[ragman and rodman]

Sitting on top of Serpentine Hill, it seemed clear that the originator of the Back Court 100 list might have been struggling to find enough candidates to complete the list... at 4658', Serpentine Hill is #98 on the B/C 100 list and true to its name, there is a ton of serpentine rock in the area... the semi-treed summit offers marginal views, but the hike was a good choice considering that the Teanaway was covered with clouds and probably lots of rain. Approximately 8.5 miles north of Swauk Pass (commonly referred to as Blewett Pass), turn off of Hwy 97 and onto the Old Blewett Pass highway (road 7320)... drive ~.75 miles and turn right (crossing a bridge) on road 7322... continue on 7322 for ~.5 miles and find the trailhead (2700') on the right side of the road. From the trailhead, walk road 7322 for ~1.25 miles to a "Y" intersection (3200')... take the right fork in the road, gaining 1000 feet of elevation over the next two miles to ~4200'... turn right on a side road that goes gently downhill... walk a short distance past the sign that says "No motorcycles"... then leave the road and sidehill over to the saddle between Iron Mtn and Serpentine Hill... from the saddle (4200'), follow good boot path to the top of Serpentine Hill (4658') with several false bumps along the way. Be sure to sign the one-page summit register that still has plenty of room for additional signatures. Returning to the saddle between Iron Mtn and Serpentine Hill, I take full responsibility for suggesting that we scramble up the east side of Iron Mtn... after gaining ~300' of elevation, the reasonable boot path turned to faint boot path... and soon after that, it turned to no boot path... at this point the natives were getting restless and I'm wondering who my future hiking partners might be... adding to my angst were thoughts of the fact that I live with one of the natives, my route-finding credibility was taking another major hit, and I'm taking on additional hiking debt that is going to be hard to repay. Realizing that I was on a very short leash, I tried to remain positive, offering encouragement along the way as we persevered in reaching the east end of Iron Mtn (5250')... and getting a nice look at the Three Brothers. We returned to the car via the same route we used on the way in. 9.75 miles roundtrip, gaining ~3100 feet of elevation. A recommendation: Taking road 400 to Iron Mtn would be a much better idea than scrambling the east side of it. Map and photos of our Serpentine Hill hike. ..

[bobbi]

glad to know that you persevered and didn't let the pressure of leader deter you from making the summit of iron mtn. that summit register is a mess! how does it get stored from the elements? thanks for sharing your trip.

[ragman and rodman]

The summit register was in a 6 inch long, plastic, waterproof container... with a diameter slightly larger than that of a quarter... and while we did reach the east end of Iron Mountain, there were higher points to our west on this broad mountain.