Copper & Iron Mountains (Mount Rainier)

Trip Date: 6/22/2014
Roundtrip miles: 13.5
Elevation gain: 5300
Total time: A bit less than 11 hours.

From the Kautz Creek parking lot, we followed the trail several miles before encountering snow at around 4500', around where it flattens out for a bit. We generally followed the trail under the snow as it traversed below Ararat until we finally reached Indian Henry's Hunting ground patrol cabin about 5.7 miles later.

From the cabin, we headed directly to the saddle between Copper & Iron. Going to the saddle is nice, but it's a bit too far, so to head to Copper we dropped back down perhaps 50' and traversed north until reaching a gully that we could ascend to the ridge. From the ridge it was straightfoward to the summit of Copper.

Descending Copper, we stayed below the saddle and traversed on the right (west side of Iron), until finding another gully we could ascend. Then on to the summit. Back down (a nice glissade from the saddle) to the cabin and back out the way we came. Very pleasant day with views all around.