05-20-26
I seldom write a trip report for Tiger Mountain unless the conditions
warrant it. Winter snow and spring flowers are reasons to write one.
This time it is because after 43 years hiking on Tiger I finally saw a
bear. This was one of the few times that a bear stayed in sight long
enough for me to get photos. Okay, now it is time to go back to the
beginning. John and I did a strenuous 15 mile hike at Ingalls Creek and
the Swauk Discovery Trail on Sunday. This has been a really bad month
for hiking elevation gain and I wanted to get in a mid-week hike. We
were both free on Wednesday. It looked to be partly sunny and in the
mid 60s. We met at High Point East at 2:15 pm. We dropped down the
paved road to the start of the High Point Trail. Near the start, John
noticed a huge patch of forget-me-nots. I had never seen them there
previously. The trail starts climbing and we both noticed the humidity.
I had on a short sleeve shirt but long pants and I had to stop to zip
off the legs. That was better but the humidity hit us both.
The lower trail still has some bleeding hearts but they are mostly very pale. There were a lot of starflowers in bloom. We saw them off and on all the way to the summit of Tiger 2. The temperature was only in the low 60s but the humidity slowed us down. I was sweating a lot and none of it was evaporating. Just after turning on to the Tiger Mountain Trail we passed three hikers coming down. One of them recognized me. I believe it was "Now I Fly" from NWHikers.net. We met and talked at the Calendar Social last December. They were completing a one way hike of the full TMT. We did not see many hikers this day after that. We took a short water break at Ruth's Cove and continued up. Just before the junction with the trail over to the Preston Trail we started seeing wild ginger flowers. They are about the strangest flower I see regularly. They are under the big leaves and invisible without lifting up the leaves. Ten day earlier, I saw a lot of the flowers. Some seem to be finished but we still saw and photographed them. We came out of the forest below Tiger 2 to find more blue sky than I expected and some clouds. The humidity lessened as we ascended and was not bad on top. We reached the summit at about 4:15 pm. We could see a hazy Seattle and peaks around Mt. Si. Mt. Rainier, Baker, and most other peaks were in clouds.
It was warm enough without being hot. There was a breeze too. I put on a dry shirt and sat down. We spent quite a while on the summit. It was very pleasant and also I did not want to get down too early and have to deal with rush hour traffic. We packed up and headed down at 5:06 pm. To raise the distance up near 8 miles, we chose to go down the road to the TMT and follow it back to Tom's Crossing where we had gone straight up to the summit earlier. The detour adds .40 miles and a little more elevation gain. We followed the TMT down to the top of the K-3 Trail and on to the bridge. We were a little below the bridge when John stopped and pointed. There was something big and brown below the trail. It saw us and scampered down the slope a short way. It was definitely a bear. I have seen bears twice on Cougar Mountain but never on Squak or Tiger. We could just make out his ears behind a narrow tree. We pulled out our cameras and waited. A minute later the bear walked over to a down log and hopped on to it. Now it was in sight. We both took a bunch of photos hoping some would turn out. After a few minutes we left the bear to get on with its day.
I had the privilege of having a several minute view of a bobcat on East Tiger several years ago. Most of my bear encounters have then running away before I can even get out my camera. This was a short but really good change to see the bear. That was the end of our excitement. The rest of the hike down was uneventful. We did go back into the high humidity zone in the last mile. We were back at our cars at about 7:00 pm. That was perfect for having a fast trip home through Seattle. It took 43 years but I finally had a sighting and a very good one of a bear on Tiger Mountain.
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Trips - 2026
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The lower trail still has some bleeding hearts but they are mostly very pale. There were a lot of starflowers in bloom. We saw them off and on all the way to the summit of Tiger 2. The temperature was only in the low 60s but the humidity slowed us down. I was sweating a lot and none of it was evaporating. Just after turning on to the Tiger Mountain Trail we passed three hikers coming down. One of them recognized me. I believe it was "Now I Fly" from NWHikers.net. We met and talked at the Calendar Social last December. They were completing a one way hike of the full TMT. We did not see many hikers this day after that. We took a short water break at Ruth's Cove and continued up. Just before the junction with the trail over to the Preston Trail we started seeing wild ginger flowers. They are about the strangest flower I see regularly. They are under the big leaves and invisible without lifting up the leaves. Ten day earlier, I saw a lot of the flowers. Some seem to be finished but we still saw and photographed them. We came out of the forest below Tiger 2 to find more blue sky than I expected and some clouds. The humidity lessened as we ascended and was not bad on top. We reached the summit at about 4:15 pm. We could see a hazy Seattle and peaks around Mt. Si. Mt. Rainier, Baker, and most other peaks were in clouds.
It was warm enough without being hot. There was a breeze too. I put on a dry shirt and sat down. We spent quite a while on the summit. It was very pleasant and also I did not want to get down too early and have to deal with rush hour traffic. We packed up and headed down at 5:06 pm. To raise the distance up near 8 miles, we chose to go down the road to the TMT and follow it back to Tom's Crossing where we had gone straight up to the summit earlier. The detour adds .40 miles and a little more elevation gain. We followed the TMT down to the top of the K-3 Trail and on to the bridge. We were a little below the bridge when John stopped and pointed. There was something big and brown below the trail. It saw us and scampered down the slope a short way. It was definitely a bear. I have seen bears twice on Cougar Mountain but never on Squak or Tiger. We could just make out his ears behind a narrow tree. We pulled out our cameras and waited. A minute later the bear walked over to a down log and hopped on to it. Now it was in sight. We both took a bunch of photos hoping some would turn out. After a few minutes we left the bear to get on with its day.
I had the privilege of having a several minute view of a bobcat on East Tiger several years ago. Most of my bear encounters have then running away before I can even get out my camera. This was a short but really good change to see the bear. That was the end of our excitement. The rest of the hike down was uneventful. We did go back into the high humidity zone in the last mile. We were back at our cars at about 7:00 pm. That was perfect for having a fast trip home through Seattle. It took 43 years but I finally had a sighting and a very good one of a bear on Tiger Mountain.
 Forget-Me-Nots |
 Starflower |
 Spring Beauty |
 More Starflowers |
 Turkeytail Fungus |
 Wild Ginger Flower |
 Mts. Si & Teneriffe |
 Bunchberry Flowers |
 Tiger 1 |
 Neat Clouds |
 Tiger 3 & Issaquah |
 Bleeding Hearts |
 More Bleeding Hearts |
 It's A Bear! |
 Another Bear Shot |
 A Face Shot |
 John & Mossy Arbor |
 Snow On Pond? |
Trips - 2026
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