Taylor Mountain
Keep an eye out for equestrians as you ride on these trails. When coming up on a horse dismount on the downhill slope of the trail. If the horse is spooked it will run up the hill.Talking to the rider is a good idea plus your voice will let the horse know you are a human.
Info
Taylor Mountain is close to Tiger and many of the trails are open year round. There is an unfounded reputation that the area is mostly muddy and less than desirable trails. What you will find instead are fun narrow trails that are open to mountain bikes. The lollipop loop described is 12 miles and 1600' of elevation gain.
There is a black bear that is seen quite often around the trails, so a bear bell is recommended so you don't startle him. He is generally in the Hold Knob/Whiskey Still area.
WTA has been working there for the past 4 or 5 winters, usually 20-30 days.
Photos
Videos
Trail Status
Ride Reports
After more than a week of no rain, trails were in pretty good shape. There were a few horses and a lot of hikers, more people than I had ever seen there. Everyone was friendly and courteous even though bikers are pretty rare in this park. I thought the path to Elk Ridge would be...
Started at 7am from the lower Tiger lot with the plan to summit and circumnavigate Taylor Mountain. I had mapped out the double track needed and went down the west side of Taylor. The roads felt like the ones at Cherry Valley's and Alpine Baldy's with lots of drainages and washouts. There are sev...
Trails are a little loose and gravelly for most of this ride, and you will definitely roll through horse poop. There is... a lot of horse poop. I'm pretty sure I was the only mountain biker in the park, which is a little different from the Saturday packed parking lot at Tiger 3 miles away. The tr...
Rode Taylor Mountain on a Tuesday evening. Heading out from the Hwy 18 lot, the Holder Creek trail turns into a goat path, not ridable. Turned back. Went up Holder knob, gets pretty steep. Good traction but muddy areas pretty chewed up by horses. Also lots of horse poop. Beaver pond area was very...
Went here yesterday for the first time just to check it out and mix up my riding. The trails were pretty dry and loose from all the horse traffic (dry from the drought we are in, of course). Horse poop was present, but not that much of an issue although maybe on weekends it is different. Overall,...
King County Parks, has subcontracted...and will start in a few weeks / early summer to enlarge the parking lot. It will be closed approximately 2 months. Tahoma chapter BCHW cleared Holder creek trail on National Trails Day
Taylor mountain is located in the perfect spot for people either north or south of highway 18, the terrain has all kinds of potential for epic riding, but the trails are in no condition for winter riding. 70% of lower trails are covered in multiple inches of mud, and where there is no mud chances...
I went out here with my 4 and 5 year olds just to hit the bottom parts of the single track and it was just covered in horse poop. Wow, I love the signs in the parking lot that say something like "pack everything out". I guess everything exept the horse poop! After about the thir...
This area is alright if looking for service road riding and trails pretty heavily impacted by horse traffic. The tread, though ridable, was pretty loose on most hills and the brush got a bit claustrophobic is some areas. Oh, and there was a lot of horse poop. Four horses passed me with...
Rode this last evening (8/20/14), fun trail, moderate-advanced beginner-intermediate level trails and gravel roads. The ride from the parking lot up and down Holder Ridge is dry and smooth rolling through dense woods. From the creek at the bottom up toward Holder knob, the trail is dry with...
I found mostly logging roads and smooth single track - good for a hot afternoon. Make sure you print out this map as the signage is very minimal: