Taylor Mountain by Tiger Mountain doesn’t see many visitors, at least for now. Tiger Summit offers direct access south of Highway 18. Meanwhile, Taylor Mountain Forest‘s vast trails to the southwest see lots more people.
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Taylor Mountain at a Glance
Access: Tiger Summit
Round Trip: 11 miles
Elevation Range: 1360′-2600′
Gear: none
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: yes
Taylor Mountain, the Backstory
It’s been six years since our first visit to Taylor Mountain, where we experienced our first bear encounter. Unfortunately, though, my effort to warn others on WTA about the incident created an unexpected backlash.
Like Twitter, Negative, hateful comments soon poured in. Users crawling out of the boonies suddenly became bear attack experts. I’ve asked the staff to take down the post as the experience further reinforced my distaste for online forums.
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Walking the Service Road
Taylor Mountain makes an excellent mild outing, gaining a good amount of altitude and nothing grueling. There were no grand views on top to write home about. But we caught glimpses of distant peaks en route.
Like before, we approached the mountain south of Tiger Summit. The gated road was right off the busy Highway 18 with constant swooshing. So I was extra mindful when pulling out of the entrance after the hike.
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Roadside Views
As we gained altitude, glimpses of the Olympic Mountains slowly appeared. Then the distinct sight of Tiger Mountain emerged north of the highway. But views into the Snoqualmie River Valley were still scarce.
Two clearings on the north side offered a partial view of the valley. Soon, the mood darkened as we slowly walked past our previous turnaround spot. It’s the place we encountered the junior bear.
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Taylor Mountain Summit
Before long, we reached the woodsy summit four miles from the gate. The top sat at the crossing of the main road and an old brushy path stretching across the ridgeline.
Despite no views on top, I still fought my way through branches. At the very least, I wanted to catch glimpses of Tiger Mountain, if nothing else.
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Brew Hill Summit
After a quick lunch, we moved on to today’s number 2 goal: Brew Hill. From the top, we went southeast on the old trail. Then in a mile and a half, we reached yet another forested summit.
Brew Hill didn’t have a definitive summit. But we walked around the top for a bit and double-checked. Then we hung out by the high point for a few minutes before leaving.
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Outro
En route to Brew Hill was the lush old-growth with towering trees. We peeked at Rattlesnake Mountain and Mount Si from the northern edge. Surprisingly, I saw Mount Index and Three Fingers.
On the way out, we returned through Taylor Mountain’s summit. Other than several photo stops, we continued down the road back to the gate.
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