Region
Most climbed route
Highlights
Routes
1 summit • 14.2 mi • 2,899 ft gain • 6 hr 23 min
1 summit • 42.5 mi • 6,755 ft gain • 28 hr 6 min
1 summit • 6.7 mi • 1,074 ft gain • 3 hr 26 min
1 summit • 7.9 mi • 1,487 ft gain • 2 hr 8 min
1 summit • 8.9 mi • 1,389 ft gain • 2 hr 34 min
Latest summits
"While I've been to South Tiger several times now, this is the first time I actually summitted the two peaks. #2 (the southern peak) is a pain to summit! It was logged some time ago, and now it's a mess of downed trees, underbrush, branches, sticker bushes, etc. No defined path. Very difficult right near the summit. On the plus side, it's only a few hundred feet scramble from the service road below. The north peak does have a narrow path to the top from the end of the service road that is between it and the south peak. No view from the north peak. The best view is from the road just south of the southern peak ("#2")." — danv • Aug 4, 2021
"Planned a loop route to summit the & peaks of East, Middle, and South Tiger Mountain, the remaining peaks on Tiger Mountain as part of the Issaquah Alps 24 list I needed to bag. This part of Tiger Mountain is designed for Mountain Bikes and has a wonderful network of graded trails like ski runs green, blue, black, etc. Beyond the first mile or so from the TH, most of the trails are a mix of gravel access and former logging roads. Much of South Tiger was logged recently and the land looks terrible, the route to Middle Tiger has areas slated for cutting. Honestly, I would not recommend hiking much of this area unless you want to bag the peaks. The route down East Tiger has some nice areas, but other than that is a mix of trails through the clear cut, restored forest, and gravel roads. I only saw people as I descended down East Tiger and the rest of the mountains and trails was deserted. Middle Tiger had a nice trail up - lots of interesting moss on the trees and some wood and rock structures that spooked me out as I was alone - a little Blair Witchesque for my preference. With the exception of a small stream a couple of miles into the route to South Tiger, there were no viabl..." — markhadland • Aug 29, 2020
"The trail to the summit and the area around the campsite is getting very overgrown. The forest is reclaiming this peak and the trees are now tall enough that you really can't enjoy the view from the summit anymore. I'll miss this great campsite with a view so close to town. I'm glad I got to enjoy it so many times while it lasted, though. " — Al-Rashid • Jul 16, 2019
"It's become an annual tradition of mine to trek across the Issaquah Alps from Rattlesnake Lake to Lake Washington, spending the night on South Tiger Mountain. Heading East to West, it breaks down to 19.5 miles on day 1, and 26.5 miles on day 2. This year went pretty smoothly, other than a couple of black toenails.
I got a late start on day 1 and didn't even get moving until the afternoon. I also stopped for a long lunch break a few hours in, so I had to set about a 15 minute mile pace for the rest of the day to hit my camp before dark, but it worked out. My route followed Rattlesnake Ridge, then took the Powerline Trail over to Tiger Mountain, which I should mention is not much of a trail, more like a series of strung together roads & trails, overgrown in places, with no signage, that include fords of Raging River and Deep Creek. Once I had linked up with the Tiger Mountain trail system, I made my way over to South Tiger to camp for the night. With no chance of rain I took the opportunity to lay out under the stars.
