Tiger Mountain: Section Line
Last weekend Nick and I decided to try getting to the summit of West Tiger via the Section Line trail, which starts just off the freeway at Sunset, instead of High Point. There are two rules when hiking on any of Tiger Mountain’s trails besides the Tiger Mountain 3 or Cable Line.
- Always take a map and compass.
- Always count on getting lost at least once.
All started well. We found the well-marked trailhead and started up the relatively steep hillside towards Tradition Plateau.
After about 10 minutes of hiking we entered a large junction. We did the logical thing: we followed the sign that said “Adventure Trail, to Section Line.” That was our first mistake.
Before we knew it, we were wandering on an old logging/mining road that was taking us down and away from the mountain. It wasn’t marked on our map and we realized for the first time that we probably didn’t bring enough food for this adventure.
Still determined, we split a Luna Bar and returned to the junction. We decided to try our luck walking the other way. In no time at all we found the trail we were looking for - this one signed “Wetlands Trail, to Adventure Trail.” We were on track according to the map, but hungry again. We split our last Cliff Bar. (We still had about 2,000 ft to climb to the summit and all that was left was two PB&Js.)
The trail was pretty interesting. It meandered through Tradition Plateau, an area I’d always avoided in pursuit of the summit via the regular trails. After a short while, we found ourselves on the Bus Line, which we followed to our doom - the Section Line trail.
Anyone who has hiked the Cable Route knows that Tiger Mountain trails can be steep. The Section Line rivals the Cable Route and steeper mountains like Mailbox Peak. By now Nick was starting to bonk; I could hear him behind me whining about being lightheaded and tired. After tackling the first 1,000 feet, we stopped for a sandwich break - just enough to get to the summit. Fifteen minutes later we finally reached the summit.
You’d think, having come up the trail, we’d be able to find our way down again with no troubles. I’m not sure what possessed us to take a different route...maybe it was the deceptively well marked trail on the map...but we decided to take the High School Trail back to the car. All was going well until we reached the school itself. We still had about 3/4 of a mile to go when the trail we were on broke into a massive tangle of dirt roads. These weren’t marked on the map!
Determined not to go back (we had exhausted our food and water adn didn’t have enough energy to hike 3 miles back up the mountain), we forged ahead and ended up near the gun range. Shotguns exploded behind us as we consulted the map. Good news: the range was at least on the map. Unfortunately, the trail was no where near it.
Frustrated and tired, we started walking down the road towards town. That’s when we spied a woman and her dog walking out of the woods, across the road and back into the woods. “That must be it!” we thought.
Sure enough it was, and about 10 minutes later we found ourselves winding down the hillside again back to our car. Whew!