Tiger Mountain

With many miles of mountain biking trails spanning a wide variety of skill levels and physical challenge - including a bona fide double-diamond DH trail and killer views of Mount Rainier from the summit - Tiger Mountain is one of Seattle's most popular mountain biking destinations.

All trails are open year round, but during the winter months or after significant weather events, the trails are subject to closures: check for updates on this page and on the DNR's Tiger Mountain page here.

There are also many miles of logging roads that are open all year long, but these too may be closed (typically for timber harvest).  Check the DNR link above.

How to Find It

From Seattle take I-90 East to Highway 18. Continue South on Highway 18 for 4.4 miles, until you reach East Tiger Summit on your right. There are two main parking areas, both accessed from the highway 18 summit. The upper area is gated and is locked at 8:00 PM per the sign on the gate. This area also includes pit toilets. The road to the upper area travels travels west just above the lower parking lot.

A Discover Pass will be required to park at the upper lot. See here for details on obtaining a Discover Pass.

Typical Conditions

Tiger mountain can get slick and stay that way for a bit following rain.  Significant trail rerouting and maintenance efforts over the years have drastically improved Tiger's recovery and rideability due to rain, but due to the traffic it receives, it's still wise to avoid in rainy weather.

Tiger's summit is high enough to receive significant snowfall during winter months, and there may be intermittent closures of the upper trails during snow events.

Most of the trails are smooth and flowing, with intermittent gnar.  Exceptions include Predator - which features very steep and very garnly technical sections, optional airs, root gardens, and a puckering rock chute; and Fully Rigid - which is a tight and twisty, rooty technical challenge.

Iverson and NW Timber see significant use by hikers.  Watch your speed here!

Advocacy & Stewardship

Evergreen is underway with a major improvement of the Tiger Mountain bicycle trail system.

Turn by Turn

If you have a smart phone, there are dozens of apps available to help you find great routes through Tiger's awesome and growing trail system. Here are just a few:

1. Download the Avenza PDF Maps app (http://www.avenza.com/pdf-maps) and the Tiger Mt Bike Trails GeoPDF Map above.
2. Download the Maprika app (http://www.maprika.com/) and their Tiger Mountain map (http://www.maprika.com/maplink.php?id=8343).
3. Download any GPS app and the GPS file above.

A common route for a couple hours at Tiger is:

1. From the upper parking lot, ride up the connector trail to the road intersection.
2. Find the bottom of NW Timber across the road, and ride up NW Timber until the intersection with Master Link on the left.
3. Take Master Link all the way up to its road intersection.
4. Find the bottom of Quick Link immediately across the road, and ride up Quick Link to its road intersection.
5. Turn right on the road, and ride up the road.
6. If you're going for the summit, keep riding on the road and follow the signs to the summit.  If you're gunning for Predator instead, find its ride-up on the left before the first road intersection.
7. From the summit, enjoy the view and take a breather.  Then flip your travel and dropper post switches, and take the East Tiger Summit trail!
8. Cross the road and continue on East Tiger Summit.
9. At the first singletrack intersection, you can stay left for the full East Tiger Summit trail to Preston, or go right for Off The Grid.  Assuming you take Off The Grid, you'll eventually come to a road intersection.
10. From this intersection, descend the Fully Rigid trail.  At the bridge intersection, you can either go left for Silent Swamp (and loop back up to the top of Fully Rigid via the road), or right for Joy Ride.
11. Assuming you take Joy Ride, continue onto NW Timber at the bottom of Joy Ride, and then back to the parking lot.