I just hiked Iron Mountain (out and back from Heaton) as my final training hike for C2C today. Man, that is one respectable hike. I knew going in that it was gonna be tough, but there were still times during the hike where I was taken aback by how relentless it was. Some of the steep uphills near the top just seemed neverending.
Anyways, I have a couple questions for you veterans out there that have done both this hike and C2C:
1. How does the steepness of the C2C hike (first part, PS up to the tram stop) compare to that of Iron Mountain? If it's consistently that steep (or steeper) for the first 10 miles, I am gonna seriously be suffering...
2. I have to plan a reasonable time to meet some friends up at the tram stop and then do the rest of the hike to the summit of San J with them. I initially estimated about 6-6.5 hrs to the tram (as it took me 6 hrs to dayhike to Whitney summit). It took me roughly 4.5 hrs from car to summit of Big Iron today. Does my initial time estimate still seem about right?
Thanks!