Tiger
Mt. NYE
12-31-25
My
longest standing tradition is a hike on Tiger Mountain on New Year's
Eve. My first year of regular hiking was 1982 when I hiked 92 miles. In
1983 I broke 100 miles with 113, ending the year on Tiger Mountain. The
next two years I stopped hiking in the fall and did a last hike on
Tiger to go over 100 miles. In the years since 1983 I have hiked Tiger
all by one time at end the year. This would be my 42nd time in 43
years. Gary and John signed on. My knee had been sore for a month but
we picked a route of mostly smooth trail with lots of gain and loss.
Gary drove us and we met John at High Point East at 7:40 am. Gary drove
us to the nearby Sunset Way Trailhead. It was 32F at HPE and 34F at
Sunset. We were packed and on our way at 7:55 am. On the drive from
Seattle it was overcast with fog/low clouds except where we rose above
it in Eastgate. I had hope that we would get above the muck for most of
our hike.
We ascended to the Tradition Plateau and tool the Adventure Trail. A
drop to the High School Trail added to our elevation gain for the day.
We had to regain that elevation. Along here we saw the first hair ice
of the year. It only occurs at temperatures a little below freezing. It
is always a treat to see. We took the Poo Poo Point Trail
next. The day before, I read that a beautiful carved bench was placed
at Poo Poo Point as a memorial for Seattle DJ Bob Rivers. He loved to
hike. We added a stop there to check it out. We had lots of solitude on
the trail. We arrived at Poo Poo Pt. at 9:44 am. A family was sitting
on the bench so we waited for them to leave. The sky was mostly blue
but below us was that thick fog. It circled Squak Mountain across from
us. The tips of a few distant skyscrapers were just sticking above the
fog. It was markedly warmer than at the start below. Issaquah High
School was in the clear but everything to the north was under the fog.
When the family left we had our change to take photos and sit on the
bench. It is a nice addition to the carved benches on Tigers 1, 2, and
3. So far we had covered 3.8 miles.
We headed on at 9:57 am. We retraced our steps back to the junction and
headed uphill on the One View Trail. We climbed up to the railroad
grade and above. The One View has a series of bumps to go over as the
ridge ascends. None of us had been up the One View Trail since the Bomb
Cyclone wind storm last November. There were trees ripped out of the
ground with root ball holes and downed trees. We had to climb over or
around a few that looked more recent. Overall, the trail is in good
shape. We took a short break when we reached the Tiger Mountain Trail
(TMT). A short hike to the right we reached the Hidden Valley Trail.
That begins at a very steep grade. My knee feels a steep descent more
that ascent and I was fine. This section ends at a main road and the
start of the Poo Top Trail. The Poo Top is also very steep in places as
it rises to the top of Tiger 1 at 2950'. Our starting elevation was
about 125', We hiked slowly and steadily up the ridge.The trail pops
out of the forest into a clearcut at a junction right below the summit.
We chose to turn right and proceed to the summit.
From the top we had great views all around. Below was mostly in fog but
we had blue sky and lots of sunshine. Mt. Rainier was to the south.
West Rattlesnake at 3250' had lots of snow at the clearcut summit. We
were just a little lower but had almost no snow. Five days earlier Gary
and I had full snow cover at 2757' Tiger 2. Today, snow only existed in
small shaded areas. To the north Mt. Baker and Three Fingers were very
white with fresh snow. Glacier Peak could be seen along with Mt. Si and
summits up towards Snoqualmie Pass. Blue sky and views or snowy peaks
are not a usual occurrence at the end of December. We each have a
thermometer on our packs and they were all snowing 55 or 56 degrees. An
inversion had it sub-freezing at ground level but balmy nearly 3000'
up. It almost felt like spring. We had lunch below the summit. We then
headed back to the junction and continued to the west side of Tiger 1.
There was a group at the Hikers Hut. Mt. Rainier was now much hazier
than when we first saw it. Seattle skyscrapers were partly out of the
fog. The Olympic Mountains were in sight all day long.
We only stopped for some photos and began the steep descent and then
climb to the top of Tiger 2. I knew that the steep rocky road would be
the hardest section in my knee. It was. I went slowly and with poles I
made it down okay. I was really sweating on the climb to Tiger 2 at it
felt all of a sunny 55F. On top it was warm with little breeze. I could
have spent an hour there. Gary was more keen on a shorter stop. We
arrived on top at 12:39 pm. We started down at 12:51 pm. It sure was
nice in the sunshine. Once we dropped off the north side of Tiger 2 we
would be in shady forest for the rest of the hike. So far we had
covered 7.6 miles with about 3400' of gain. One feature of our route is
that we gained 400' more than we lost. HPE is higher than Sunset Way.
There was some ice on the trail from packed down snow freezing and
thawing. Once we dropped below the clearcut the trail was bare in
forest. We saw other hikers at Poo Poo Point and at the two summits
buts saw very few elsewhere. I don't recall seeing anyone on the hike
down from Tiger 2. The TMT is mostly a smoothly graded trail that did
not stress my knee much. There are a few big steps near the top. We
just hiked along at a moderate pace as we would be done well before
sunset. As we descended to the last mile it became much colder. It was
now late afternoon and should have been the heat of the day. I put
gloves back on. We had one last dirt road that sits below a powerline
corridor. Trucks very occasionally use it for maintenance trips. Years
ago, a truck was stuck in axle deep mud repairing a broken power pole.
They laid hundreds of rocks on the road to make it passable. Fast
forward to 2025. They laid a ton of dirt on the road. After fall and
winter rain, it is a quagmire. It is now even worse than before the
rocks were placed. Not a good idea. We passed through without
submerging our boots.
The trail ends at a gated paved road at a low spot before climbing up
to where we parked. It was winter here. There was ice that never melted
all day. Gary pointed out big patches of hair ice. It was never over
freezing all day long. I could not believe it was this cold. 2400'
higher on Tiger 1 it was 55F in late morning. Back at the car it was a
bit warmer at 34F. I'm bit amazed that I have managed to get out on
Tiger in all weather on NYE for 42 of 43 years. As I said earlier, it
is my longest standing tradition. We had great weather this year and a
memorable 11 mile one way hike with 3600' of elevation gain. I hope to
have many more year end hikes on Tiger Mountain.