The Tiger 3 tobaggan run

The "tobaggan run" on Tiger 3

The man with the three dogs warned me about the slickness of the trail as he stuggled to control the two Australian sheep dogs that were straining the leash. He had recently descended the trail in the photo at the right, and those dogs didn't make the job easy. I stopped someplace around that dark spot in the center of the trail when I realized what I was getting myself into, and gingerly made my back to the point at which the ground could poke through the ice in places. Tiger was no place to be hiking today without traction -- although a wood nymph in short shorts and a male runner made it look like child's play. It wasn't. This photo was taken just below the 2.2 mile marker. I pulled out my trekking poles, exposed the hard points to dig into the snow, and made my way to safer ground.

I had planned to summit today, but settled for reaching approximately 1,600 feet above sea level, about 900 feet below the summit. Total elevation gain from the parking lot was about 1,100 feet. Distance traveled was easily 4.5 miles. I developed these conservative figures from the Map My Hike software.

Given all that, here are my figures to date:

Distance year to date: 24.5 miles
Elevation gain year to date: 5,965 feet.

Record of the descent from near the 2.2 mile mark to the car. Cable Line Trail is to the right.

To the right of the trailhead, this path leads to the carcass of an old bus.

There were many split and downed trees from the winter wind storms.

Filtered light from a slightly overcast sky enriched the colors along the path.

A sight along the path

This tree is a familiar landmark on Tiger 3 -- always in the same location.

Another landmark -- in this case, a harbinger of the snow at higher elevations.

I heard about these ferns that grow out of trees on my last hike. Their roots taste like licorice?

Licorice might have been hinted at, but the flavor was more nutty; maybe later in the season.

Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park: March 4, 2018

Topographic Map of the park and neighborhood.

Today I hiked 5 miles with Nancy Whitaker, and another 3 going to and from the Bainbridge ferry from my condo. I carried a backpack of only 11 pounds, probably. Total elevation gain was about 900 feet.

The hike was in Port Gamble Forest Heritage park, which straddles the Kitsap Peninsula, which is linked to Bainbridge Island by the Agate Pass bridge. Nancy joined me at the Bainbridge Island dock and drove to the park, leading me along trails she was familiar with.

The park is being developed, with trail improvements and the selective thinning of trees. And it  is quaint for its names: Twisted Sister, Forbidden Forest, ET and Ankle Biter trails -- the list goes on. It is frequented by mountain bikers and hikers. Wildlife include black bear.

This represents the first significant hike I've taken since returning from Mexico. Cold weather discouraged hiking until now. There was a 50% chance of rain today, and there was some sprinkling, but nothing significant.

The path we hiked today. The green box indicates where I turned on the Map My Hike software.

The trail included unimproved paths which are frequented by mountain bikes.

Distance: 8 miles
Elevation gain: 900 feet.
Weight: 11 pounds
Distance year to date: 20 miles
Elevation gain year to date: 4,865 feet.

Snow Dust on Tiger, Feb 10, 2018

Frost and frosty snow limned trees' needles and leaves on Tiger 3 today.

Tiger Mountain was icy cold when I exited my Honda Fit this morning. The cold cut through my safari pants, but before long the hike and warmed me up. I made it to the summit today, reaching the top in less than two hours and  descending in about one hour. After the two-mile point I began to see snow residue along the trail.

Distance: 3 miles
Elevation gain: 2,000 feet.
Weight: negligible.
Distance year to date: 12 miles
Elevation gain year to date: 3,965 feet.

Snow-dusted salal

Hike #2 for 2018

Map of hike to 2.2 mile mark

I was tired today and the hike was more of an effort than last time. I think it was due to too little sleep.
I hiked a total of 4.8 miles. Map My Hike seemed remarkably accurate for distance, but off for elevation by approximately 90 feet going up. I gained 1,350 feet in elevation. I wore rain pants and perhaps an 8 pound backpack. There was no rain. My right hip hurt on the descent, in which I relied on trekking poles.

Statistics for the  year:
Distance: 9 miles
Elevation gain year to date: 1,965 feet.

