Tiger Mountain State Forest, established in 1981, sits squarely in the middle as the third “Mountain” in the line of the Issaquah Alps. Actually comprised of six separate peaks, the West Tiger #3 summit captures some of the highest foot traffic of all Washington trails. While logging once prevailed throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the industry has since vanished, moving farther from the ever increasing population dense cities. Nature and trails have replaced the old logging routes served by the “Wooden Pacific” steam donkey engines which lowered tramcars full of felled trees upwards of 5000 feet down the mountain. These operations of the past are still present though as old remnants still dote the mountainside – the remains of an old train wreck, an abandoned bridge with grooves worn into the underside by the tramcar cables and a site on west side of the mountain named for the sound steam whistles would make, Poo Poo Point. This 12.5 mile, 4,450 feet of vert and 3 hours and 40 minutes of a convoluted route covered all those.
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