Tiger Mountain - Northwest Timber Trail
| Description: | Tiger Mountain is one of the most popular Seattle
area mountain biking destinations. On a weekend afternoon
it can be difficult to find a parking place at the
trailhead. Tiger Mountain offers some wonderful rocky,
rooty, nothwest style singletrack with a few climbs
thrown in for fun. There are three singletrack trails on
Tiger Mountain that are open to cyclists - The Preston
Railroad Trail, Northwest Timber Trail, and Iverson
Railroad Trail. The Northwest Timber Trail is the easiest of the three trails on Tiger Mountain. It has the least elevation change and smoothest tread. But that doesn't mean that it is an easy trail. The Northwest Timber Trail follows a contour line but still manages to sneak in more than 100 vertical feet of climbing. The Northwest Timber Trail can be combined with the Iverson Railroad Trail to make a longer ride. |
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| Location: | East Tiger Mountain located on Highway 18 just 15 minutes from Snoqualmie and North Bend. | ||||
| Distance: | About 4 miles. Two miles out and two miles back. | ||||
| Difficulty: | Intermediate | ||||
| The Trail: | This will be an out and back ride so you'll get to ride the trail in both directions. From the lower parking area take the gated gravel road to the right. There will be a short climb up to get to the trail. At the 0.2 mile mark you will come to the entrance of the Northwest Timber Trail on your right. Turn right onto the Northwest Timber Trail and ride. Along the way you will cross several bridges over creeks, ride over some obstacles, and climb a short switchback. After about 2 miles the trail will exit onto East Side Road. Turn around and head back to the parking lot. Total ride is a little over 4 miles. | ||||
| Notes: | There is no water available at the trailhead. Bring
all the water you are going to need with you. Pack some basic tools with you. It is a long walk back to the car if you have a mechanical. There are two parking lots at the trailhead. The lower lot is right by Highway 18. The upper lot is straight through the lower lot, take a left through the open gate, and follow the dirt road about 0.25 miles. The upper lot will be on your right. There is a pit toilet at the upper parking lot. These are all multiple use trails. The trails here are open for hikers, horses, and mountain bikes. Yield the trail for hikers. Dismount the unicycle for horses and stand by the side of the trail. Do not do anything that could spook a horse as it passes you. These trails are very well used and it is very likely that you will pass other people on the trail. The trails are on the east side of the mountain and get dark about an hour before sunset. If you are going to be doing a late evening ride here plan on the trails getting dark earlier than you expect. The trails are under heavy tree cover so they don't get much light to begin with. When the sun starts to go down the light fades quickly. When parking at the trailheads do not leave valuables in the car. |
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| Getting There: |
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| Maps: | Overview map of the
trail 327 KB The overview jpg maps don't have a high enough resolution for good printing. The purpose of the overview map is to give you an idea of the area. I'll have high resolution printed maps to hand out at the convention. |
