Mount Dickerman

There seems to be a clear consensus on this site that this hike takes between 3 and 9 hours roundtrip. Let me try to calibrate more precisely: It takes me 1 hr 45 mins to ascend Mt. Si, and I made it up Dickerman in 2 hr 30 mins. (Both take me about 25% less going down.) And this was at a more moderate pace than I do Si due to stops for photos and scenic snacks (neither of which one does on Si).

It was 59 degrees when I left the trailhead at 10:15am, but I was plenty warm since the trail gets steep immediately. There's still enough flow from the stream at 4100' elevation (just over halfway up) to fill a water bottle, at least today. The summit had great views despite a little haze, and there was a slight but much-appreciated breeze especially on the knob just past the summit.

Lots of friendly, happy folk on the trail, including some characters: On the way up I met 2 guys who were doing Dickerman as a consolation hike after failing to summit Whitehorse (which they said is 7000' vertical with no real trail) yesterday. They said that today they "just wanted to summit something". I hope Dickerman wasn't too puny for their tastes. Then, just below the steepest switchbacks to the top, I passed a guy having a cigarette before continuing up, I suppose to make those last switchbacks extra-vivid. I don't claim to understand smokers, but you'd think that even if he really wanted a cigarette, he'd prefer to wait till he reached the summit and no longer needed lung function. Whatever.

The parking lot was about half full both when I started and finished.