This was my fate Saturday when I struck out on the Poo-Poo Point Trail on Tiger Mountain in the Issaquah Alps east of Seattle. (By the way, I thought the whole Alps name was a joke, but apparently they're really called that.)
I had so far avoided hiking on Tiger Mountain since it's a wildly popular hiking area 1) because it's close to Seattle and 2) because it's so close to Seattle. But Saturday was gray and rainy, which strangely scared people away even though the weather here is gray and rainy every day.
The trail is supposed to be 7 miles roundtrip, a pretty average day hike, and the hiking book I use warns right from the start that there are a lot of twists and turns and unmarked trails that can make it confusing to follow. They weren't kidding. Unless you know the area, which of course I did not, I could completely see how you could get lost up there, stumbling onto one trail after the next until eventually you become one of those stories that people read about in the Sunday paper.
Not to mention that the overgrown, almost jungle-like, shrubbery of the first two miles unfortunately reminded me of Lost (otherwise known as The Best Show on Television, Ever and you'll hear more about that later) and I kept expecting an Other to jump out of the woods and grab me or at least see that crazy French woman with the gun.
You gain about 1,500 feet on this hike and I could feel it, especially because the last mile and a half I was trudging through thick mud and a fairly good layering of snow. By this time I was sweating profusely and hating the trail runner I had just met who said to me: "Oh, I'm running this 19 mile loop but I am so out of shape! I just had to walk the last half mile."
Anyway, I was pretty proud of my map following skills (okay, let's be honest, my book-reading skills) when at the end of the trail I reached, not a gorgeous view point where para gliders jump off on a beautiful day, but another trail. Where was this alleged parking lot and these picnic tables I was supposed to hit? I walked half a mile back up the hill to the last sign, reassured myself that I had indeed followed it correctly, and then came back down only to again be disappointed. (Thus adding a mile to the the total hike time.)
Of course I can't blame myself. So, I'll have to blame the snow for covering everything so I couldn't see and distracting me by making my fingers cold. And the writers of that book because I'm sure it was just a typo or something and they told me to take the wrong trail.
So would I recommend this trail? If you just need some exercise and you're sick of snowshoeing and your husband is off ice climbing and there's no way you're ever going to try that then, yes. But be warned: the amazing overlook might not be there when you arrive.
2 comments:
Maybe ice climbing would have produced better views :) There is one, I assure you. But yeah, it's hard as all get out to find!
This is one of the hikes we've been doing as a night hike -- now you know why! :-) There is a view of Lake Sammamish (and the fable picnic tables and parking lot) if you overshoot the first launch area.
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