12-31-23
This
year ended with a bang. 94 miles in October, 96 miles in November, and
with one day to go I had 103 miles in December. In 40 years, I had
never hiked 300 miles in three straight months. It was in reach. I
already had the second best yearly mileage at 1011. I needed 1900' of
gain to reach my second highest gain ever. This was one spectacular
year of hiking for miles and gain. Gary and John signed on for my 40th
New Year's Eve hike on Tiger Mountain in 41 years. That is my oldest
hiking tradition. Three days earlier Gary and I did a one way hike from
Preston to High Point West over Tiger 1, 2, and 3. This time Gary put
together a loop from HPE to HPW using the TMT and K3 trails to reach
Tiger 2 then on to 1 and back down to HPE. Eight miles with 2900' would
reach my goals. The weather was expected to improve as the day went on.
We met at HPE at 8:20 am. We were far from alone. Both HPE and HPW had
a lot of cars. More than a summer morning. We packed up and walked the
road to the Connector Trail and on to the HPW parking lot. That was
also almost full. A short walk to the start of the TMT and we left the
crowds behind. I hiked this part of the TMT five days earlier in the
opposite direction. In total, I did 4 trips on Tiger in the last 6 days
of the year.
The trail gains elevation as it heads east. The grade is moderate. We crossed over the Cable Line Trail and continued on. At about 960' the trail turns straight south and climbs to 1360' in a series of switchbacks. It then turns east again and climbs to about 1500' before descending slightly. We reached the K-3 Trail at 9:36 after hiking 2.8 miles. We had seen a few people so far but saw two more groups on the K-3. The planned route was for 8.3 miles and I discussed taking a few additions to get it up to 9 miles. At the RR Grade crossing, Gary suggested taking the Grade to the old TMT route up to the top of the K-3 trail. This is less steep and considerably longer than staying on the K-3. Since the TMT was rerouted, we had seldom been on the old trail section. The old trail was still in pretty good shape. We reached the spot where the new trail and K-3 both join our route. Heading up the last part to the top of Tiger 2 our discussion turned to going over to Tiger 3. It is an easy walk from Tom's Crossing to the road near Tiger 3. That would add distance and elevation gain.
At Tom's Crossing we stayed on the TMT and headed for Tiger 3. Our stay on top was brief. We had sunshine and some tall white clouds around us. The cloud show was very good. Seattle and Bellevue were in sunshine but we had clouds in the way that periodically blocked our view. After some photos we headed for Tiger 2. This was my fourth hike in six days and I was starting to feel it. We maintained a slow steady pace to the top of Tiger 2. On the hike over T2 three days earlier, I had taken off my gloves on top to get a rock out of my shoe. Half way back to the car, I went to put them on and realized my mistake. There was a low chance that they would still be on the summit. When we arrived, I took a look where I left them and they were not there. Perhaps some wind blew them away? Yep, they were in grass next to the fence around the towers. Soaking wet but there they were. I was able to wring about two thirds of their weight in water out before adding them to my pack.
Mt. Rainier was completely in the clouds. It was also cloudy over at Tiger 1. That would be our third and last summit of the day. We often do the loop in the opposite direction. The road down from Tiger 1 is very long and steep. I find it easier to to down than up. We dropped off T2 and then slogged up T1 at a pretty slow pace. We passed a few groups going the other way. Considering all the cars we did not see many people on the summits. From the top of T1 it is nearly all downhill to HPE. Three days earlier Gary and I came up the new upper section of the Preston Trail. This day John hiked it for the first time and Gary and I descended it for the first time. Our plan was just to go down the Preston, RR Grade, TMT, and High Point Trails. This is familiar territory as we hike them often in the daytime and on headlamp hikes.
We did not see many hikers on this side of the mountain. As we descended we added up the extra distance on the old TMT to the K-3 and the trip over to Tiger 3. It looked like we would finish a little under 10 miles. If we did a detour over to the Lingering Trail that would bring our mileage up to just over 10 miles. When we neared the High Point Trail we took a short detour over to and across Murat's Bridge. Why not one more detour? We started down the High Point Trail and to Dwight's Way over to the Lingering Trail. There were signs of recent log removal in a few places on our route. Some rainy and windy days knocked down trees. On the Lingering Trail the trees were still across the trail. The were not hard to get over but there is some work to be done by sawyers.
We met up with the High Point Trail again and had a short hike back to the gated paved road. A final short uphill brought us back to the interchange and our cars. It was now 2:09 pm. Our entire trip covered just over 10 miles with 3100' of gain. We spent a leisurely 5:45 to hike the full loop. We did not have rain or much wind. We even had some sunshine. It was a fine day for my 40th New Year's Eve hike on Tiger Mountain. May I have many more to come. For the year I may have had my best hiking year by the numbers. 1021 miles was my second best of 40 years I have kept statistics. 255,700' was my second best elevation gain year. 108 days on the trail beat my old record by one day. As mentioned I had my first three month period with 300+ miles hiked. The fact that it was in October, November, and December makes it even more unlikely. I had two 100+ mile months and seven 20,000'+ months. One oddity was that 2023 was the first year in which I hiked at least 70 miles in each month. That is a lot of great statistics and a whole lot of great days on the trail. I hope I can get in more big years like this one as I grow older.
