In keeping with my girlfriend Kathy’s tradition, we went for a “New Year’s” hike this last weekend – the weather was glorious. I was introduced to Tiger Mountain’s (a.k.a. the Issaquah Alps) trail system and possibly the most traveled trail in the state – West Tiger #3.
It is marked in green on this map – round trip about 6 miles with 2100′ elevation gain. There is some view of Lake Sammamish from the top but it is not as sweeping as the view from Poo Poo Point*. The trail was busy but not crowded. There was a dusting of snow off to the sides on the upper half and a short section of the trail was frozen and somewhat slippery approaching the top where the gray jays were waiting for handouts and scraps. Kathy took a few pictures which I hope to add here in the next couple of days.

Kathy is an avid and experienced hiker while I have been sporadic at best. I need to get more regular exercise so she has become sort of my personal trainer. Starting now with regular winter hikes, I hope to get in shape for more ambitious ones in the summer as well as moving back into a bit of running and cycling. Kathy is very patient with me since, at this point, I have to hike at a very slow, steady pace to avoid hitting “the wall”.

*The only other time I have been on Tiger was close to 30 years ago when KING was airing live high school football on Saturdays and I drove one of our remote trucks to Poo Poo Point in order to relay the TV signal from Issaquah High School which sits in the valley to the west of Tiger.