ISSAQUAH — Just a few dozen yards up an old Tiger Mountain State Forest trail, Sam Jarrett suddenly veered off route, stepped over a mossy log and ducked into the woods.
There, stashed away until it’s ready for public use, was a new 4-mile trail. A future chapter in an unfolding story that’s making the Western Washington mountain biking community giddy.
Jarrett, natural areas and recreation manager for the state Department of Natural Resources, says the new trail should open in springtime. It’s a climbing trail, designated for mountain bikers to ascend Tiger Mountain from the parking area off state Route 18 without having to use the service road.
Whether riders will be allowed to descend the trail has yet to be determined, Jarrett said. But there are other ways down, including another new trail.
Nearby, work was finishing up on an expert-only descent trail called Predator. The DNR opened the trail last week so riders could spend a week practicing on it before today’s Cascadia Dirt Cup season finale, the Tiger Mountain Enduro race.
Tiger Mountain and surrounding public lands are a growing mountain biking destination thanks to the department, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, Washington Conservation Corps and other groups.
Grant writing to expand mountain biking trails in the Snoqualmie corridor started in 2010 when 60,000 visitors per year were sharing 7 miles of trails at Tiger Mountain.
Issaquah’s Duthie Hill Mountain Bike Park took off some of the pressure when it opened in May 2010. But, Jarrett said, it offered more of a park atmosphere than a primitive outdoor experience.
Since 2012, the trail system at Tiger Mountain has more than doubled. Now with 15 miles of trails, about 100,000 mountain bikers visit per year.
“That’s not all because of the new trails,” Jarrett said. “Some of it is just that sport is getting more and more popular.”
The agency and its partners are planning accordingly. They broke ground this year on new trails at Olallie State Park. There are also plans to link the trails at Tiger Mountain to Raging River State Forest, then the Rattlesnake Ridge area.
There are also hopes of making the trails accessible by bike from nearby towns like North Bend and Preston.
The work isn’t limited to just mountain biking.
A new trail on Mailbox Peak opened last fall, offering a safer, easier route for the 4,000-foot climb. New hiking trail projects are in the works, including a trail on Dirty Harry’s Peak that will provide access for rock climbers.
