Iron Bear and Jester Mountain

 We drove out to the east Teanaways to hike up to Iron Bear and Jester Mountain to enjoy the views and the wildflowers that are blooming in profusion! We started at the Iron Creek Bear Creak Trail on FR 9714, off of Hwy 97

 We were soon seeing wildflowers in bloom along the side of the trail

 Lots of penstemon, paintbrush and balsamroot.

 It felt as if we were walking in a garden

 At the junction, about 1.7 miles up the trail, we turned right on to the Teanaway Ridge Trail

 It was a great day for penstemon!

 As we continued on the ridge, we could see snow capped peaks in the far distance.

 Wildflowers and views along the ridge line

 View from Iron Bear, Mount Stuart in the far distance

 We continued on the Teanaway Ridge Trail, and at the next junction, turned left onto the County Line Trail for about 0.1 of a mile,











 then went uphill to the summit of Jester Mountain, where we found the summit register. Here you can see the Mount Stuart between the trees. Although Jester Mountain is about 100 ft taller than Iron Bear, Iron Bear has better views.

 looking east from Jester Mountain

There are some nice rocks up here.

 We returned to Iron Bear for a lunch break and enjoy the views. We descended before the thunderstorm started.











some of the many wildflowers we saw in bloom along the trail today: