Day Hike - Iron Bear & Miller Peak

The Miller Peak/Iron Bear Peak loop is a long day hike, but the trail is well graded and in reasonable good condition. The elevation gain is moderate. I clocked in about 3200 feet for the day. We went clockwise up the Miller Creek trail which gets the lions share of elevation gain out of the way first thing.  We scrambled up to a ridge to the right side of the trail at about 5600 ft to take a break and  scrambled the ridge from there back to the trail and followed it up to Miller Peak.  By this time you are on the ridge and spend much of the rest of the day with 360 degree views  - Rainier, Adams, some fires to the southeast, Mtn Stuart, the Teanaways and all their nearest neighbors.  Instead of backtracking off Miller to the main trail, we scrambled down the east ridge and were able to pickup the trail further on. The footing is loose, but it is all quite doable with little risk of cliffing out. From there it is a hike around to Iron Bear. We added the very short side trip to Jester Mountain which amounts to a short run up to the ridge. We took our second lunch on Iron Bear and then completed the loop back to the cars. The weather was warm and sunny with a comfortable breeze. 

BTW - the summit register on Miller Peak was full so we brought it back down and will bring it to the Mountaineers. Next folks up good bring a new one. thks