Home»All Photographs»2016 Hikes»Iron Lakes Ridge 10-29-16

Clayton joined Me for my penultimate hike of the 2016 season - to Iron Lakes Ridge.
We hiked past the lovely Bear Pond, which was covered in a thin veneer of ice, adorned with a beautiful star pattern.
We then descended a forested ridge to a long, narrow meadow that I took quite a liking to - and named it 'Peter's Meadow'. Haha.
Peter's Meadow was dead silent, and fragile frost crumbled off the long grass as we walked through it. As I scanned the forest edge for animals, I thought of how wonderfully tranquil a place I was in. This was October hiking at its best!
After the meadow, there was a brief bushwack and creek crossing to find an open ridge that would lead us up to some rock bands above.
Once at the rock bands, we started scrambling up some easy ledges along large fins of rock. Another short ridge ascent and we were on the summit - and guess what?...it was actually wind free! That is almost unheard of in this area.
The sun shone down on us during lunch, and I was comfortable in just a base layer...wow.
The goodness didn't stop there...we continued north along a lovely open ridge, with views of Sentinel Peak. We eventually had to drop off the ridge on the lee (east) side. We encountered some deep snow here, and the stunted conifers we a bit tangly, but soon we were on a small plateau overlooking Iron Lakes. We descended through some open pine forest here and then emerged in Peter's Meadow again...yay! A second lunch was had here, in the warmth and calm of a stunning October day. As we left the meadow for the second time, we were gifted one more thing...the shaded portion of the meadow hadn't thawed yet (low sun angle this time of year), and the sun was twinkling along a frosty border that seemed to have been drawn in the grass.
Back in the shaded forest, at the base of a steep hill, we hiked through an air pocket that I really think dropped 7 or 8 degrees! In a few moments, my ears were stinging and my nose running. I knew it wouldn't last long though, so I didn't bother to stop for my toque and gloves.
We then arrived back at Bear Pond, which to my surprise, was still frozen.
For all the variety of terrain, the great weather, the scenery, the fun scrambly bits, and of course, Peters Meadow, this little hike really exceeded my expectations...one of my favorite shoulder-season outings for sure. Back at the trailhead, we enjoyed a cold banana beer - a bit of a tradition near the end of the season.