01-14-26
Gary
and John were free for an after work headlamp hike. Gary spent about
three weeks in Egypt late in 2025 so our usual headlamp hike schedule
busted. John and I did get in a few headlamp hikes but not many. It was
time for all of us to get back to it. I drove Gary to High Point and we
met John there. We met at 2:15 pm and it was a very balmy 54F. That was
well above normal. There is an Internet camera on Tiger 1 and at 1:00
pm it showed blue sky. As we reached Eastgate it was cloudy and the top
of Tiger was in the clouds. What happened? We headed up the High Point
trail and turned onto the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT). The trail was
nearly empty this day. A week earlier it was snowing on Tiger but
recent rain washed it all away. There is usually at least a bit of snow
on Tiger in mid January. At Ruth's Cove a tree had fallen alongside the
trail and the big end was on the edge of the trail. We manhandled it
off the trail. A few hundred feet below Tom's Crossing we were in the
clouds. As we came out of the forest below the summit of Tiger 2, the
clouds were thin overhead but the tower went in and out of view. The
sun was low but the sky to the southwest was orange. There was a cold
wind too. I stopped to but on a jacket and then headed on to the
summit. Gary and John were there when I arrived.
We were not alone. Several others seemed to be awaiting sunset. Below us Tiger 3 was mostly lost in clouds. That would not be a good spot. Below us was clouds. Above us it was quickly clearing. Mt. Rainier and Tiger 1 were hidden by clouds and then they were not. They went in and out of sight before the clouds were gone. Then the Cascade Crest to the east came out of the clouds. We could see the Olympic Mountains but Seattle never did come into sight. At the low spot between Tiger 2 and 1, a strong wind was blowing. Clouds appeared right below the low point and blew on through. The clouds seemed to come from nothing. I should have taken a video of it. We arrived on top at 4:20 pm. Sunset was at 4:44 pm. We had some food and water and enjoyed the views. The clouds now became very colorful. Big thinner clouds higher up and thicker ones down low. It was so much colder than back in the forest. Gloves were necessary. My hood was necessary. The views were terrific.
Right at sunset we headed down. Before long, we reached the spot below Tiger 2 where the south wind is blocked. It felt far warmer almost instantly. We reached Tiger 3 at 5:04 pm as it was getting dark. We dropped into the forest and it became much darker. We continued down with just enough visibility until we stopped for headlamps. The rest of the way it was all headlamps. It warmed as we dropped and eventually my gloves came off. Lower down on a rightward traverse to where the trail almost touches the Cable Line, Gary looked over the side of the trail and down below he saw the glow of deer's eyes. Two deer in fact. They glow when headlamp light shines on them. We often see them on the last leftward switchback but have only seen them along here once before. We had one very big group go by us heading up. There must have been a dozen or so. Otherwise we saw only one or two people coming down from Tiger 3.
It the bottom we saw one car in the High Point parking lot. It was 6:23 pm and had been dark for about 1.5 hours. I expected the gate to be closed. We hiked the Connector Trail to the gate and found it was still open. Now we just had the road to walk back to the cars. There were 8-10 cars at the bottom of the Cable Line Trail. We arrived back at the cars at 6:41 pm. We were late enough that traffic was not much of a problem on the drive home. This was a fun trip as we started out on a very warm afternoon, had a great sunset on top though it was cold, and finally had a group headlamp finish. For the day/night we hiked about 7.75 miles with 2500' of elevation gain.
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Trips - 2026
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We were not alone. Several others seemed to be awaiting sunset. Below us Tiger 3 was mostly lost in clouds. That would not be a good spot. Below us was clouds. Above us it was quickly clearing. Mt. Rainier and Tiger 1 were hidden by clouds and then they were not. They went in and out of sight before the clouds were gone. Then the Cascade Crest to the east came out of the clouds. We could see the Olympic Mountains but Seattle never did come into sight. At the low spot between Tiger 2 and 1, a strong wind was blowing. Clouds appeared right below the low point and blew on through. The clouds seemed to come from nothing. I should have taken a video of it. We arrived on top at 4:20 pm. Sunset was at 4:44 pm. We had some food and water and enjoyed the views. The clouds now became very colorful. Big thinner clouds higher up and thicker ones down low. It was so much colder than back in the forest. Gloves were necessary. My hood was necessary. The views were terrific.
Right at sunset we headed down. Before long, we reached the spot below Tiger 2 where the south wind is blocked. It felt far warmer almost instantly. We reached Tiger 3 at 5:04 pm as it was getting dark. We dropped into the forest and it became much darker. We continued down with just enough visibility until we stopped for headlamps. The rest of the way it was all headlamps. It warmed as we dropped and eventually my gloves came off. Lower down on a rightward traverse to where the trail almost touches the Cable Line, Gary looked over the side of the trail and down below he saw the glow of deer's eyes. Two deer in fact. They glow when headlamp light shines on them. We often see them on the last leftward switchback but have only seen them along here once before. We had one very big group go by us heading up. There must have been a dozen or so. Otherwise we saw only one or two people coming down from Tiger 3.
It the bottom we saw one car in the High Point parking lot. It was 6:23 pm and had been dark for about 1.5 hours. I expected the gate to be closed. We hiked the Connector Trail to the gate and found it was still open. Now we just had the road to walk back to the cars. There were 8-10 cars at the bottom of the Cable Line Trail. We arrived back at the cars at 6:41 pm. We were late enough that traffic was not much of a problem on the drive home. This was a fun trip as we started out on a very warm afternoon, had a great sunset on top though it was cold, and finally had a group headlamp finish. For the day/night we hiked about 7.75 miles with 2500' of elevation gain.
 Framed Mossy Trees |
 Silhouetted Hikers |
 Tiger 1 Is Where? |
 Monumental Glare |
 Mt. Rainier Appears |
 Clouds & Hikers |
 Clouds Blow Through Gap |
 Glacier Peak & Index |
 Mts. Si & Teneriffe |
 Gary On Tiger 2 |
 Terrific Clouds |
 Wider View |
 Cloudy Tiger 3 |
 Three Fingers Mountain |
 Great Colors |
 Low Cloud |
 Dark & Bright |
 Nearing Sunset |
 Clouds Blow By |
 Hiker At Sunset |
 John & Gary On Trail |
 Leaving Tiger 3 |
 Getting Dark |
 Deer Below |
Trips - 2026
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