Lena and I set out for Mount Dickerman on Friday. This hike is not for sissies and one which should require at least two people to complete. One to cheer the other on and insist that “we’re almost there.” A solitary person (me) would just give up and turn around at some point. But the views at the top are supposed to be amazing!

This hike is just off the Mountain Loop Hwy, so it’s easy to get to. There is a well marked parking lot about 16 miles past the Verlot ranger station, on the left hand side. The climb to the top is the opposite of easy: 3900 ft of elevation gain in 4 miles.

Most of the trail is fairly well maintained and not difficult to pass, except for this one little part by the waterfall. Also, watch out for forking off trails. These mostly lead to overnight campsites and are dead ends. We had to backtrack at one point.

The weather was supposed to clear up (and it did clear up. Around 6 pm…), but while we were going up the clouds only seemed to grow thicker.

Delilah, an experienced hiker and navigational expert (she found the correct way to go more than once for us!) is always such a pleasure on the trail! I love watching her as she chases little rodents and sniffs the air. She knows how to enjoy herself and never complains.

We saw a goat! Above is a picture to prove it. See that white dot towards the bottom of the photograph? That’s a goat. You’ll just need to trust me on this.

About 3 miles in (or a little less) the trail levels out for a bit, but then the climb begins again. I think I was pretty much done at this point and if Lena hadn’t dragged me along I would’ve said “good enough” and headed down. There was nothing but clouds and more clouds at the top.

A view from the top.

At the top of the mountain we got our picture taken by a guy who showed up at just the right time! He just appeared out of nowhere (meaning, he came out of the thick fog) while I was trying to figure out where to set the camera on a timer. He then took a picture of us, concluded that “there’s nothing here to see,” and he disappeared as quickly as he appeared…

On the way down the clouds began to slowly disperse and we got a few glimpses of what surrounded us. On a clear day the views here must be magnificent!

Lots of wild flowers on this trail! So pretty.

Lots of blueberries too! But they’re not quite ripe just yet. I’d give them a few more weeks.

In addition to the goat, I also saw this giant slug.

8.3 miles, 3900 ft of elevation

YTD Hiking Miles: 55.8