Mount Dickerman
Aug 05, 2009
by
Janice Van Cleve
—
last modified
Aug 05, 2009 09:51 PM
- Type of Outing
- Day hike
- Read More in our Hiking Guide
- Hike: Mount Dickerman
- Region: North Cascades -- Mountain Loop Highway
- Agency: Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
- Trails: Mount Dickerman (#710)
- Avg Rating: 4.11
- Why You Should Go Now
- Wildflowers blooming
Trail begins in deep, cool forest.
Mt. Dickerman is a great trail, clear and well engineered with many manageable switchbacks. A WTA crew was working on the gully crossings at the beginning of the trail today and the work they completed makes crossing a whole lot easier. The flowers are incredible this time of year and the plentiful blueberries still need another month. The views on the way up past the treeline and at the summit are wonderful in all directions. To the west are Pilchuck, Three Fingers, and White Horse. To the north are Stillaguamish, Mt. Forgotten, Baker and Shuskan. To the Northeast Glacier Peak rises magnificently over Pugh and Spring Mountains. To the south are Del Campo and the Monte Cristo Mountains and the stark slabs of Vesper and Big Four (really Big Five).
The trail begins at the newly refurbished parking lot just off the Mountain Loop highway about a mile beyond the Big Four campground. It switchbacks aggressively but not tortously up to the bottom of the palisade, touching a big rock spine affectionatly named "Herman" 3 times at the beginning. After the last big rock beneath the palisade, the trail crosses a gully and climbes up into a plateau. Here the trail is paved in rocks and begins the wooden steps. There is one old blowdown along the way across the plateau and several meadows of blueberries. After the plateau we reach the ridgeline and see for the first time the peak another 1000 feet above us.
From here the trail emerges from the trees to wide slopes literally blanketed with wildflowers. The lupine are especially fragrant. Up more brutal wood steps the trail ascends to a small bowl of a meadow with several side trails. A few more exposed switchbacks and we arrive at the taller of two peaks. Hint: the sitting rocks and breezes are better at the second peak a little further on.
The trail begins at the newly refurbished parking lot just off the Mountain Loop highway about a mile beyond the Big Four campground. It switchbacks aggressively but not tortously up to the bottom of the palisade, touching a big rock spine affectionatly named "Herman" 3 times at the beginning. After the last big rock beneath the palisade, the trail crosses a gully and climbes up into a plateau. Here the trail is paved in rocks and begins the wooden steps. There is one old blowdown along the way across the plateau and several meadows of blueberries. After the plateau we reach the ridgeline and see for the first time the peak another 1000 feet above us.
From here the trail emerges from the trees to wide slopes literally blanketed with wildflowers. The lupine are especially fragrant. Up more brutal wood steps the trail ascends to a small bowl of a meadow with several side trails. A few more exposed switchbacks and we arrive at the taller of two peaks. Hint: the sitting rocks and breezes are better at the second peak a little further on.
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Not done yet! Another 1000 feet.
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Glacier Peak behind twin peaks.
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Slopes full of flowers.
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