West Tiger Mountain 4.9.17
Sunday had a great forecast but avy reports were only so-so. We decided on hiking up West Tiger 3, about 2100’ in gain which was a good amount for my current fitness level. We slept in a bit and arrived at the trailhead a little after 10am. We happened to find a spot in the parking lot at the High Point trailhead.
Aaron’s first Tiger Mountain hike
There were people coming and going but nothing too insane, and maybe a little less than I expected. The trail up was pretty good. There are a few muddy spots but they were fairly easy to avoid. The trail had a few signs on the way up, letting us know how much we had to go which was nice. The trail is almost entirely in the trees so everything was very green.
Aaron by one of the mileage signs on the way up
Aaron walking along the trail higher on the mountain, beneath some very tall trees
Near the top we elected to stay on the west tiger trail instead of taking the cable line trail. Along this last half mile or so you get a few more glimpses of surrounding mountains through the trees and can see the radio towers on the nearby summits of Tiger Mountain.
Glimpse of surrounding mountains from the trail below the West Tiger 3 summit
We made it to the summit of West Tiger 3 at 2522’ about 1 hour and 6 mins after starting - much better than I expected! There were a few groups of people up there so we found a log to sit on and had a snack. We looked at the map and I was still feeling ok so we decided to tag West Tiger 2 as well.
West Tiger 3 Summit, 2522’
View from West Tiger 3
After about a 10 minute break we continued on the trail. We dropped down a little into the trees and felt the temperature drop. There were even very small patches of snow here. We found one little lookout with prayer flags but the view was still so-so. We started up and I decided this would be our last summit, we wouldn’t continue to West Tiger 1.
Prayer flag view
Some lingering snow in the trees
We came out of the trees about 10 minutes after leaving West Tiger 3 and found the radio tower. We didn’t wander to the tower so we missed the summit sign, but we sat on the slab of concrete and I had one more snack.
Radio tower on West Tiger 2
Summit selfie
Aaron wanted to trail run down (we had seen several trail runners) so I decided to give it a go. I walked up the little bit of gain back to the West Tiger 3 summit, but after that we jogged down the West Tiger trail all the way to the bathrooms at the bottom. The last mile my legs felt so heavy, thank goodness for the assist from gravity. We made it down the mountain in 40 minutes, not bad! Unfortunately stairs were my nemesis for several days following - guess it’s time to start running again.
GPS Track
The trail we took