Iron Mountain (4x)

11/10/07

My 4th time on Big Iron. 

On my last attempt to beat 3 hours to the summit of Iron Mountain I failed. Thus, I had to go back for another try. Since I wasn't slacking off last time I knew it wouldn't be easy. My goal was to shave off 10 minutes in order to clock in under 3 hours. With only 2 exceptions I haven't been tagging any peaks for the past few months so I was concerned I might have lost my conditioning. Never-the-less I figured I'd give it my best shot and see what happened. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my stats from the last attempts so I would have some difficulty gauging my performance until I approached the summit. As a result I simply pushed relentlessly hoping I could shave off those 10 long minutes. 

This time I clocked in at 2 hrs 37 mins from car to summit. Roundtrip time was 4 hrs 42 mins. I was a bit surprised when I reached the summit. I knew I was making good time but this was faster than I expected. I knew I was pushing it though because my calf muscles cramped up minutes before reaching the summit and while on the summit I realized my throat was sore from breathing so hard. 

On the way down I met a group coming up. We spoke just briefly before I continued on down. Back at the parking lot I was pretty sore. I took an hour or so to recover. I then drove over to the Baldy Village and started hiking up the Bear Canyon trail. Somehow I never quite seemed to get around to doing Lookout Moutain. I had just enough time left to squeeze it in. This added an additional 10 miles and 2800 ft of gain to my stats for the day and was just enough to give me 10,000 ft of gain and 24 miles of distance. A satisfying burger and beer at the Baldy Lodge finished the day. 

Log

07:02a - Heaton Flat Parking Lot
07:07a - Heaton Flat Trail Sign
07:29a - On the ridge
09:39a - Summit of Iron Mountain
09:52a - Left summit
11:38a - Heaton Flat Trail Sign
11:44a - Heaton Flat Parking Lot

Stats

Time from Heaton Flat parking lot to summit: 2 hrs 37 mins
Time on summit: 13 mins
Time from summit to Heaton Flat parking lot: 1 hr 52 mins
Total time: 4 hrs 42 mins

Brought

Hydration pack with 1 liter water 
a few snacks (only ate one gu packet)
rain/wind shell
sweater & gloves
small first aid kit