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 and then Wright’s Reach.

After Middle Tiger Mountain, it’s a long descent down the Middle Tiger Trail, then connecting and more descent along the Tiger Mountain trail. When you get to the closest point to Wright’s Reach along the Tiger Mountain Trail, you’ll follow a cut-off trail (not marked, but called Karl’s Peak Trail on some maps) that heads toward a nearby logging road. That logging road is not on any maps I have and I can tell you why: the logging is fairly recent. The whole of Wright’s Reach has been logged, and any trace of an old boot path to the top is gone. I just followed the logging road up as far as I could and then scrambled the small remaining ascent to the top where I had lunch and enjoyed a wonderful view of Mt. Rainier from the three logs (see pics).

I left the summit by way of the logging road that goes off to the SW. I then picked up the Tiger Mountain Trail and turned Left. At the end of the first traverse, you’ll run into a sharp turn in the trail. This is called “Zeig’s Zag”, and it is also where you could pick up the Artifacts Trail. I went down the trail for just a minute and quickly ran into train wreckage (see pic) that I see listed as the remains of a fatal wreck. I don’t have any more info about it, though I think it’s worth a quick detour if you find yourself at Zeig’s Zag.

After the brief detour, I continued on the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT), crossing the West Side Road 1000. As I continued on, I took a Right at the “Y” in the trail, heading up the South Tiger Traverse (the left hand trail is the TMT). If you stay on the road it ultimately changes to a trail. Follow this up to the South Tiger #1 peak. Shazam!

Next on the list of trail reports is is South Tiger #1.