OK, it can be crowded on weekends. Go anyway. It can be hot in summer. Go anyway. The mile spur up to the overlook on top is steep. Go anyway. You can make this a very very short hike if you drive up a back road to an alternate trailhead. Like a little over a mile each way; maybe less. You can make it a hike about a mile longer by hiking up from the trailhead on Deer Creek Road. You can make a seven mile loop by adding the Cone Peak Loop Trail. If you're feeling spry, you can scramble up to Cone Peak a few hundred feet higher than Iron Mountain. There is no real trail to Cone Peak, and you need to be sure to know how to get back down so you don't wander off into the wrong watershed or off a cliff. Actually you probably should skip Cone Peak! But if you want to see amazing wildflowers, go hike the Cone Peak Iron Mountain Loop trail a few times between mid-June to mid-July. read more