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Trips - 2023
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The trail gains elevation as it heads east. The grade is moderate. We crossed over the Cable Line Trail and continued on. At about 960' the trail turns straight south and climbs to 1360' in a series of switchbacks. It then turns east again and climbs to about 1500' before descending slightly. We reached the K-3 Trail at 9:36 after hiking 2.8 miles. We had seen a few people so far but saw two more groups on the K-3. The planned route was for 8.3 miles and I discussed taking a few additions to get it up to 9 miles. At the RR Grade crossing, Gary suggested taking the Grade to the old TMT route up to the top of the K-3 trail. This is less steep and considerably longer than staying on the K-3. Since the TMT was rerouted, we had seldom been on the old trail section. The old trail was still in pretty good shape. We reached the spot where the new trail and K-3 both join our route. Heading up the last part to the top of Tiger 2 our discussion turned to going over to Tiger 3. It is an easy walk from Tom's Crossing to the road near Tiger 3. That would add distance and elevation gain.
At Tom's Crossing we stayed on the TMT and headed for Tiger 3. Our stay on top was brief. We had sunshine and some tall white clouds around us. The cloud show was very good. Seattle and Bellevue were in sunshine but we had clouds in the way that periodically blocked our view. After some photos we headed for Tiger 2. This was my fourth hike in six days and I was starting to feel it. We maintained a slow steady pace to the top of Tiger 2. On the hike over T2 three days earlier, I had taken off my gloves on top to get a rock out of my shoe. Half way back to the car, I went to put them on and realized my mistake. There was a low chance that they would still be on the summit. When we arrived, I took a look where I left them and they were not there. Perhaps some wind blew them away? Yep, they were in grass next to the fence around the towers. Soaking wet but there they were. I was able to wring about two thirds of their weight in water out before adding them to my pack.
Mt. Rainier was completely in the clouds. It was also cloudy over at Tiger 1. That would be our third and last summit of the day. We often do the loop in the opposite direction. The road down from Tiger 1 is very long and steep. I find it easier to to down than up. We dropped off T2 and then slogged up T1 at a pretty slow pace. We passed a few groups going the other way. Considering all the cars we did not see many people on the summits. From the top of T1 it is nearly all downhill to HPE. Three days earlier Gary and I came up the new upper section of the Preston Trail. This day John hiked it for the first time and Gary and I descended it for the first time. Our plan was just to go down the Preston, RR Grade, TMT, and High Point Trails. This is familiar territory as we hike them often in the daytime and on headlamp hikes.
We did not see many hikers on this side of the mountain. As we descended we added up the extra distance on the old TMT to the K-3 and the trip over to Tiger 3. It looked like we would finish a little under 10 miles. If we did a detour over to the Lingering Trail that would bring our mileage up to just over 10 miles. When we neared the High Point Trail we took a short detour over to and across Murat's Bridge. Why not one more detour? We started down the High Point Trail and to Dwight's Way over to the Lingering Trail. There were signs of recent log removal in a few places on our route. Some rainy and windy days knocked down trees. On the Lingering Trail the trees were still across the trail. The were not hard to get over but there is some work to be done by sawyers.
We met up with the High Point Trail again and had a short hike back to the gated paved road. A final short uphill brought us back to the interchange and our cars. It was now 2:09 pm. Our entire trip covered just over 10 miles with 3100' of gain. We spent a leisurely 5:45 to hike the full loop. We did not have rain or much wind. We even had some sunshine. It was a fine day for my 40th New Year's Eve hike on Tiger Mountain. May I have many more to come. For the year I may have had my best hiking year by the numbers. 1021 miles was my second best of 40 years I have kept statistics. 255,700' was my second best elevation gain year. 108 days on the trail beat my old record by one day. As mentioned I had my first three month period with 300+ miles hiked. The fact that it was in October, November, and December makes it even more unlikely. I had two 100+ mile months and seven 20,000'+ months. One oddity was that 2023 was the first year in which I hiked at least 70 miles in each month. That is a lot of great statistics and a whole lot of great days on the trail. I hope I can get in more big years like this one as I grow older.
 Full Parking Lot |
 Gary On The TMT |
 Sword Ferns |
 Nice Colors |
 Mossy Tree |
 Shelf Fungus |
 View Out |
 Low Clouds To The East |
 Tiger 3 Summit |
 Tiger 2 & Trail |
 John On Tiger 3 |
 Hidden Mt. Si |
 Really Tall Cloud |
 Squak Mt. In Clouds |
 Heading For Tiger 2 |
 Clouds Over Tiger 1 |
 Looking East |
 Tiger 3 From Tiger 2 |
 Neat Photo |
 Gary On Steep Climb |
 Bellevue In Gap |
 Misty Tiger 2 |
 Hikers Hut |
 East Tiger Mountain |
 New Preston Trail |
 Great Tree Colors |
 Turkey Tails |
 More Turkey Tails |
 Trail Junction |
 Grade Eases |
 Ruth's Cove New Sign |
 Gary & John |
 Lingering Trail |
 Mega Sword Ferns |
 Fern Dragon |
Trips - 2023
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