Iron Mountain,

Phil B · Post by **Phil B** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 4:19 pm

On Saturday (03/27/2010) I hiked Iron Mountain. Arriving at the East Fork at 6.30am i was amazed to find the parking lot full, mostly with people who were gold panning. This had me thinking, "Is there something I don't know - are these guys making bank or is it just a seasonal fad, I've never seen this many here before.
Anyway, getting back to Iron Mountain it was a perfect day for hiking fairly cool on the way up although the wind did kick up near the summit, which I reached in 5 hours 25 minutes, thats a reasonable time for me although the likes of Rick G and Alan K would knock an hour off of that. There was snow around the summit area especially on the North facing side but no crampons or ice axes are needed, the summit log is still under snow and while I know where it is did not bother trying to dig for it.
I headed back down at a comfortable pace and reached the trailhead for a round trip time of 9 hours. All in all this is a great time of year to be on Iron Mountain, before the heat and dust build up, I only saw two other hikers on the trail all day.
Pics: http://philbrown.smugmug.com/Other/Iron ... 7749_bdBxM
http://philbrown.smugmug.com/Other/Iron ... 7749_bdBxM

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:13 pm

Phil B wrote:On Saturday (03/27/2010) I hiked Iron Mountain. Arriving at the East Fork at 6.30am i was amazed to find the parking lot full, mostly with people who were gold panning. This had me thinking, "Is there something I don't know - are these guys making bank or is it just a seasonal fad, I've never seen this many here before.

There is something you are missing. Every one of those guys is getting rich!

But Iron Mountain is the greatest. After gold, of course.

Post by **HikeUp** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 5:20 pm

Great set of pictures Phil. Thanks for posting.

BTW, great pictures of Vetter Mtn. on your picture site. The only pictures I've seen of the mountain since the fire.

Phil B · Post by **Phil B** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 6:01 pm

That area got really torched, as far as you could see in any direction was burned up.

Phil

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 6:58 am

That looks great. I'm going to schedule a weekend in April for this hike right now (though this last weekend's weather wasn't much different from summer).

Do you need a permit to go into Sheep Wilderness?

asbufra · Post by **asbufra** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:12 am

Thank you for the trip report. A little snow on top is good.

Some places mention that you need a permit to enter the Sheep wilderness, but I have never gotten one. There are no signs on the trail saying you need a permit (like Ice House Canyon)and I have never seen Rangers in many trips.
I think you can stop at the Ranger Station and get one.

Phil B · Post by **Phil B** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:33 am

There use to be a self register Stand at the trailhead but they removed it about two years ago. Now I get permits for that area from the Glendora Forest Ranger Station although they don't seem to know much about the Sheep Mountain Wilderness area they will issue one. I'm not even sure if its necessary now.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:03 am

I used to fill out the forms when they were available at Heaton Flat. If they want you to register these days, they need to put up some signs to that effect.

By the way, this sign appeared recently -- it's on the trail as one approaches the ridge above Bear Flat. I have seen no evidence that we are supposed to register to use that trail.

Post by **HikeUp** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:09 am

http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/angeles/recreat ... tain.shtml

Permit for Sheep Mtn. Wilderness is only needed if you enter from the East Fork Trailhead (Heaton Flats).

simonov · Post by **simonov** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 9:34 am

Is there a ranger station on the way between the 210 and Heaton Flat?

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 11:49 am

I gots the permit....I put one on photobucket, but maybe if I send a clean one to TDR he can mess with it and put it as a sticky?

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 4:21 pm

NICE!!