike...

So Twin falls is a super easy, very pretty day hike just outside of North Bend. It's one of the few hikes available outside of the Issaquah Alps in the cascades that's pretty much open year round. The amount of pay off for the amount of work is also pretty great. It's really pretty throughout the hike, and the trail itself is in very good condition.

The trail itself starts off at a very, very easy grade going along the river. Great opportunities for photography. The whole area is very damp. The North Bend area actually gets a lot more rain than Seattle, so it's often very damp out here. Despite that the trail had minimal water on it, even considering it was raining when we were there last.

I always tell people when they go hiking in the pacific northwest they should always carry at least one compass. Not only is that just very good advice in general, but especially in the North West you are pretty much up shit creek if you get lost and don't have a way to tell what direction you should be going. Depending on the time of year (read: most of the year) you might have no visibility from the sun in order to get your bearings. As for that who "moss grows on the south side" business, anybody who has been in the Central/North Cascades, and definitely on the Peninsula can tell you that moss just grows everywhere. You would hardly ever be able to use this trick effectively.

Anyway, after a while you leave the river, but it's always close, and you start climbing some small hills. There are a couple of really nice vistas from the tops of some of these. After a while though you'll come to a point where the trail splits. Go to the right first. This will lead you down some steps (try not to think about having to walk back up them) and on to a very pretty viewing platform which let's you look at the bottom of the bottom most falls (very top photo). The view from the plat form is very nice. Now go back up those steps!

Very shortly after you rejoin the main trail you'll come to a very nice bridge that spans the canyon and offers you some very nice views of the river canyon and the falls themselves. You have the option to continue up the trail from the bridge. The first time we hiked it Chris and I went on for about 1/2 an hour after the bridge, but didn't really see anything worth continuing on for. Nice, short hike, good for beginners, with very decent payoff.

View from bridge looking up the canyon toward the falls

View from bridge looking down the canyon

WTA Listing

Mt. Rainer - Sunrise Visitor Center

Rainier

Mt. Rainier, Sunrise Visitor Center - 2nd week of September 2013
Mileage: Various
Elevation Gain: Various
Mt. Rainier Nat'l park
NOT Dog Friendly
Difficulty: Various

So, you've got family in town. You've done the obligatory trip to the market, maybe you were lucky enough to talk them out of a $20 elevator ride in the Space Needle. You've gone to the Zoo, the SAM, Boeing's Future of Flight tour (not to be missed by the way) and viewed downtown from Gasworks park. What the fuck do we do now?

Left to Right: My Mom, Chris, Me, Chris' Mom

Get in the car and drive for 2 hours and go to Sunrise Visitor Center. The drive out is actually fairly pleasant especially once you pass Enumclaw. On the way out of town be sure to take note of the miniature castle on the left. It's the most bad ass church playground in history.

Shadow lake seen from the trail to Frozen Lake

After Enumclaw it's pretty gorgeous. Initially it's pastureland with lovely views of Mt. Rainier all dressed in white. As you're going through the more forested areas be sure and stop at the vista point to stretch you legs. You can get a pretty photo of Rainier framed with trees Once you enter the park the views get more spectacular. The viewing area below the lodge has a some amazing vistas. Including a very pretty view of Sunrise lake framed by the surrounding peaks. Nice place to for a family photo-op.

Then you're at Sunrise Visitor Center. It's bloody gorgeous. the thing you have to remember about visiting Rainier is that you actually get to the mountain itself. you're on surrounding mountains. Which makes sense since it's hard to see a mountain you're standing on. Some how prior to going there I had never made that connection which made me feel like a huge doofus.

We decided we were going to Frozen Lake. I won't spend too much time describing it since it wasn't too impressive. I'm guessing it's more picturesque earlier in the summer when there's more snow. The walk to Frozen lake is quite pretty, Rainier of course looms over you but some of the other views are pretty stunning, including a peek at Shadow lake

If the folks you've brought aren't terribly athletic, or you've already worn them to a frazzle. They can enjoy the views from a lodge. In late September though, the lodge is only half open.

Everybody who is fair should also take note that if the weather is bright and sunny you should be layering your sunscreen, cause you're going to buuuurn.

Overall, I think Sunrise was gorgeous and I wish I would have had more time to check out some of the other day hike trails.

Chris and I heading up the hill from Sunrise

View just outside of Enumclaw

Chris' Mom looking out over the valley behind the ridge above Sunrise