Mount Dickerman — Monday, Sep. 8, 2025

Hiked with a friend on a Monday.  Only one gravel portion on the road in; not difficult to reach at all.  3 or 4 other cars in the lot; we saw a scant 4 other people on the trail (the lot also has a different shorter trail served by it).  This trail is an excellent mix of a physical challenge with lots of variety in different sections and a fantastic payoff at the top.  The first 2-ish miles through switchbacks are strenuous but felt less grueling than Blanca as a recent comparison.  Things get interesting when you enter some flatter meadows and then resume the climb to the summit with increasingly sparser vegetation.  I've yet to see so many blueberries in one spot - they're all over the meadows for roughly the final 1/3rd of the ascent!  The area was covered by fog and clouds when we started around 10 AM, but they burned off beautifully right on time as we reached the summit after about 2.5 hours.  You get a wonderful 360-degree view of numerous other mountain peaks; we could see both Baker and Rainier in the far distance.  The only thing that would've made it cooler would've been spying a mountain goat; but no such luck.  One thing that made an impression on me regarding this trail:  no trash!  It's good to find one respected by other hikers (or at least tidied up recently).