05-10-26
The
day before I drove 235 miles for two wildflower hikes east of the
mountains. My first two hikes of the month had a total of only 700' of
elevation gain. I needed to get out early and get in some gain on
Sunday. I really did not want to get up early but the alarm with off at
6:00 am and I was on my way. I had decided on either Tiger 3 via the
busy trail from the main High Point trailhead or the less busy trip up
the High Point and TMT trails from High Point East. On the drive I
decided on the less traveled route. I arrived at High Point East end at
7:44 am. I was on my way at 7:47 am. Driving into Issaquah, I could see
the tops of the West Tiger peaks with a layer of clouds below them. The
sky was overcast for the entire drive. I was not expecting views. I
just wanted to get in a nice morning climb. While not outstanding there
was a pretty decent wildflower show still going on. I saw bleeding
hearts and trillium early and often. I also saw starflowers in several
places. There were even a few yellow violets.
It was cool at first but once out of the valley it warmed up. It was also humid. I was covered in sweat though the temperature was in the 50s all morning. That slowed me down a little. I took the High Point Trail up to the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT). That took me to just below Tiger 2. I made it to Tom's Crossing where I left the TMT before seeing the first person of the day. That does not happen on the main trail up Tiger 3. At Ruth's Cove the skunk cabbage are still going strong but all the yellow spathes are finished. As I neared the old grade between the Preston Trail and Fred's Straightaway I started seeing wild ginger leaves. For the past several weeks I have been seeing photos of the flowers. I had been checking but had not seen a single flower so far this year. That really changed. Most wild ginger plants had fully open flowers. The flowers are under the big leaves to then are not visible without looking under the leaves. The flowers are among the craziest looking ones I have seen. I was able to get a few more wild ginger flowers for my photo archive.
Above the top of the K-3 Trail I was entering the clouds. At Tom's Crossing the open view of Mt. Si showed just clouds. As I came out of the forest below the summit I could not even see any of the tower just above me. This was not looking like a day for any summit photos. l continued up with minimal visibility. At the switchback with a great view of Tiger 1 and Mt. Rainier. I saw only clouds. I reached the summit at 9:29 am. The towers atop Tiger 1 partly came into view for a few seconds. Mt. Ranier never did. My summit say lasted until 9:36 am. Seven minutes was plenty. As I traversed back to the north side of Tiger 2 I had a partial view of Tiger 3. That too did not last long. Lake Sammamish to the right of downtown Bellevue came into view. Bellevue did not. I did get a few interest shots of clouds below me. That was it. I headed back into the forest. On the way down I did see half a dozen groups of hikers and a couple runners. It was pretty quite overall. I wanted to get my mileage up to near 8 miles so I detoured to and across Murat's Bridge and I took the Lingering Trail instead of the High Point Trail. There were two big logs across the Lingering Trail on my two previous visits. This time they have been cut out. I did find several small trees down on this trip but they were step overs. The ones on the Lingering Trail were much larger.
I made it back to my car at 11:31 am. For the day I hiked about 7.7 miles with 2500' of elevation gain. After two weeks of nearly flat hiking it was nice to have some gain again. For the weekend I hiked 15 miles with 3100' of gain. With I-405 closed south of I-90 and Highway 520 closed for the weekend it was very helpful to be back in town before noon. Traffic was slower on the floating bridge but much better than later in the day. I was home early with a nice hike completed.
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Trips - 2026
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It was cool at first but once out of the valley it warmed up. It was also humid. I was covered in sweat though the temperature was in the 50s all morning. That slowed me down a little. I took the High Point Trail up to the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT). That took me to just below Tiger 2. I made it to Tom's Crossing where I left the TMT before seeing the first person of the day. That does not happen on the main trail up Tiger 3. At Ruth's Cove the skunk cabbage are still going strong but all the yellow spathes are finished. As I neared the old grade between the Preston Trail and Fred's Straightaway I started seeing wild ginger leaves. For the past several weeks I have been seeing photos of the flowers. I had been checking but had not seen a single flower so far this year. That really changed. Most wild ginger plants had fully open flowers. The flowers are under the big leaves to then are not visible without looking under the leaves. The flowers are among the craziest looking ones I have seen. I was able to get a few more wild ginger flowers for my photo archive.
Above the top of the K-3 Trail I was entering the clouds. At Tom's Crossing the open view of Mt. Si showed just clouds. As I came out of the forest below the summit I could not even see any of the tower just above me. This was not looking like a day for any summit photos. l continued up with minimal visibility. At the switchback with a great view of Tiger 1 and Mt. Rainier. I saw only clouds. I reached the summit at 9:29 am. The towers atop Tiger 1 partly came into view for a few seconds. Mt. Ranier never did. My summit say lasted until 9:36 am. Seven minutes was plenty. As I traversed back to the north side of Tiger 2 I had a partial view of Tiger 3. That too did not last long. Lake Sammamish to the right of downtown Bellevue came into view. Bellevue did not. I did get a few interest shots of clouds below me. That was it. I headed back into the forest. On the way down I did see half a dozen groups of hikers and a couple runners. It was pretty quite overall. I wanted to get my mileage up to near 8 miles so I detoured to and across Murat's Bridge and I took the Lingering Trail instead of the High Point Trail. There were two big logs across the Lingering Trail on my two previous visits. This time they have been cut out. I did find several small trees down on this trip but they were step overs. The ones on the Lingering Trail were much larger.
I made it back to my car at 11:31 am. For the day I hiked about 7.7 miles with 2500' of elevation gain. After two weeks of nearly flat hiking it was nice to have some gain again. For the weekend I hiked 15 miles with 3100' of gain. With I-405 closed south of I-90 and Highway 520 closed for the weekend it was very helpful to be back in town before noon. Traffic was slower on the floating bridge but much better than later in the day. I was home early with a nice hike completed.
 Pale Bleeding Hearts |
 Starflower |
 Turkeytail Fungus |
 Trillium |
 Wild Ginger Flower |
 Down Tree |
 Yellow Violet |
 Devil's Club |
 Bridge On TMT |
 Another Wild Ginger |
 Cloudy Tiger 2 Summit |
 Tiger 2 Tower |
 Tiger 1? |
 Tiger 1! |
 View? What View? |
 Clearing A Bit |
 Tiger 3 |
 A Little Sunshine |
 Tiger 3 Is Clear |
 Heading Down |
 Oregon Grape Flower |
 Dark Bleeding Hearts |
 Vanilla Leaf |
 Ruth's Cove |
 Solomon's Seal |
 Cedar Trees |
 Cut Logs |
 |
Trips - 2026
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