- When Seattle-area climbers say they are going to “climb Tiger Mountain”, they typically mean a hike up West Tiger 3 (2557 elevation), which has a half-dozen heavily used trails to the top from trailheads along I-90 and in Issaquah. It’s a bit of a surprise that, with over 1600 SPers in Washington state, no one has bothered to document Tiger here before; probably because Tiger sometimes seems more like a city park than a mountain, and is really just a hike. Nevertheless, Tiger is probably the most heavily used 2000 vertical feet of hiking in the state, being a favorite conditioning hike for Seattle metropolitan area climbers. Tiger Mountain is a ridge located in the western the foothills of the Washington Cascades, just east of Seattle. Tiger’s main ridge runs WNW/ESE about 6 miles, with summits being (from east to west) Tiger Mountain (3004), West Tiger 1 (2948), West Tiger 2 (2757) and West Tiger 3, (2557). There are two summits to the south of the main ridge, Middle Tiger (2607) and South Tiger (2028).Tiger Mountain is bounded by I-90 on the north, Washington State Highway 18 on the southeast, Issaquah Hobart Road on the southwest, and the city of Issaquah on the west. The land is administered as the Tiger Mountain State Forest by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
- Issaquah Alps (summitpost.org)
The region known as the Issaquah Alps is a mountainous area of Washington State located east of the Seattle suburbs. The name “Issaquah Alps” is credited as being coined by Harvey Manning in 1976, and includes low-elevation mountains that face I-90 between Bellevue and North Bend. The major mountains of this area are Cougar Mountain on the western side, Squak Mountain and the various Tiger Mountain peaks (West Tiger, Middle Tiger, East Tiger, South Tiger) in the center of the area, and Rattlesnake Mountain on the eastern side of the area. Rattlesnake Mountain connects the Issaquah Alps to a section of the Cascade Mountains along I-90. Other major highpoints within the Issaquah Alps include Taylor Mountain, Grand Ridge, and Mitchell Hill.