12/1/19 First trip back to Iron Mountain in a while, just after a big snowstorm in the local mountains. I made it a ways past Heaton Saddle and got in about 4,000' of gain.
1 Heaton Saddle at around 3,500', still below the snow line, but not by much. I didn't get on the trail until almost noon, so it was going to be a short day today.
2 This sign looks older and older every time I'm here.
3 First signs of snow at only 3,700'.
4 Starting to get above the snowline now and it's an interesting transition from browns to whites.
5 Nice mix of colors.
6 One of the clearer days I've seen in a long time. Fantastic ocean views all day.
7 Getting into pretty solid snow coverage now.
8 This yucca looks like some sort of booby trap ready to spring!
9 Nice views of Baldy.
10 I decided 4:00 was the ultimate cutoff for turnaround time. It would be dark in an hour, it had taken me almost 4 hours to get up here, and I was the only human on the mountain right now. So this would be my stopping point.
11 There are snow drifts up here probably 2-3' deep.
12 So clear you can see boats on the water. And you can see San Clemente island behind Catalina. Pretty rare that you can see both islands!
13 360 view from my turnaround spot.
14 Pretty mix of blue and gray skies.
15 Heading down and it's almost sunset already.
16 The moon is out above the sunset. Definitely looks like I'll be putting headlamp time in tonight.
17 After about an hour with the headlamp, I made it back to the trailhead. Iron Mountain never fails to disappoint!
