Trail:Tiger Mountain
From Evergreen Trail Guide
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| Name | Tiger Mountain |
| Tech Rating | 
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| Grunt Rating |
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| Singletrack | 60% |
| Fire road | 40% |
| Paved | 0% |
| Total trail | 12 mi. |
| Alt. change | 1400 |
| Latitude: | 47.466687 |
| Longitude: | -121.931183 |
| Nearest medical: | Not set yet |
| Page adopted by: | R1de |
| Get Directions | |
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A Discover Pass is required to park at the upper Tiger Mountain parking lot. As of summer 2012, it is not required at the lower lot, but that may change. See here for information on obtaining a Discover Pass. |
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Evergreen is underway with a major improvement of the Tiger Mountain bicycle trail system. The new East Tiger Summit Trail opened in Sept 2012, Silent Swamp (Preston to NW Timber Connector) will open late 2013 and Off-The-Grid will open early 2014 |
Trail Overview
Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and DNR have built a new trail on Tiger for mountain bikes. The new trail starts at the radio towers above the current entrance to Preston RR Trail at East Tiger Summit, and connects to the the start of the Preston. The new trail adds 500 feet of vertical and a mile of new singletrack. See the New Trail section below for more info.
Additional trails are in the works presently, including a new connector trail to link the bottom of Preston with the top of NW Timber, and more!
Tiger Mountain is one of Seattle's most popular mountain biking destinations. The East Tiger Summit Trail, Preston Railroad Trail, Iverson (Fat Hand) Trail, and Northwest Timber Trail are all open to bicycles. The trails are typically closed seasonally from October 15 to April 15 (check exact dates below), but there are many miles of roads open all year long.
Trails vary in difficulty. Iverson is considered the most technical, followed by Preston Railroad Grade and then NW Timber. Both Iverson and NW Timber have rolling grades although NW Timber has fewer roots and rocks, and easier climbs. Iverson is usually ridden from the top down because the lower section can be quite challenging to climb. NW Timber is often ridden both directions. Preston is either a climb, descent, or both and sports several challenges with rocks and roots along the way. The new East Tiger Summit Trail is very fast and flowy; it is not technical in nature, but runs VERY FAST.
Directions to East Side Rd Gate for Silent Swamp Work Parties
Check the Evergreen Calendar for the meeting place. We will usually meet at the East Side Road Gate for Silent Swamp work parties (not the normal E Tiger Summit main parking lot). The East Side Road gate is located ~8/10's of a mile after the beggining of the passing lane as you're heading from I90 toward the Summit. It comes up very quickly and is easy to miss. We'll meet at the gate and carpool up to the work site. We have to be on time and lock the gate behind us, so please show up early and be ready to go by the start time.
Here's a map:
Be looking for this sign at the turn-off into the gate:
How to find it
From Seattle take I-90 East to Highway 18. Continue South on Highway 18 for 4.4 miles, until you reach East Tiger Summit on your right.
There are two main parking areas, both accessed from the highway 18 summit. The upper area is gated and is locked at 8:00 PM per the sign on the gate. This area also includes pit toilets. The road to the upper area travels travels west just above the lower parking lot.
Effective July 1st, 2011: a Discover Pass will be required to park at either lot. See here for details on obtaining a Discover Pass
Typical Conditions
Tiger mountain can be very wet following rain. The Preston can ooze water for up to a week after a heavy rain, so please take this into consideration when planning your ride.
The trails are closed seasonally from October 15 through April 15. Exact dates may vary, so check with Evergreen to see if the dates have been extended due to dry weather.
Current Conditions
Rode the "new" summit trail to preston/NW Timber yesterday, May 16. The top of the mountain was pretty wet considering the long stretch of dry weather. It had rained the night before and I actually felt a little bad about the potential for mud-erosion. NW Timber was dry. Lots of timber management and trailwork going on up there. 10:11, 17 May 2013 (PDT)
Lots of snow up top on the summit; please avoid the snow-covered trails and wait until they dry (or stick to the low-elevation stuff). R1de 12:14, 30 April 2013 (PDT)
Turn-By-Turn Guide
- GPS track - Preston Trail Out and Back
All three trails are two-way and multi-use.
Click here to view the Tiger Mountain MTB trail map.
