2021 Hike 14: West Tiger Mountain #1 and #2 summits

On May 8th, I did a trail that had not one, but two summits…appropriately named #1 and #2 on Tiger Mountain. I also beat my personal recent best, by doing 2500 feet in elevation! In my 20s, I was able to do quite a bit more, but that was a different time, before alcohol took over my life for a while. Since my recovery, I’ve been slowly crawling my way back up to health and personal power, and I am grateful that my body let me do this.

The trail I took starts out at High Point Trail, which was awesome, because it was not connected to the main park for Tiger Mountain, so I got to avoid all the crowds, and have to the trail to myself for a while.

This trail is a bit muddy, but it is well maintained, and does not have the crazy bouldering and cuts that Cable Line did.

The cool thing about hiking this amount of elevation, is you actually get to see the landscape change as you go up. The photo below illustrates this, as this was taken along the ridgeline before reaching the first summit.

The changing landscape, higher in the mountains

At the top of the first peak, I was greeted by this spectacular view of the Renton/Kent/Covington areas!

Me at the West Tiger mountain summit #1, looking highly amused

Thankfully, a bit of scenery actually did peek out a little, so it was not completely socked in.

The interesting thing about Tiger mountain, is that since it is the tallest of the peaks in what are considered the “Issaquah alps,” it is used as a broadcast center for several Seattle radio stations, as well as UHF television broadcasts.

Coming down on the other side of the mountain loop, I traversed a beautiful bridge named Murat’s bridge, with a sign and box called Murat’s mailbox at the end. This bridge was named for a young man named Murat Danishek, who passed away from a heart condition at the age of 33. Murat loved the outdoors. Murat, I hope your spirit is at peace, climbing mountains somewhere. Say hi to Dad for me.