5-07-20
This
would be my first mountain trail hike in almost 7 weeks. The pandemic
had me hiking North Seattle not far from home. The thought of dirt
instead of hard pavement was very appealing. The shutdown of all DNR
land had put most local trails out of commission. On the positive side,
the business shutdowns meant an easy drive through downtown Seattle in
early afternoon. I hoped that a slightly lesser used trail on Tiger
Mountain might not be too crowded. That was a mixed bag. The parking
lot at High Point was still closed so everyone had to park along the
road. I found three or four times more cars than usual. I headed onto
the trail at about 2:40 pm. The first 3/4th of a
mile on the High Point Trail was pretty busy with folks coming down.
About 15 people passed. I jumped well off the trail on all but one
occasion. The trail is pretty wide too. Higher up the crowd was much
thinner.
The TMT has a few muddy spots but no trees down. Temperature was in the low to mid 60s. Warm for a moderately steep climb but not hot. I had managed on 2000' gain in Seattle but averaged about 1100' per trip. That is about half normal. I could feel the lack of elevation gain I had been getting. I went a little slower than normal but kept up a steady pace. I left the TMT and headed over to the Preston Trail. That gets steeper. I reached the junction with the Bootleg Trail. I went up to the towers just above. This spot has good views of the Cascade peaks to the east. I also found a spot with an almost clear view of Mt. Rainier. With so few cards on the road the air is unusually clear. Even in the late afternoon the mountain was crystal clear.
There were workers at the towers. I saw two groups of them. I climbed the higher on the road to where I had the best views. It was a bit hazy looking northwest to Bellevue but the Cascades were clear from Mt. Baker to Mt. Si. Trees now blocked views farther south towards Mt. Rainier. It was pleasantly warm in the sunshine. It was much cooler in forest. Once I left the top I would be in forest most of the rest of the way down. After a break in the sunshine I headed on to the top of West Tiger 1. Down to the trail and turned right heading back to the Bootleg junction. When under the towers I saw and heard a guy way up near the top of a tower. I also stopped for a number of wildflower photos. The early season flowers were either at peak or just past. I saw a lot of trillium, yellow violets, and bleeding hearts. Another feature of the forest I had been missing during in city hikes.
The rest of the trip down was at a steady pace. I saw only a few more people. I did take the Lingering Trail to add a little distance and check out the condition of the route. There is one big tree down. The root ball is right where the trail used to be. A path goes around, over the tree, and back onto the trail. Not difficult to get around. I reached the car at 6:37. The entire trip took 3:57. I breezed home with little traffic.
It was very nice to get in a real hike that was not paved or an a road. I saw more folks than I had hoped for but it was easy to get well off the trail when passing. I will be avoiding narrow crowded trails until the virus pandemic is over. For the day I hiked 8 mile with 2500' of elevation gain. Did I mention how nice it was to be out on a mountain trail again?
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Trips - 2020
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The TMT has a few muddy spots but no trees down. Temperature was in the low to mid 60s. Warm for a moderately steep climb but not hot. I had managed on 2000' gain in Seattle but averaged about 1100' per trip. That is about half normal. I could feel the lack of elevation gain I had been getting. I went a little slower than normal but kept up a steady pace. I left the TMT and headed over to the Preston Trail. That gets steeper. I reached the junction with the Bootleg Trail. I went up to the towers just above. This spot has good views of the Cascade peaks to the east. I also found a spot with an almost clear view of Mt. Rainier. With so few cards on the road the air is unusually clear. Even in the late afternoon the mountain was crystal clear.
There were workers at the towers. I saw two groups of them. I climbed the higher on the road to where I had the best views. It was a bit hazy looking northwest to Bellevue but the Cascades were clear from Mt. Baker to Mt. Si. Trees now blocked views farther south towards Mt. Rainier. It was pleasantly warm in the sunshine. It was much cooler in forest. Once I left the top I would be in forest most of the rest of the way down. After a break in the sunshine I headed on to the top of West Tiger 1. Down to the trail and turned right heading back to the Bootleg junction. When under the towers I saw and heard a guy way up near the top of a tower. I also stopped for a number of wildflower photos. The early season flowers were either at peak or just past. I saw a lot of trillium, yellow violets, and bleeding hearts. Another feature of the forest I had been missing during in city hikes.
The rest of the trip down was at a steady pace. I saw only a few more people. I did take the Lingering Trail to add a little distance and check out the condition of the route. There is one big tree down. The root ball is right where the trail used to be. A path goes around, over the tree, and back onto the trail. Not difficult to get around. I reached the car at 6:37. The entire trip took 3:57. I breezed home with little traffic.
It was very nice to get in a real hike that was not paved or an a road. I saw more folks than I had hoped for but it was easy to get well off the trail when passing. I will be avoiding narrow crowded trails until the virus pandemic is over. For the day I hiked 8 mile with 2500' of elevation gain. Did I mention how nice it was to be out on a mountain trail again?
 Spring Beauty |
 Sunshine In The Forest |
 Bleeding Hearts |
 Ruth's Cove |
 Mt. Rainier |
 Heading Higher |
 Cascade Range |
 Bellevue & Seattle |
 Mt. Baker |
 Into The Darkness |
 Perfect Bleeding Hearts |
 Yellow Violets |
 Salmonberry Flower |
 Devil's Club |
 Trillium |
 Quiet Forest |
 Mess Of Moss |
 Log On Trail |
Trips - 2020
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