1st. The Deer Creek gate is closed for the season adding a couple extra miles of road in each direction.
2nd. It's early winter in the cascades so conditions changing rapidly and likely the snow levels have already increased.
Looking for a good workout on an easy trail with little avalanche danger, Mt. Dickerman fit the bill. The trail is in good shape as usual. Snow starts about 2 miles up the trail with a fresh inch of snow continuing through the meadows where it gradually started to get deeper. With about 800 vertical feet to go from the shoulder where you first spot the summit, I was post holing enough to justify putting on the snowshoes i had been packing. Up the final two snow slopes to the summit I was finally above the clouds with great views throughout the North Cascades. After a quick snack on the summit I headed down. I wore snowshoes until the shoulder and then continued down, jogging once I hit bare trail to beat the 4pm sunset because I had forgotten a headlamp... 5hrs total round trip.
Comments
shegoat on Mount Dickerman
It looks like you had a great outing. Mount Dickerman is gorgeous in the snow when conditions are good. There are 2 sketchy areas tho. The summit can have a huge cornice after some snow falls. And there is a creek crossing about 1/2 way up that is very dangerous because there is an adjacent waterfall and as the snow gets deeper, a misstep here could result in a drop into the base of the falls and down. Someone died here a few years ago. Thanks for your report on recent conditions.
Posted by:
shegoat on Dec 08, 2025 07:32 PM