BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Police have stumbled upon a huge marijuana grow on Taylor Mountain.

The grow was discovered earlier this week, and the Eastside Narcotics Task Forcehas since confiscated 25,248 pot plants found in three separate grows on the slopes of the mountain, not too far from Tiger Mountain.

"I find it unusual, because the majority of our grows in the Seattle-Bellevue area are indoor grows, not outdoor grows," said Carla Iafrate with the Eastside Narcotics Task Force.

"You will find that more in the Eastern Washington area."

Two of the grows were spotted from the air, a third was discovered when the SWAT team moved in.

An officer at the scene of the grow initially reported that a hiker had found the plants while tracking a bear, but narcotics task force members said later Wednesday that was not the case, and that it was spotted by a crew in a helicopter.

The plants have a street value estimated at over $500,000, Iafrate said.

The plants are believed to be about seven weeks old and apparently had grown furiously during the recent hot spell.

Police found two camps in the area where they believe two-to-four people tended the grows, which were irrigated with water from nearby streams.

Iafrate said investigators found indications at the two camps that the grows were manned by Mexican drug cartels who are also believed to be involved in several pot groups in Chelan, Douglas and Yakima Counties.

The camp was empty at the time of Wednesday morning's raid, said Bellevue police officer Andy Smith, adding, adding there were no bobby traps or weapons found.

Smith hypothesized the grow was so remote and the growers thought it was so well hidden that it didn't need much defense, but Smith said the tree canopy along the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains is not as dense as the ones in Eastern Washington, and the grow busted Wednesday was clearly visible from a helicopter.

They say they do routine fly-overs and if they spot any more grows, you can bet there will be more raids.