One of the closest hikes to downtown Seattle; also one of the busiest.
Trail Stats:
Around 5.5 miles round trip. A total of 2100ft of elevation gain.
Directions:
From Seattle, take I-90 East past Issaquah to exit 20. You’ll see a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road through the trees right before the off ramp. This is where you’re heading. Take a right at the end of the ramp and follow the road for around .4 miles to the gate. The pavement ends here and a gravel road begins. Take the gravel road to the parking lot at the end (be sure to watch for pot holes). Be warned, this lot fills up fast, so show up early. The gate you entered through closes at 7PM, so don’t plan on staying too late, otherwise you’ll have to park at the gate and walk up the road.
Trail:
If you’re looking for the wilderness experience, you might want to find another trail. West Tiger #3 is one of the busiest trails on an already busy mountain. The views aren’t spectacular, but it’s extremely close to the Seattle area and it’s a nice walk through the woods.
From the parking lot, you’ll want to head towards the signs at the back of the lot. Walk past the latrines and you’ll find the beginning of the High Point trailhead. Be sure to look for the signs for the West Tiger No. 3 trail, as there are many trails that branch off from the main one. The trail system here is extremely well established, so it’s not hard to find the trails as long as you follow the signs. At roughly .2 miles from the high point trailhead, you’ll find the beginning of the West Tiger No. 3 trail. As you can tell from the route profile, it’s a fairly gradual incline all the way to the top of the mountain.
In the beginning the trail wanders through the woods in a fairly straight path. At 1 mile from the parking lot, you’ll run into an intersection with the Talus Rock Trail. Be sure to hang a left and continue up the West Tiger #3 trail. At 2 miles from the parking lot, after a few switchbacks, you’ll cross another path created for buried cables. Continue along the trail for another .6 miles to the summit. While the views are extremely limited for the first 2 miles of the trail, the trees open up a bit here and you can see the surrounding area. The summit has views of the surrounding area and I’m told on nice days you can even see Mt. Baker. To return to your car, turn around and go back the way you came.
West Tiger #3 isn’t on my top 10 list for trails in the Seattle area, but it’s less than 20 minutes from downtown Seattle. If you need to get out of the city for a bit and into the woods, you can certainly do worse than anywhere on Tiger Mountain.