Day 2 I really wanted to wrap up by 5pm because I had some things to do that evening, so I once again had to maintain a quick pace. Unfortunately I wok..." — Al-Rashid • Apr 15, 2017
"Passed over this one on a weekend trip from Lake Washington to Rattlesnake Lake. Camped at South Tiger. The trip was about 48 miles in total and my ankle held up pretty well. Stoked to be nearly back to 100%!" — Al-Rashid • Apr 2, 2016
"Another lovely sunny day of the fall, 66-70F in the shade, 80F under the sun. Parking place is on the other side of the trailhead, can hold about a dozen cars, but when I arrived and left, there was only one other than mine. The trailhead is easy to miss, but if you see the school bus yellow sign, that's the trailhead (there is a big tree root). The trail (mainly TMT) is in very good condition, well maintained with overgrown cut, gentle incline, wide and smooth, but the east-side horse trail of the small loop (see the map) is not maintained with thick overgrown. While going to the north end of the small loop, turn left and then turn right on to the steep service road with the sign "South Tiger Traverse Trail". The service road leads to the power line opening, where there is the awesome view to the west, including Olympic Mountains. Then, follow the dirt trail (not service road) up into the forest again. The northern part of the trail is low trees with view to the west and the north. Then, I took the service road up to the end, and take a look at the other Tiger Mountain summits (Middle, East). The return trip takes TMT on the eastern side of South Tiger back to the trailhead (cross..." — dlam522 • Sep 24, 2015
"I decided to start at Rattlesnake Lake and see how much of the route to Lake Washington I that I hiked last year I could trace before the weather turned on me. My plan was to stay the night on South Tiger Saturday night and finish it up Sunday night. I ended up making it to Front Street in Issaquah by the time the rain came on Sunday afternoon. I sat there in the rain eating my lunch and contemplating whether I wanted to continue through the rain or call for a ride. Having already had a great hike up to this point I decided to quit while I was ahead and called my ride. Here's the highlights of my solo overnight traverse of Rattlesnake and Tiger Mountain:
Watching daredevil squirrels on Rattlesnake Ledge.
Avoiding a section of bushwhacking under the power line trail that I foolishly endured the last time around.
An extremely refreshing ford of Raging River.
A sunny afternoon lunch at a campsite along Deep Creek.
Avoiding an awful section of bushwhacking through dead thorns after Deep Creek that I got myself into the last time around.
Not getting mauled by a bear that startled himself. Okay I've gotta go into detail on this one! I had stopped at a junction fo..." — Al-Rashid • May 24, 2014
"Yesterday was a big day; I'm still a bit tired. In 13.27 miles I picked up 7 of these Issaquah Alps lovelies. First up was Beaver Hill, then Sally’s Summit and East Tiger Mountain, then Middle Tiger Mountain, Wright’s Reach, and then South Tiger #1.
Coming down from Wright’s Reach is fairly straight forward. Just follow the logging road off the peak to the SW until you get to a trail crossing with the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT). I took a left toward Zeig’s Zag and then followed the TMT to the crossing at the West Side Road #1000. I crossed the road and followed the TMT until you get to a “Y” where I turned up the South Tiger Traverse (Right hand side of the “Y”, and uphill). This goes up until the road ends and there’s a trail to the summit. This whole last area has been logged, so a late afternoon trip will likely have a bit of sun exposure. Plan accordingly. After a few switchbacks you’ll get to the top where there’s a very cool horse camp including lots of tie-offs as well as a great fire pit (and a grill standing by, if you want to make a meal while there). I really should have snapped a photo while there. It’s a cool place.
I came off the top on the same trail..." — herdingcats • Apr 13, 2014
"Came up here with a group that included my brother, my sister, her boyfriend, a friend of mine, and four dogs. Still just as it was the last time I visited. One of my favorite places to relax on Tiger." — Al-Rashid • May 31, 2013
"For a long time my friends and I have wanted to do some sort of Issaquah Alps traverse hike. I was inspired by a Rattlesnake Lake to Lake Washington route through the Issaquah Alps taken by Team Verve. As fate would have it this was the weekend everything fell in place and we finally made it happen. Our route was similar to theirs except we took a less direct route across Tiger Mountain putting the grand total at 48 miles with roughly 9000 feet of elevation gain. Needless to say it was painful, but most of all it was a blast!
The first highlight of the trip was climbing through the "crevasse" on rattlesnake ledge down to the ledge below and relaxing on the ledge as the sun began to peak through the clouds. From there it was on to the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain. Near the summit the trail was pretty icy and we were packing as light as possible which meant no traction devices whatsoever, so it got pretty interesting in a few places. We continued on improving trail conditions along the ridge until we were under the powerlines near the north end of the ridge.
There was some bushwacking along a steep section of the powerline route, but when it really got interesting was after t..." — Al-Rashid • Mar 30, 2013