Life Over Coffee

Renee and I along with some friends went over to Tiger Mountain to go hiking on Saturday. We had not checked out what trails would be good to go on, so we were kind of winging it when we looked at the trail map at the trail head. Tiger Mountain, for those who do not know, has around 80 miles of trails available. It was raining pretty good when we started, so we were expecting it to be one of those days!

We arrived at what we thought was the High Point Trail-head, and after looking at the trail map, decided that we wanted to head over to Poo Poo Point, taking the TMT (Tiger Mountain Trail) most of the way. We neglected to check how far it was going to be though. As we got started we realized that the trail was very waterlogged and was difficult in places due to the large amounts of standing water and mud. As we arrived at the first trail split there was a notice that part of the TMT was closed due to a bridge being out. We decided that it couldn’t be that bad and forged on ahead. The trail along the way was much steeper than we had thought it would be, and often found ourselves needing to walk along the sides of the trail to avoid standing water. Arriving at the bridge that was out we chose to pick our way across the river rather than try to cross the rickety looking bridge. It appeared that the bridge and many trees had been washed out by a flood sometime in the last several years.

As a side note, Renee, Scott, and myself had just recently purchased new hiking boots that were supposed to be waterproof. I have had similar types of hiking boots in the past that have never seemed to hold up to that claim, so I was really not expecting much. Throughout this hike these boots were consistently drenched in mud, splashed with water, and even underwater while we waded in the stream. Not once did my feet get even damp. They are the Keen Targhee II Mid Hiking Boots

We had been out for about 2 hours and were starting to get tired when we saw a sign for Poo Poo Point that said we still had 4.5 miles to go. Since we were not sure if it would take the same amount of time to get back, or how far we had come, we decided to turn back. We took a different trail out of the park and ended up about a mile away from where we had parked the car.

This was much more of a workout hike than it was a scenic hike, and as such I was not able to take many pictures. The few that I did take can be found HERE. Please feel free to check out my other hiking photos from around Washington HERE. Check our hike GPS track out at EveryTrail