West Tiger Mountain 2 and 3
West Tiger Mountain #2 Summit and the moon as seen from West Tiger Mountain #3 Summit (click for larger version)
Tiger Mountain is only 20 miles east of Downtown Seattle and insanely popular (though probably less so than Mt. Si). One thing is certain however, it ain't easy. West Tiger 3 is absurdly steep and only let's up about once. It's relatively short (2.6 miles from the trailhead) but I consider it harder than Mt. Si which gets 1,200 feet higher and is a 1 1/2 miles longer. I was at my limit then entire 56 minutes it took me to get to the top of Summit 3. Since I hadn't had enough fun yet, I continued to Summit #2 which is about 230 feet higher but is marred by some radio communication towers (one of which I engineered at a past job).
Check out the pictures in my Flickr photoset.
Stats:
Mileage: 6.87
Max Elevation: 2,797
Total Elevation Gain: 3,004 feet
Total Time (including dinner break and photos): 2 hours 56 minutes
Hike Profile
Teneriffe 3, Michael 0
With the above average temperatures and sun all week, I figured today would be a good day to reach the summit of Mt. Teneriffe via the old jeep road. It's a 14 mile trudge and a daunting challenge in good weather and a difficult path when there's snow. The road begins that the "school bus turnaround" at the end of the Mt. Si road and has a small parking area where a gate blocks access to the road. The road is nearly flat for the first mile before it begins pitching steeply upward. The road is wide but much less easier to hike due to the rocks and potholes that littler the way up.
With overcast skies with a dark cloud covering the summit of Teneriffe and Si, I set out around 2:45 PM, about 2 hours later than I had intended (not surprisingly, I couldn't get my ass outta bed). I made good time though, reaching the medium sized waterfall that marks then end of the flat section in about 15 minutes. I was having a good day and had no problems with my fast pace up the steep parts. I am always amazed by the density of the forest that surrounds the road. Some sections are so dark that you can't see beyond 20 feet or so even though there's no brush. During a hike in March, I stepped into one of these sections (I normally don't do this to spare the vegetation) and was genuinely spooked by how dark it was during the middle of the afternoon. Around 2,400 feet, I began to hear this whooooOOMP, whooooOOMP, whoooooOOMP sound coming from the woods. The noise was too low in frequency and volume to be coming from a bird but I don't know of a mammal that makes this kind of sound (granted, I'm no zoologist). I (kinda) worried that it was some sort of mountain goat ((since they are known to be very aggressive if they feel threatened) mating call or warning signal and it bothered me that it stopped when I did. For an instant, I thought I was just imagining it until it started a brief second before I started moving again. I looked all around though and didn't see anything. But the forest is dense enough to hide just about anything or anyone just a few feet in.
I hit some pretty deep snow at a tad over 3,400 feet that was solid enough that I could easily walk on it without snowshoes. Then the road leveled (FINALLY) and cleared until 3,850 feet where the snow was deep and soft enough for me to fall through with my right leg up to my crotch (which took forever to get out of) that made me think about turning around. At about 3,900 feet, I could go no further without any snow gear. If it had been colder, I could have probably traversed the snow without falling through but it just wasn't worth it especially since I had started so late. So I hung my head and turned around.
The views weren't that great and I only took my camera out twice. I didn't see a single soul on the trail and despite being so close to North Bend and I-90, it felt very remote. 9.0 miles total with about 2,800 feet total elevation gain. I will be back and won't be denied again.
You can see the few photos I managed to take in my Flickr photoset.
P.S. I'm not posting my GPS tracks or Mpasource .GPX files because it was a failed attempt. If you'd really like them, please drop me an e-mail and I'd be glad to send them.
Mt. Si Sunset
I have no right writing this entry since I don't have any proof with pictures. Around 3:30 PM today will all hell breaking loose at work, I decided to just bail at 5 and do Mt. Si. It would take me at least an hour to get to the trailhead from Downtown which meant that I would likely be descending in the dark but I have a good headlamp and know the trail pretty damn well.
On the ascent, I decided to mix things up a bit and take the Talus Loop trail and ford roaring creek to get to get to the Mt. Teneriffe trail. Way easier than I thought and headed back up to Si. Took a 15 minute break on the talus portion (with gorgeous views of Mailbox Peak and North Bend) which is where I discovered that I failed to turn off my camera after Sunday's trip to Deception Pass. Damn. My first Mt. Si sunset and no pics. Oh well, I thought, the season is young. On up I trudged.
I finally reached the summit at 8:40ish and did the short, yet so easy scramble to the very peak (not something I usually do on Si) and watched the sun set behind Mt. Olympus through a scattering of cirrus clouds. Then came the fun part. Impressed by my LED headlamp's illumination, I proceeded carefully down the rockfall below the Haystack and entered the forest. Hiking at night is fun!! Near the 3rd mile marker, I saw an older couple going up and I was floored. Then at Snag Flats (just below the 2 mile marker) I saw a whole line of bobbing lights. These people are nuts.
Near the cairn that marks the lower entrance to the Talus loop trail and I was scared stiff when I heard a voice but couldn't see a damn thing. I quickly scanned the area and just about fell over when my headlamp's beam caught the white's of this girl's eyes. She and a friend had come across the ferry from Bremerton and were doing a night hike of Mt. Si. They had stopped for a break and switched their lamps off to enjoy the darkness. LOL. I was panting from fear but managed to keep my speech patterns normal. Her name was Sara (without the H as I remember her making a big deal about this) and I didn't catch her friend's name. Their plan was to hike up to the Haystack and descend via the Talus Loop. She had some questions about the condition of Talus and then I was off. I thought about joining them and might have if my legs weren't about ready to just give out right then and there from fatigue. I never imagined so many people would do this kind of hiking at night.
Made it down in a little over an hour which is flying considering the terrain and darkness.
The kicker was when I arrived at the lot, I counted 16 cars excluding the US Forest Service van. Sweet jebus that's crazy.
I paid $3.49 a gallon at Shell station in Downtown North Bend.
