Iron Mt from Allison mine in 2024
Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2024 12:17 pm
Some years back I summited Iron Mt via its SW ridge, approaching via Allison Mine. I haven't been doing as many of these sorts of trips as I used to, and I've been wanting to reassess my fitness level. So yesterday I teamed up with Wes and Jeff and Gautier to repeat this route.
We walked up the East Fork towards Allison Gulch. The water levels are high, with knee-high crossings. Some of these have fixed ropes, but there's too much water for logs or rocks, and keeping your feet dry isn't an option. We then walked up Allison Gulch towards where the old trail to the mine splits off. This is a smaller drainage, but has lots of water also. The old trail upstream comes and goes, but it's all passable. We picked up some camp trash (lots of instant coffee!) on the way, and then took a water break at the trail junction
Near this thing:
The place has far more brush than the last time, and the trail on the left isn't very distinct. But it's there and it's mostly passable, with more brush near the river. The original trail has lots and lots of switchbacks, which are mostly still there. But there're also lots and lots of alternative trails that are also mostly passable. We stayed on the "right" trail near the bottom, but split off to the right somewhere in the middle. It all works.
There's some brush, but it isn't bad. We did some trimming, and it's a bit better now.
Still, Gautier got stabbed
Eventually we reached the elevation of the mine, and met the decent trail that traverses over to it. This crosses a scree field
The trail is in there somewhere. Wasn't too bad.
In places this traverse trail was cut from the hard rock of the mountain, and those cuts are very much still there and make walking very easy
Allison falls (one of them?) is not-very-far below the mine. I took a little side trip to get a look
Looks nice, but there's much of it that I couldn't quite see without lots of extra work.
We arrived at the Allison mine site, and took a break. Lots of hiker trash here. I acquired a hammock, some p-cord and a good roll of tape.
The site is as it was previously: ore hopper collapsed into a pile of rubble. Some adits, some rails. No heavy equipment or cabins.
The falls just above the mine are super nice. It was awkward to photograph, and this is the best I got
There are two tiers visible from the bottom. The upper one is much bigger than the bottom one. Some of us took a shower, and then we checked out one of the adits. Cave crickets live here
This mine is mostly dry, with very few drippy spots
Onwards. I wanted to minimize bushwhacking, so I suggested to follow a long rock slide to climb out. Reviews were mixed.
Eventually we gained the ridge, and followed it to point 6243 and up. There's some brush here and there, but it's mostly clear and is a really fun scramble. Class 2 at most.
Past 6243 are lots of pine trees and big views. Here's a look into Iron Fork:
Right before point 7504 is the crux. The ridge narrows, and there's exposure and some harder moves. Let's call this class-3. The easiest options are still fairly easy.
Things mellow out past that. There are views
And large plants
Eventually we made it to the top
I forgot to bring any stickers, and the register book was full. Whoever goes up there next, please bring a new register book.
The clouds sat at ~5000ft on the way down, highlighting the peaks
The sun set after we crossed the big saddle on the route
and we finished with headlamps in the dark.
The descent was a never-ending slog, as usual. But it was cool to see our ascent ridge
And there was some sort of rocket flying up into space, or maybe re-entering, which was great to see from the darkness of the forest.
We walked up the East Fork towards Allison Gulch. The water levels are high, with knee-high crossings. Some of these have fixed ropes, but there's too much water for logs or rocks, and keeping your feet dry isn't an option. We then walked up Allison Gulch towards where the old trail to the mine splits off. This is a smaller drainage, but has lots of water also. The old trail upstream comes and goes, but it's all passable. We picked up some camp trash (lots of instant coffee!) on the way, and then took a water break at the trail junction
Near this thing:
The place has far more brush than the last time, and the trail on the left isn't very distinct. But it's there and it's mostly passable, with more brush near the river. The original trail has lots and lots of switchbacks, which are mostly still there. But there're also lots and lots of alternative trails that are also mostly passable. We stayed on the "right" trail near the bottom, but split off to the right somewhere in the middle. It all works.
There's some brush, but it isn't bad. We did some trimming, and it's a bit better now.
Still, Gautier got stabbed
Eventually we reached the elevation of the mine, and met the decent trail that traverses over to it. This crosses a scree field
The trail is in there somewhere. Wasn't too bad.
In places this traverse trail was cut from the hard rock of the mountain, and those cuts are very much still there and make walking very easy
Allison falls (one of them?) is not-very-far below the mine. I took a little side trip to get a look
Looks nice, but there's much of it that I couldn't quite see without lots of extra work.
We arrived at the Allison mine site, and took a break. Lots of hiker trash here. I acquired a hammock, some p-cord and a good roll of tape.
The site is as it was previously: ore hopper collapsed into a pile of rubble. Some adits, some rails. No heavy equipment or cabins.
The falls just above the mine are super nice. It was awkward to photograph, and this is the best I got
There are two tiers visible from the bottom. The upper one is much bigger than the bottom one. Some of us took a shower, and then we checked out one of the adits. Cave crickets live here
This mine is mostly dry, with very few drippy spots
Onwards. I wanted to minimize bushwhacking, so I suggested to follow a long rock slide to climb out. Reviews were mixed.
Eventually we gained the ridge, and followed it to point 6243 and up. There's some brush here and there, but it's mostly clear and is a really fun scramble. Class 2 at most.
Past 6243 are lots of pine trees and big views. Here's a look into Iron Fork:
Right before point 7504 is the crux. The ridge narrows, and there's exposure and some harder moves. Let's call this class-3. The easiest options are still fairly easy.
Things mellow out past that. There are views
And large plants
Eventually we made it to the top
I forgot to bring any stickers, and the register book was full. Whoever goes up there next, please bring a new register book.
The clouds sat at ~5000ft on the way down, highlighting the peaks
The sun set after we crossed the big saddle on the route
and we finished with headlamps in the dark.
The descent was a never-ending slog, as usual. But it was cool to see our ascent ridge
And there was some sort of rocket flying up into space, or maybe re-entering, which was great to see from the darkness of the forest.
