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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Effective July 1st, 2011: a Discover Pass will be required to park at either lot of Tiger Mountain See here for information on obtaining a Discover Pass. |
Trail Overview
Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance and DNR are building new trail on Tiger for mountain bikes. The new trail will start at the radio towers above the current entrance to Preston RR Trail at East Tiger Summit, and will connect to the the start of the Preston. The new trail will add 500 feet of vertical and a mile of new singletrack. See the New Trail section below for more info.
Tiger Mountain is one of Seattle's most popular mountain biking destinations. The 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 challenging, 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.
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
- East Tiger Summit Trail is not open just yet due to low snow levels impeding trail work - likely open by mid-Summer 2012
Possible delays and closures due to road work:
- Iverson RR Grade- nearby forest road bridge installation during Summer-2012 will likely close access for a few days
Iverson is in great shape - 95% dry, 5% tacky. Also, the lower half (CW) has been rebuilt into a more "flowy" style, like the lower section of Bootcamp at Duthie Hill. This means it's much faster and smoother, but also has gone from being quite technical to non-technical.
Preston is in great shape as well, very dry and clean for this early in the season after such a wet winter. There are a few scenic patches of snow off the trail at the upper TH. The usual few places with flowing clear water & puddles, but otherwise very good.
NW Timber in the best shape I've ever seen it; no water anywhere. Recent trailwork has completely resolved any hydro-problems as far as I can see.
Enjoy it while it's good! R1de 21:26, 15 April 2012 (PDT)
Turn-By-Turn Guide
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.
The Standard Road > Preston > NW Timber Trail loop
- Climb up the main Tiger Mountain Road. From the lower parking lot, this 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.
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. |
This is a three-part process that started with heavy upgrades to the Preston RR Trail, followed by construction the new East Tiger Summit Trail, and finally the rebuild of the Silent Swamp Trail, which will connect the Preston RR Trail to the Northwest Timber Trail via singletrack. First ground breaking was at a work party on 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.
The new East Tiger Summit Trail is under way, and about 50% complete. The first section (the re-routes shown on this map) will be rideable this summer! The new trail will add 500 ft of vert and 1.5 miles of trail. It will connect directly into the Preston RR Trail, and between the two trails will be a 5.8 mile descent with 2000 feet of vert.
