10 miles of hiking • 3000' elevation gain •
Wow, this was a really cool mountaintop! A long cirque ridge, with cool layered pillars. It felt like walking the outer walls of an ancient fortress.
I was able to drive to the Ironstone Mtn TH at over 6000 ft on Bethel Ridge. All of the open south facing slopes were lovely with xeric rock gardens, but on north side of ridge, and in the saddles, there were patches of forest with persistent snow cover. Slowed down my navigation. Had a few sustained high wind periods and snow squalls. Big mountains never came out, but the clouds were racing around and very entertaining. Took 9 hours to do these 10 miles, but very pleasant. Moat on summit rim allowed for easy walk up. Textures on top were really trippy! Very unique mountain. Burnt Mountain was nice too.
