Iron Mountain

On the 4th of July I did the hike up to Iron Mountain on a hot beautiful day.

There were lots of columbine along the trail:

Columbine

The trail traverses the lower slope of Cone Peak (which is right next door to Iron Mountain):

Cone Peak

The trail crossed this huge rocky area where a billion wildflowers were blooming. All the hikers going through here were stopping to take pictures. It was a pretty impressive display:

Attention-getters

I encountered some ladies who were tallying all the wildflowers they saw on the hike. They said they were up to 50!

Hardy flowers

Paintbrush extravaganza

Walking through wildflowers

Looking west to Iron Mountain:

Iron Mountain

After a hike through the forest and a steep climb, I reached the summit of Iron Mountain. There’s an old fire lookout up here. Apparently the lookout that preceded this one blew off the mountain in a 1976 windstorm. Yikes! It was a hot day and most hikers were huddled in the shade of the building:

Fire lookout

Looking northwest:

Forested hills

Mt. Hood peeking into view to the north. Three Pyramids on the right:

Distant Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson:

Hey, Jeff!

The Three Sisters:

Three Sisters

View to the south and Diamond Peak:

Looking south

Looking down on the highway:

Rock weirdness

After leaving the summit I looped back to my car at Tombstone Pass. Great hike!