Tiger Mountain Train Wreck on the Winter Solstice

After reading about the Wood and Iverson Logging Railroad, in Ken Smeltzer’s book, and the 1925 crash on Tiger Mountain, my lifelong hiking buddy, and best friend, Russ and I decided to hike to the site.   There is an easy way, where your SUV will do most of the work, starting at the Hwy 18 summit, and then there’s the way we went, beginning at the bottom of the mountain, off Tiger Mountain Road, near Hobart. 

Trailhead off Tiger Mountain Road, near Hwy 18

With Tiger Mountain, like any hiking oasis near an urban area, signage is problematic.  Are signs missing or never placed?  I suspect stolen by punk vandals, souvenir seekers, and NIMBY neighbors of the park.  Regardless, it is a reality on Tiger Mountain.   The hassle begins with the unmarked trailhead itself.  After turning onto Tiger Mountain road, off the Hobart Road near Hwy 18, look for a bus stop sign a quarter mile up on the right, before 175^nd.   Since we were the first people to arrive that morning, we didn’t have the benefit of seeing a slew of Suburus parked on the opposite side of the road.  We drove past the first time, but quickly corrected our mistake, and were on the trail by 10:40 AM or so.

Lower part of the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT)

We began our hike on the unmarked southern terminus of the Tiger Mountain Trail (TMT).  Given the fact that we hiked on the Winter Solstice, trail conditions were outstanding.  The trail climbs up along a canyon among maple and fir trees.  For equestrians, a horse cut off is available for surer four-hoofed footing.   Where the Horse Cut-off rejoins the TMT  (just over a quarter mile) is one of the first confusing intersections of the hike.  To the left is an old logging road heading down the Tiger Mountain road.  To the right, the gentler TMT works around the eastside of the South Tiger prominence.  We elected to take the steeper, South Tiger Traverse.  You may find it odd that the steeper trail is called a traverse, but such are the irritating inconsistencies of Tiger Mountain. 

View from the Pipeline Trail Looking West

In just under a quarter mile, the Traverse trail intersects with the Powerline Trail.  A nice panorama through the high voltage lines can be enjoyed here.  When we walked up to enjoy the view, we encountered Oscar the grouch at age 60.  We could tell he was none too happy to see us because he snarled and snorted when we walked over to enjoy the view. I asked if he was also heading up to the train wreck, he told us whichever way were hiking, he was would going in opposite direction.  “I am he was out here to be alone!” he growled.    In the most popular hiking destination in the state, I doubt he was going to find true solitude. 

While Oscar headed down the Powerline Trail to rejoin the TMT, we began the ascent up the South Tiger Mountain Traverse, moving in an out of logged areas and second growth forest, past a pond, and a memorial to long-time property owner, and conservation advocate, Carol Hepke.    Once we climb to the ridge, just below South Tiger summit, we were confronted with another signage question.    Where the hiking trail meets a road, a sign reads “Tiger Mountain Traverse,” pointing back the way we came, suggesting the traverse was at its end.  That would make the road we popped out onto the West Side Road.  In the icy crust on the road, we found tire tracks of some local chapter of a  jeep club.  The road had seen enough traffic to create pass-like conditions of snow and ice.  It turns out, though, this really was NOT the West Side Road, but just a spur that petered out in a quarter mile.  It took us awhile to figure this out.  To the right, the spur heads towards the summit of South Tiger, Y-ing slightly, holding the summit in the crux of the Y.  

Where the TMT and the South Tiger Traverse Meet

From where we were standing , we could not see where the spur ended.  Consequently, we searched in vain across the road to where we believed the trail would continue to the train wreck.  In actuality, the Traverse continues down the spur of the slippery old logging road to the left for another quarter-mile , first to the junction of the Traverse and the gentler, TMT, and then through a broken, and open gate,  where the spur meets the actual West Side Road.   When we came off the trail, onto the spur, given the sign and the fact two different maps did NOT show the spur continuing toward the South summit, we were confused, and thought the “Artifacts Trail” should be just across the road.  We ponder our location and the accuracy of our map, and then decided to at least tag the top of this part of Tiger.  Honestly, at 2028 feet, South Tiger Summit, is just a couple of benches around a fire pit with a partial view of the valley.  It is not a great final destination for an otherwise, great day of  hiking. 

South Tiger Summit 

We still had 45 minutes before our agreed upon turn-around time of 2:30, so we backtracked a bit, and worked out that we hadn’t come to the end of the Traverse as we guessed.  Once we realized that the road spur was a continuation of the trail, we tread our way down the icy path.  Russ demonstrated the hazards of the footing by doing an impromptu cannonball onto the road.  Arms out, arse first, he quickly hopped to his feet--no harm no foul, though some microspikes on that little chunk of road would have been nice.  I was happy I was using poles. 

Route of Hike with Spurs Added 

Down the West Side Road 30 yards or so, you'll find
the stile that marks the continuation of the TMT, on the way
to the 1925 train wreck site.

After a few hundred yards, the Traverse officially ends as it converges with the Tiger Mountain Trail again.  The TMT then crosses the actual West Side Road. Up the old logging road, we ran into Oscar again, now mellowed a bit by the workout.   Here again, our maps were a little inaccurate.  It appears that the trail should continue straight, but in fact, you need to walk down the road (to the west) for 30 yards or so where you’ll find a stile where the TMT continues.  From the stile to wreck is just over a quarter of a mile.  

As the trail continues, it climbs the ridge a little then curls back east towards Holder Creek.  After a quarter mile or so, on the bank of the creek, you’ll find a sign informing you that you are on the Artifacts Trail that follows the old grade a few hundred yards into the woods.  Here the remains of the 1925 crash are strewn in the dark second growth forest for hundred yards or so.  At

the wreckage site, you find another sign marking the spot of the accident.  This was the only place where we found deep mud on the trail.  

Parts of the undercarriage, and the twisted remains of a car wrapped around a tree provide a vivid reminder of the violence of the crash.  We paused in silence for a moment honoring the Nick Karis, who died in 1925 crash.  He was born the same year as my grandfather, but only lived to 35.  Two other loggers jump from the train in time.  Nature and souvenir hunters have pilfered the artifacts.  Still, anyone with an historical imagination can visualize the dangers and difficulties of logging on Tiger Mountain almost 100 years ago.

We snapped some pictures and checked our watches.  It was 2:30 and time to head back down.  This time we took the easier TMT all the way out.   If we had taken the TMT up, we would have by-passed the confusion of the Traverse signage and the maps with missing spurs, but we would have also missed out on the adventure, and the cardio benefit of taking a trail less traveled.

In a little over a mile down hill, the TMT zags across the pipeline trail.  In the dimming light, on the lower part of the path we ran into two separate hikers with their dogs and no headlamps.  They must have great night vision to head into the darkening woods that late.  Just a half mile or so from the trailhead, we had brief conversation with a UW Wildlife biologist who heading up the trail to check his wildlife cameras. 

“Any cougars?”  we wondered. 

“Not on Tiger, surprisingly,  but over by the Raging River.”

We were back at the trailhead just after 4 PM.  It was winter solstice.  The sun would be down in 15 minutes.  We agreed it was an excellent day of hiking however brief.