12-03-24
The
weekend weather was looking like a rainy washout. Tuesday was sunny but
cold. It as time to get in a headlamp hike. I hiked 20 miles on the
weekend. After a day off we were off on another hike. I worked until
1:30 pm and we headed for Tiger. Gary and I arrived at 2:24 pm. John
was already there. We were on our way at 2:28 pm. It as a balmy 35F.
The trip starts downhill so it was hard to warm up at first. In
December we hike with Christmas lights after dark. We started fifteen
minutes later than usual to maximize our time in the dark coming down.
We had a complete loop in mind. We headed up the High Point Trail.
While the Cable Line and West Tiger 3 trails are busy in the afternoon,
our route is much quieter. We reached the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT)
and followed it up. After a fast first mile we settled into a normal
steady pace. Though, many trees fell in the storm just a couple weeks
ago, almost all of them have been removed from the north side of Tiger.
We joined in on the sawing and clearing. This day only John had his
short pruning saw. We never needed it.
We stopped briefly at Ruth's Cove and continued up. We dropped to Fred's " no longer a" Corner and up to the old grade. The TMT continues up to the big bridge. A week earlier we removed a lot of logs from the next section up to the top of the K-3 Trail. This day we enjoyed the now almost clear trail. There are a couple logs that still need sawing. We reached the K-3 junction and continued up on the TMT. After leaving the lower elevations, it had warmed up. An inversion made it more comfortable a few thousand feet higher. We reached Tom's Crossing and left the TMT heading straight for the summit of Tiger 2. Breaking out of the forest we had great views. Sunset was near and the lighting was terrific. Mt. Rainier was in the clear with a yellow light all around it. North was Mt. Baker with the last light of the afternoon shining on it. Below us in most directions was a sea of fog. It as dark and dreary at the surface but clear, sunny, and warmer up high.
We headed to the summit as the sun neared the horizon. The Olympic Mountains yellow behind, then a sea of white and finally Seattle in the open. We took a lot of photos as the lighting was changing rapidly. We reached our photo spot just below the summit at 4:20 pm. Sunset at sea level was at 4:18 pm. In places the sea of clouds was pierced by bumps of forest. They looked like islands in the sea. It was among the best sunsets I have seen on Tiger since the recent clearcuts opened up the views. At 4:46 we headed down. It was getting dark and we put on our Christmas Lights. We passed a runner coming up who commented on our lights. I kept taking photos and lagged behind the others. The yellow horizon turned to orange and then nearly red. It was great. We reached the summit of Tiger 3 at 5:07 pm. It was almost dark. There were several others on the summit when we arrived. They left before we did. At 5:15 we headed down.
When we started our winter headlamp hikes about 14 years ago, we began at about 4:20 pm. All of us were still working. Now we start at about 2:15 pm and most of our hikes are in daylight. It was nice to have a full descent in the dark again. Based on all the cars we saw at the base of the Cable Line at the bottom, that trail was busy. The West Tiger 3 trail was not. I thing we had the one runner near Tiger 2 pass us going down and one or two groups going up. That was it. We reached the inner parking lot at 6:36 pm. There were a couple cars in the lot. The gate should have been closed by then. We took the Connector Trail and came out at the gate. It was still open. We just had the road to walk back to our cars. We ended our loop at 6:51 pm. I had a little ice to scrape on my car windows. It as 34F according to my car. It dropped to 32F in Issaquah.
This was a great headlamp hike. The trails have been cleared very fast since the wind storm. The inversion made the upper mountain warmer than the lower. The sunset with the low fog below and all the peaks in the clear was really nice. I don't know if I could have scripted anything better. They should end up being one of the best headlamp hikes of the fall/winter.
Click on thumbnails to get
larger pictures.
Trips - 2024
Home
We stopped briefly at Ruth's Cove and continued up. We dropped to Fred's " no longer a" Corner and up to the old grade. The TMT continues up to the big bridge. A week earlier we removed a lot of logs from the next section up to the top of the K-3 Trail. This day we enjoyed the now almost clear trail. There are a couple logs that still need sawing. We reached the K-3 junction and continued up on the TMT. After leaving the lower elevations, it had warmed up. An inversion made it more comfortable a few thousand feet higher. We reached Tom's Crossing and left the TMT heading straight for the summit of Tiger 2. Breaking out of the forest we had great views. Sunset was near and the lighting was terrific. Mt. Rainier was in the clear with a yellow light all around it. North was Mt. Baker with the last light of the afternoon shining on it. Below us in most directions was a sea of fog. It as dark and dreary at the surface but clear, sunny, and warmer up high.
We headed to the summit as the sun neared the horizon. The Olympic Mountains yellow behind, then a sea of white and finally Seattle in the open. We took a lot of photos as the lighting was changing rapidly. We reached our photo spot just below the summit at 4:20 pm. Sunset at sea level was at 4:18 pm. In places the sea of clouds was pierced by bumps of forest. They looked like islands in the sea. It was among the best sunsets I have seen on Tiger since the recent clearcuts opened up the views. At 4:46 we headed down. It was getting dark and we put on our Christmas Lights. We passed a runner coming up who commented on our lights. I kept taking photos and lagged behind the others. The yellow horizon turned to orange and then nearly red. It was great. We reached the summit of Tiger 3 at 5:07 pm. It was almost dark. There were several others on the summit when we arrived. They left before we did. At 5:15 we headed down.
When we started our winter headlamp hikes about 14 years ago, we began at about 4:20 pm. All of us were still working. Now we start at about 2:15 pm and most of our hikes are in daylight. It was nice to have a full descent in the dark again. Based on all the cars we saw at the base of the Cable Line at the bottom, that trail was busy. The West Tiger 3 trail was not. I thing we had the one runner near Tiger 2 pass us going down and one or two groups going up. That was it. We reached the inner parking lot at 6:36 pm. There were a couple cars in the lot. The gate should have been closed by then. We took the Connector Trail and came out at the gate. It was still open. We just had the road to walk back to our cars. We ended our loop at 6:51 pm. I had a little ice to scrape on my car windows. It as 34F according to my car. It dropped to 32F in Issaquah.
This was a great headlamp hike. The trails have been cleared very fast since the wind storm. The inversion made the upper mountain warmer than the lower. The sunset with the low fog below and all the peaks in the clear was really nice. I don't know if I could have scripted anything better. They should end up being one of the best headlamp hikes of the fall/winter.
 Lots Of Fog |
 Light On Mt. Si |
 Mt. Rainier |
 Mt. Baker |
 Three Fingers |
 Glacier Peak |
 Gary Enjoys Views |
 Seattle |
 Wide Angle View |
 The Brothers |
 Setting Sun |
 Mt. Rainier Again |
 Another Sunset Photo |
 Gary, John, & Lights |
 Crescent Moon |
 Waves? |
 Heading For Tiger 3 |
 Orange Sunset & Moon |
 South Seattle |
 Northern Olympics |
 Issaquah Is Below |
 John In Motion |
 Lit Up Hikers |
 Light Is Dimming |
 One Last Moon Shot |
 Nearly Dark |
 Christmas Lights |
 Headlamp Hiking |
Trips - 2024
Home