"I parked next to the Monte Cristo Campground sign and entered the campground. I turned left on the forest road and passed around the gate. At probably 10 feet past the gate, there is a use trail that climbs into the brush. I followed it up. Although narrow and overgrown at times, this is the established use trail leading up Monte Cristo Peak. It follows the ridge on up and gains around 700 feet. I didn't see anything marking the summit. I continued on by dipping down to the east and following a use trail in the direction of Iron Mountain. The trail elevates a few hundred feet to a forest road. I turned right in order to eventually pick up the trail that goes up Iron Mountain's south slope. When reaching the freshly bulldozed firebreak that leads up the south slope of Iron Mountain, my eye caught another peak to the south. The firebreak continues to its summit and it was only a half mile away. This was Peak 4546. Instead of climbing Iron Mountain right away, I diverted over to Peak 4546, which I reached with not too much effort. I doubled back after my short visit and proceeded up the firebreak to Iron Mountain. The route is steep, which caused me to take it slow. It w..." — MikeTeeples • Mar 27, 2021

"I made a climb, part cross-country and part on firebreak to Monte Cristo Peak from Monte Cristo CG, then took the east firebreak down a little and then up from Monte Cristo Peak. I could have gone directly up the very steep south firebreak, but I did not want to take the chance in the slippery snow, so I joined the dirt road that passes west of Iron's summit. There were areas with over 7" of snow in the shadier sides of Iron, and 2"-3" or so on the sunnier side. I then went to a less steep firebreak on the north side of Iron Mountain and made the last push up the less steep but still deep in snow north ridge. The summit views are FANTASTIC!! It was worth the minor postholing from time to time to make it to this fantastic, lesser known of the "3 Iron Mountains" of Angeles National Forest. I then made the whole trip a loop by rejoining the fireroad, turned left down canyon to another fireroad that led back to Monte Cristo Campground via Monte Cristo Canyon, a spectacular tributary canyon of Mill Creek! The whole hike entailed about 5.3 miles round-trip with about 1,700'-1,800' elevation gain, with mostly class-1 hiking except for an extremely steep cross-country ascent to Mon..." — brianpowell • Jan 31, 2021

"1.1 mile ascent w/800' gain from Monte Cristo Peak(4,275') along ridge trails and (briefly) fire road. No permanent register present. 2nd peak of a 3-peak hike (Monte Cristo-Iron Mtn#3-Rabbit Peak #1) from TH in Monte Cristo CG." — BradStemm • Feb 17, 2014