We did the miller peak/iron bear trail clockwise on this sunny Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Note that there are two trailheads at the parking area- one for miller peak and the other for iron bear. We started at miller peak trailhead at 8am. It’s a gradual climb at first and the creek crossings start pretty soon. Once we reached 3 miles, there are intermittent snow patches and some downed trees which were easy to cross/climb over. Once we approached the 4ish mile mark there is more snow leading up to the spur trail to reach the actual Miller Peak. I did not have poles and was not wearing microspikes, but some of our group members were using poles which would have been helpful. Spikes may have been overkill since the snow was so patchy but everyone has their own comfort level of course. We reached actual Miller Peak about 4.5 miles in and had a glorious snack break here.
Coming down from the spur trail from Miller Peak you have to connect to County Line Trail to continue on the loop- route finding was slightly tricky here with the patchy snow but we found some nice footsteps to follow and two of our group members had navigation, but of all the places that would be difficult it is here. You get a break from the snow for about 1.5 miles before the snowy patches restart and you climb some more.
At 9 miles in, we reached the high point of Teanaway Ridge Trail - lots of other hikers were here. Then we headed back down and it was smooth buttery fun trail running all the way back down to Iron Bear trailhead. This is nice and shady with several more creek crossings the last few miles.
Overall it was an amazing day on the trail with clear views of the mountains, including Mt Rainier and Mt Adams. Wildflowers were present in small patches, allot for more time due to snow, and beware there is no running water between miles 2ish through 11.5ish.
We reached the Iron Bear trailhead around 1:30pm (5.5 hours of elapsed time, 4h40m of moving time)
Stats from my Garmin which include the spur trail to Miller Peak: 14 miles and 3,927 feet of elevation gain.
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