[Opus]

Who needs to think of original trip ideas when you can just pick a recent one to a new destination and hop in the car? The real reason was to escape the bad forecast of course. We left behind rain at Snoqualmie and emerged from our cars under blue skies and sun at the start of the road! Right now one can drive as far as the second bridge, about a half mile up the road, with a 4x4 or Subaru. There is a good turn around and parking spot here. I wouldn't go further though; we found a little Jeep stuck not too far beyond with no sign of the driver. We parked just before the first bridge. After walking the road and crossing the creek we started up the ridge towards Serpentine. No snow at the start but the ground was fairly soft and slick in places. We gained the ridge and continued on with our eyes on Serpentine. Some rock outcroppings caused us to detour around the south side before climbing straight up. Our route took us through some loose scree and steep dirt, not too fun. Beyond the rocks though travel was easier if a little brushy. Near the top of Serpentine we found the melted remnants of footprints, probably from the Schmidts trip. Views from the top were local but good out towards Miller peak. We dropped down to the little saddle on steep dirt and soft snow before picking up an old road headed towards Iron mountain. We followed this most of the way walking in old snowmobile tracks and occasional bare dirt. As we neared the saddle we began to post hole in the warming snow and stopped to put on snowshoes. Post holing was solved but it was still slow going. Near the saddle we ascended straight up to the ridge under crusty crummy snow. A short climb but tiring. Now it was just a short distance to the top of Iron. We continued up, now in firmer snow in the trees. About halfway up we dropped our snowshoes and booted the rest. The snow was very unconsolidated and made for some very deep post holing. The top was a welcome sight! We sat around in the sun, comfortable except for the strong wind, and enjoyed the view. No sign of Stuart but we could see several Teanaway peaks. After some photos and an enjoyable stay we post holed our way back down to our discarded snowshoes and started the descent. Sadly no glissades on the upper slope for us. The snow was far too wet and soft to even get going. We plunge stepped in snowshoes back to the road and began the slog out. Along the way we managed to cut the two switchbacks, save some time, and get in a short slide on old snowmobile tracks! The alternating soft snow and bare dirt made for a few annoying snowshoe changes before we finally put them on our back for the rest of the descent below Serpentine. We used another old road to skirt along the south side and avoid any climbing. Our road dead ended and disappeared around where we'd climbed straight upslope on the ascent. We managed to pick up our trail and followed our own footprints or faint game trails back down to the main road. Surprisingly the stuck little Jeep wagon was still there! Still no sign of the driver or any other hikers all day. Great day to be out! Blue skies, sun, and even some wildflowers! My first glacier lily find of the year!

GPS tracks

Yellow flower

Luis climbing!

Avalanche lily

Route finding

Miller peak

Off trail

Serpentine mountain

Melting road

Snowy Miller peak

Iron mountian summit

Teanaway peaks

Short glissade

Dancing miners?

Summit panorama

[GeoTom]

That trip looks vaguely familiar. Good to see Luis making his own ascents too. iron- Don't you know that it's always sunny in the Teanaway?

[JimK]

Ask The Driver if it's always sunny in the Teanaway?

[John Morrow]

[TrailPair]

This trip had a mix of everything....scree, slide alder, bushwacking on Serpentine. The rest of the trip was more fun, except for the gloppy snow. The weather was much better than expected!

Luis did a little climbing.

Rocky Serpentine.

Serpentine. We went to the left side of these rocks.

Looking back at Serpentine, and the road that we will follow on the return.

Barry, David and K at the saddle

On the road to Iron Mt. Miller Pk. beyond.

Climb up to the summit ridge of Iron

Descending in soft snow

David and K on Iron Mt.

Bob on summit of Iron Mt.

The summit of Iron Mt. is unimpressive from below.

[Hikingqueen]

Nice avalanche lilly!

[Snowdog]

those pics of dirt made my heart skip a beat! I've been looking at WAY too much white - (esp. lately!) Wish I'd been able to join you~

[Randy]

I really like the Luis-cam shot! John, no trip yesterday. Lets try and ski something this coming weekend.

[Sadie's Driver]

[Gabigabs]

Great way to escape the rain. Thanks for the report and fantastic pics.

[Middle E]

It was great to see some sun, blue sky, and bare ground, even if it was a harder trip than we were expecting.

Rocky ridgeline to Serpentine

Saddle between Serpentine and Iron

Looking back to Serpentine

Miller Pk behind Kolleen

Huddling for lunch

Miller Pk again

[Opus]

[Quark]

[Bedivere]

Nice work! I was going to head up to the Teanaway Saturday and was thinking of getting up Iron via a route from the N. Fork road but the weather had me thinking that it would be cloudy with no views... One of these days I'll learn to listen to my own instincts. Also, I'm trying to figure out where this Miller Peak everyone keeps talking about is. Neither the Green Trails or USGS quads I have show a peak with that name in that area. If someone could describe where it is in relation to other named peaks in the area, I'd appreciate it.

[John Morrow]