First hike, 2018

Looking down the trail on Tiger 3 early in the hike; shot with my LG G6.

This was my first real hike of 2018. I've been lounging around, settling in after trips to Vancouver and New Orleans. I did a hike in Vancouver, but I think I lost the photos. If I find them,  that will be my first other real hike.

Today I partitioned my hike to allow me to compare distances with Map My Hike software to what the trail says.  Here are the details:

0.67 mile 95 feet elevation gain to 500-foot sign, shown as 627 feet with Map My Hike.
1.60 mile 1110 ft elevation gain:  634 to 1822 feet
0.53 mile         From 1813 feet, descending to 1.1 mile marker
1.12 mile         From 1364 feet, descending toward trailhead
0.67 mile         From trailhead to car, not counting distance from trailhead to 500-foot elevation sign.

Elevations leading on flat land to trailhead varies from 615 to 627 feet: It's about 115-127 feet off.

One of the segments -- from 1.1 mile market to trailhead was off by only 1.7%

Total hiking distance shown here: Hike was about 4.5 miles.

Heart rate got to 140 bpm; day was cool; not a lot of sweat.

Forgot my parking pass, so I had to park just outside the park.

City Hall Protest hikes

At 8 a.m., the bodies were already piling up inside the entrance to Seattle City Hall. The homeless and their supporters lay splayed along the floor in a silent protest of police sweeps to close homeless communities. I attended to shoot photos for Homeless in Seattle, and this led me to hike to city hall twice yesterday and again this morning. Then, in the afternoon, I hiked to the library in a futile attempt to obtain support from a staff representative to encourage distribution of information about the Homeless Web site.

At 8 a.m. cars were still streaming into the downtown, but the volume had already lightened up.

A topo map indicates that the condo is at 325 feet elevation above sea level. Kaiser Permanente is about 375 feet. And the Seattle Public Library, slightly higher than city hall, is situated at about 175 feet. The distance from the condo to City Hall is 1.1 miles and to the library, 0.9 miles; to Kaiser Permanente, 0.5 miles.

So, using simple math, here's my performance for the past two days:
1.1 (2)(2)(2) [city hall] +0.9 (2) [Library] + 0.5 (2) [Kaiser Permanente]
= 9.4 miles = 15.04 km.
(325' - 175') (8) = 1200'

Official statistics for year to date:
Distance: 361.62 km
Elevation Gain: 30,375 feet

Fall colors on Tiger 3

Descent from Tiger 3's 2.2 mile mark to the Talus Rock Trail

Yesterday I followed a different path on Tiger Mountain, taking in the fall colors and, toward the end of the hike, discovering a cave. The cave, which is situated at the termination of the portion of the hike depicted here, seems to have been created by a rock fall. For safety reasons, I skirted the cave, noting one approach that, if taken carelessly, might have resulted in a fall. This is worth a return visit for further study.

I found the cave by happenstance. After hiking to the 2.2 mile mark on Tiger 3 I began my descent, detouring onto the Talus Rock Trail near the end and following the Nook Trail fork to the Bus Trail. (See "nature photography hike".) This path involved another ascent, which gives me confidence that using the topo map above and using the additional ascent as a cushion, I'm confident I ascended at least 1,460 feet today. Adding to the confidence is the fact that, due to paving of Tiger's upper parking lot, I had to start from a lower location, which was well below the 500 foot market near the upper parking lot. From the car to trailhead showed at about 0.8 miles, using Map My Hike; From there MMH showed 2.08 miles to the 2.2 mile mark, so I'm going on faith that it was reasonably accurate for the other legs of the hike, and I'm claiming easily 6 miles today.

The sign directing hikers to the Talus Rock Trail. A fork from this trail leads to the "Bus Trail."

Here were some of the scenes that greeting me today:

Fall colors greeted me as I left the roadway to ascend the hill leading to the upper parking lot.

At this point I had begun the descent to the Bus Trail.

Statistics for the day:

Distance:  6 miles, 9.6 km
Elevation gain:  1,460 feet

Official statistics for year to date:
Distance: 396.18 km
Elevation Gain: 30,635 feet