You can also view a high-resolution GPS trail map for Tiger Mountain from Switchbacks.com.
Summit Trail > Preston > NW Timber Trail loop
- Climb up the main Tiger Mountain Road. From the lower parking lot, this is the gated road to your right as you head up the hill.
- After approx 2.5 miles, you'll reach an intersection; stay to the right.
- At the next fork in the road, say to the left and ride up to the radio towers.
- Descend the trail down around the summit as it crosses back over the road you came up (just after a rock garden).
- Merge onto the top of Preston and continue as described below, picking up where the end of Preston leaves off.
The Standard Road > Preston > NW Timber Trail loop
- Climb up the main Tiger Mountain Road. From the lower parking lot, this is the gated road to your right as you head up the hill.
- After approx 2.5 miles, you'll reach an intersection; stay to the left.
- About 1/3 mile further you'll see the entrance to the Preston RR Trail on your right. If you go down a big hill you've gone too far.
- Take the Preston RR Trail, it's about 4 miles long and has no intersections.
- When you come out on the road, take a left and go about 100 ft.
- Take a right turn at the first intersection.
- Follow this road for approx 2 miles. You'll go down a big dip, and then climb up a hill.
- At the Top of this hill you'll see some gravel piles and a road heading off to your right. The entrance to the NW Timber Trail is just past the road on your right.
- Take the NW Timber trail for approx 2.5 miles. There are no intersections.
- At the road, take a left and coast back down to the lower parking lot, about 1/3 of a mile -or- take the connector trail back to the upper parking lot.
The Iverson Loop (AKA Fat Hand Trail)
- At the lower parking lot, take the left-hand road (West Side Road) towards the upper lot.
- Continue past the upper lot, going around the gate.
- After about 1.5 miles, you will see the entrance to the Iverson Railroad Trail to your right.
- The trail starts with a short climb and has several short ups-and-downs before heading back down.
- At the bottom, the train intersects the connector trail just before the bridge.
- Turn right and you will quickly hit the upper parking lot.
West Tiger
- Only Puget Power Trail and High School Trail are open to mountain bikes.
- Bus Trail and Bonneville Trail are both not signed for limited use (Use your best judgment).
- All other trails are off limits to bikes
- From the bottom of the High School Trail, take your first right, then left at the 'T' up to Puget Power
- The climb up from the High School to Puget Power is 18%-20%, High School is about 15%
- High school is smooth double track, Puget Power is a middle chain ring fire access road.
- It's 2.8 miles from the High School to the High Point Trailhead. Out and back using Bonneville is about 7.5 miles
- Grunt 3 | Tech 1
All distances are estimates here and only for general reference.
Map of new East Tiger Summit Trail
Local Points of Interest
Misc. Information
A Message From the Washington Department of Natural Resources DNR is the land manager and is committed to building strong partnerships with trail users and volunteers. They ask you keep the folling in mind:
- Tiger Mountain is a working forest. This means that trees are harvested to pay for things such as schools, but it also means the roads are actively used. Please be aware of vehicle traffic on the roads. This includes radio tower service vehicles which are present even when there is no active logging.
- DNR is committed to building public partnerships. They have almost no budget for recreation yet are one of the biggest providers in the state of trails that re open to mountain bikes. Help support them by supporting Evergreen, voicing your support for DNR and volunteering for trail work.
- Please respect the forest. DNR needs help with maintenance and any adverse uses make it hard to keep trails open and up to standard. Don't ride closed trails, respect seasonal closures, and help them keep the parking areas clean.
More information on Tiger Mountain from the DNR website here.
Advocacy Information
New Trails
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Evergreen is underway with a major improvement of the Tiger Mountain bicycle trail system. |
The process started with heavy upgrades to the Preston RR Trail, followed by construction the new East Tiger Summit Trail, and continues with the rebuild of the Silent Swamp Trail (Preston to NW Timber singletrack connection) and construction of a new trail -- Off-The-Grid -- which offers an alternative way down to Preston.
Ground breaking on the first new trail for Mt Bikers on Tiger mountain in 2 decades was November 7th 2010. See the Bike Intelligencer article on new trails.
We'll be holding work parties this spring and summer. Sign up on the Evergreen calendar. Check back to see if new work dates have been added.
Map showing very rough alignment of new trails under construction:
