Parked down the street then walked SE Tiger Mt Rd to W Side Rd. There was one car parked in front of the transformer unit between all the no parking signs. We've seen that the last few times here.
We started with a biker and a little girl on a frame-mounted child carrier with suspension. It was funny watching her bounce up and down as they rode past. Didn't even know they made such a thing.
We headed onto the Grand Canyon Trail. There's a rough path coming down the hillside just after the start which looks like bikes have repeatedly ridden down and turned into a short downhill. Not sure of its origin. We crossed the bridge then took the more defined trail up to Hobart-Middle Tiger-RR. Headed to the right then went up Middle Tiger.
Even in the middle of winter, vines and branches snagged and whipped my legs more than a few times and left a few lacerations. But the trail isn't as narrow as it can be other times of the year. Just 0.2 miles up we could start seeing a change - more light through trees. It's been a couple years since we've been up this trail, and at that it was usually down, so it was hard to tell if we were still on the original trail. I was pretty sure that the intersection of TMT and Middle Tiger changed. And something else was different - oh yeah, there's a logging road we had to cross. The road itself is where the previous TMT/Middle Tiger junction used to be.
We headed up to the summit and passed the trail which wasn't connected back in 2023. Apparently going right keeps you on Middle Tiger (which takes you back to the road which circumnavigates the summit) and the last 0.2 miles to the left is now Middle Tiger Summit Trail.
Summit views were expansive! And except for a few trees still standing, we could see downtown Bellevue and Seattle, the Olympics, the Puget Sound, Squak, Lake Youngs, and most prominently Mt Rainier.
Suddenly we had a couple groups of runners pass, but otherwise no one else on the trails today. We happily paused in the logged area to take in the sun and watch a couple hawks soaring above. Took West Side Road back down and passed a couple more runners and dog walkers.
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