Intro

See more trip photos here.

A Taylor Mountain do-over plus Brew Hill.

Five and a half years had passed since our bear encounter on Taylor Mountain. My immediate effort to warn others about the incident on WTA was met with unexpected backlash. Negative vicious comments from people crawling out of the woodwork had since left a bad taste in my mouth. Alas! Today was as good a day as any other rainy day to go back and finish the unfinished business.

The Lowdown on Taylor Mountain

Access: South of Highway 18 across from Tiger Mountain Summit Trailhead

Round Trip: 11 miles

Elevation Range: 1360′-2600′

Gear: none

GPS Track: available

The Hike

Taylor Mountain makes a great outing for those who enjoy a moderate walk through another part of the Issaquah Alps. No grand views to write home about, and we spent the majority of our time walking the old service road. Like the time before, we accessed the mountain from the gate across the busy Highway 18 from Tiger Mountain Summit Trailhead.

Olympic Mountains

See more trip photos here.

Once the elevation gain started to kick in, distant views of the Olympic Mountains began to appear. Apart from seeing Tiger Mountain across the freeway, views into the Snoqualmie River Valley were scarce. The two clearings to the north along the way provided a partial view into the valley. The mood became heavy as we walked through our prevoius turnaround spot.

Tiger Mountain from Taylor Mountain

See more trip photos here.

After more mindless walking, we finally reached the forested summit at four miles in from the gate. Coincidentally, the summit was at the junction of the main road and a brushy old road that stretched across the ridge crest. Summit views were virtually nonexistent, so I fought my way through tree branches to catch glimpses of Tiger Mountain.

The Summit

After a quick lunch break and some photos, we then continued onto today’s destination #2–Brew Hill. We traveled southeast on the aforementioned brushy trail for a mile and a half to reach yet another forested summit. The hill didn’t have a definitive highest point, so we hung out by the map-marked point for a few minutes before leaving.

On the way to and back from Brew Hill, we hiked through a luscious section of old growth with tall trees spreading across. We caught glimpses of Rattlesnake Mountain and Mount Si from the northern edge of the forest. Apart from that, the hike was mostly a nice and quiet…and mindless.

When 18 met 90

See more trip photos here.

The Outro

We passed through Taylor Mountain summit on the way out. Other than making a couple of photo stops, we just continued on down the road and back the way we came.