Mount Dickerman

M spent the week in the Bay Area, so I was on my own on the 4th of July. I got an early start and was on the trail by 8:30. I had ridden my bike past the trailhead two weeks earlier on the way up to Barlow Pass and maybe that's what planted the seed for this trip.

I wasn't the only one on the trail, since this is a popular hike - easy to get to and great views from the top. It's a good trail, but relentlessly uphill - almost 4000' in just over four miles. There was still a lot of snow on the way up, but not enough to get me to stop and pull on the spikes.

It was crowded on top - a big meet up? group, I think. And a few dogs. One yipping, one nosing into folks' packs while owners chatted loudly with friends. The quiet solitude of the mountains!

Mount Dickerman really is a good place to take in the central northern Cascades, with peaks in every direction, including Glacier, Baker, and Rainier in the distance. But the closer ones - Del Campo, Big Four, and three Fingered Jack were just as good.

The last time I posted from here was a drizzly day up above Monte Cristo two years ago (Gothic Basin: October 2015).