Spencer and I had been talking about doing a hike or mountain climb together for quite some time. Finally it worked out. He invited me to hike Iron Mountain which I knew nothing about. It was a hike fairly near to me but off of Highway 20 toward Albany. I did not drive that was very often, so it had completely escaped my realm of possibilities. We got a decently early start. I drove and found the trailhead pretty easily since it is right off of the highway. I was surprised to see that we were the first ones at the trailhead. I guess since it was Friday, we had a little less company. The trail started going up pretty steeply. I was happy with some elevation change and some miles to put in since I was preparing to go on the PCT in one month.
I needed to test out the knee to see what it was capable of. After electing not to have surgery or go through physical therapy, I really wanted to know what the knee could take. Each weekend, I would go out on a hike, but that really wasn't going to compare to the every day of doing the PCT. Spencer was quite a bit younger than me, so he was probably in better shape. I was trying out my trekking poles for the first time and I must have looked like one of those old hikers. I couldn't decide if I liked the trekking poles or not. Having two of them seemed unnecessary though and I felt like it made me move quite a bit slower. The trail continued to climb and the peak came into view. It had a rocky summit that we would traverse right under.
Spencer was taking a lot of pictures which was fine. He was from Oklahoma, which I did not hold against him, so this scenery was much more dramatic than where he came from. He liked to climb out on some steep, treacherous slopes for no reason. I let him and the only thing that bothered me was when he started throwing rocks off the mountain. There could easily be someone down there, but it is hard to police the situation when it is the first time hanging out with someone. Eventually we made it back on the main trail and really after just some uphill hiking, we ended up on a platform made of wood. It was in the place of the old lookout and there were signs showing the names and locations of the peaks around.
It was pretty fancy and I think the jury is still out on whether I liked it or not. For something different, it was good, but I wouldn't want a platform on top of every peak that I visited. We made a plan to head around the loop rather than going back to the car the way that we came. I was all in on getting more miles in if possible. This was take us around the flanks of Cone Peak.
The trail went down and then around and soon we were at the base of Cone Peak. We both seemed inspired, so we decided to go up to the top of that one too. This one took a bit more scrambling as some of the areas were quite steep. We followed a good line, though, and the loose scree gave way to a much easier ridge hike which we took right up to the summit. The view from Cone Peak was slightly better in my eyes than Iron Mountain. Maybe it was the more wilderness type of feel to the top that made me feel that way, but it was enjoyable. I was glad we took this side trip. Then it was back down. With all the scree, I was a little worried about rocks coming down, but we handled it well. Then it was back to the trail.
From here the trail just kind of either stayed level or went down. It eventually brought us to a big meadow where we turned west to head back to the parking lot. The hike was so quiet. I learned a lot about Spencer and when we got back to the car, he had to show me something else. There was a cave not too far from here out in the woods that he had been to. He found the right parking spot and we walked to it. Sure enough, here is this lava tube with ice still in it in June. Pretty cool spot. It was hidden pretty well, but when I looked at the old maps it was on there. It is called Sawyer's Cave. We did not get too far because all we had was our phones for light. It would be interesting to go back with a headlamp and explore it further. After that, it was back home. A great day out. The knee did well and I had some good company to go with it.
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