Teaming Up For Trails on Tiger Mtn.

“Where can I sign up for some trail work?” is one of the most common requests that we hear at IATC. Now, “Tiger Mtn.” is the answer.

Last year’s harvest of timber on private land on West Tiger Mtn. had a big impact on trails in the area. Since May of this year, the WA DNR has been leading efforts to restore, and in some cases reroute and rebuild the trails that were effected. In 2023, another harvest will take place on WA DNR land in the Middle Tiger summit area. Now IATC is teaming up with the Washington Trails Association (WTA) to rebuild the trails in these areas.

Gone are the days of IATC blazing new trails on its own accord in the Issaquah Alps. Today, public land owners carefully manage new trail construction and often work with public service organizations like the Mountains To Sound Greenway and Washington Conservation Corps to do the work. But the largest trail builder is the highly respected Washington Trails Association (WTA) and they have a healthy book of business doing trails in the Alps throughout the coming fall and winter seasons. Much of their work is in the 2021 harvest area on West Tiger.

IATC Board members tour one of the trail restoration projects on West Tiger Mtn.

Another reroute effort is also just getting underway over on the Middle Tiger summit. An all-new trail segment will replace the short, steep section on the northwest side of the Middle Tiger summit today. The segment being replaced will be mostly wiped out from a new timber harvest on WA DNR land slated for 2023. Before the details of this harvest were finalized, the WA DNR reached out to IATC, seeking our input on what to do about the trails in this area, and the Middle Tiger Trail reroute was one of our preferred alternatives. Now, even before the harvest has taken place—and working in a place that won’t be disrupted by it—the WA DNR has engaged WTA for the trail work and we have secured some of this work for the IATC community.

Map of the trail work on Middle Tiger summit.

See our Hikes & Events page for all the WTA trail work party days on Tiger Mtn. in October. But two of those days—Friday Oct. 21 and Saturday Oct. 22 have special carve out’s for IATC, and that’s a good thing. WTA work parties are extremely popular. They draw upon volunteers from throughout Washington state and they often fill up and have waiting lists. By getting IATC-exclusive slots we are giving the IATC community access that can otherwise be hard to get. WTA has reserved 5 work party openings for the IATC community on the 21st, with the remaining slots that day being open to the general public. But then on the 22nd., the entire work party has been exclusively reserved for our community.

These will be standard WTA work parties and all signups and logistics will be managed by them.

It is our hope and expectation that many in the IATC community will signup and make their mark for trails in the Issaquah Alps. There is a lot of trail work coming in the near future, and that’s not just limited to Tiger Mtn. By really supporting these projects, IATC community members will help us secure more of these days in the future.