9-10-11
It
is almost mid September and time for the hottest weekend of the year. I
had no interest in still ascending in the heat of the day. The plan was
to get to Mt. Dickerman early, hike up to the summit, and come down
before it reached the mid 80s. Maybe add a short hike to the Big Four
Ice Caves and their natural air conditioning. I was on the road at 6:45
am and on the trail at 8:15 am. There were only half a dozen cars in
the lot. The trail is in fine shape. I thought there might still be
some wildflowers but was very surprised by the volume still in bloom. I
guess I don't hike this trail near the peak of the flowers because I
don't recall ever seeing this much color. I passed three groups heading
up and met one guy already coming down when I was only half way up.
It was already getting warm by 10:00 am. There is still a little snow but not on the trail and it will be gone in a week or so. I made good time until reaching the flower fields. Then things slowed down a lot. I reached the top at 10:24 am. It took 2:09 minutes, just one minute less than me last visit. No berries anywhere near ripe. Some green ones. I doubt any will ripen this year. The price of the late melting snow. I spent about 1:20 on the summit. There were a couple groups there when I arrived and after 11:15 the crowds began to arrive.
I was disappointed to see a lot of haze even early in the morning. Views were not all that great even with blue sky. At 11:40 I started down. More flower photos early then the camera was put away for the rest of the descent. I took 15 minutes off my time coming up. At 1:35 I was down. I passed a whole lot of folks coming up and the lot was nearly full. It was still early so I did stop at the Ice Caves trailhead. It's only 2 mile to the caves. It felt like 85 degrees as I started up. It has been a few years since I last visited and I had not seen the new bridge over the SF Stillaguamish. It is one big bridge. As expected the trail was crowded.
I passed many people on the way up. I went up via the old Big Four Inn and it took 27 minutes. As I neared the first cave the temperature dropped. The air coming out of the cave is frigid. Just what I needed. I found a rock well away from the cave and it was just the right temperature. The sun was behind Big Four Mountain so the shade helped too. I could have spent the rest of the day there. So much more comfortable than back in Seattle. I spent about an hour then headed back. The caves are among the best places to be on a really hot day and the trail only being one mile each way with 200' of gain makes it easy to do even after a steep hike like Mt. Dickerman. For the day the two hikes added up to 11 miles with 4000' of elevation gain. A really nice trip for a hot day.
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Trips - 2011
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It was already getting warm by 10:00 am. There is still a little snow but not on the trail and it will be gone in a week or so. I made good time until reaching the flower fields. Then things slowed down a lot. I reached the top at 10:24 am. It took 2:09 minutes, just one minute less than me last visit. No berries anywhere near ripe. Some green ones. I doubt any will ripen this year. The price of the late melting snow. I spent about 1:20 on the summit. There were a couple groups there when I arrived and after 11:15 the crowds began to arrive.
I was disappointed to see a lot of haze even early in the morning. Views were not all that great even with blue sky. At 11:40 I started down. More flower photos early then the camera was put away for the rest of the descent. I took 15 minutes off my time coming up. At 1:35 I was down. I passed a whole lot of folks coming up and the lot was nearly full. It was still early so I did stop at the Ice Caves trailhead. It's only 2 mile to the caves. It felt like 85 degrees as I started up. It has been a few years since I last visited and I had not seen the new bridge over the SF Stillaguamish. It is one big bridge. As expected the trail was crowded.
I passed many people on the way up. I went up via the old Big Four Inn and it took 27 minutes. As I neared the first cave the temperature dropped. The air coming out of the cave is frigid. Just what I needed. I found a rock well away from the cave and it was just the right temperature. The sun was behind Big Four Mountain so the shade helped too. I could have spent the rest of the day there. So much more comfortable than back in Seattle. I spent about an hour then headed back. The caves are among the best places to be on a really hot day and the trail only being one mile each way with 200' of gain makes it easy to do even after a steep hike like Mt. Dickerman. For the day the two hikes added up to 11 miles with 4000' of elevation gain. A really nice trip for a hot day.
 First Flowers |
 Tiger Lilies |
 First Meadow |
 Stillaguamish Peak |
 View South |
 Better Colors |
 Final Slopes |
 Lots Of Lupine |
 Lupine Close Up |
 Stilly & Baker |
 Hazy Whitechuck Mt. |
 Mt. Forgotten |
 Glacier Peak |
 Mt. Shuksan |
 Hazy Mt. Pugh |
 Del Campo Peak |
 Sperry & Vesper |
 Flower Lined Trail |
 Daisies |
 Daisies Close Up |
 More Lupine |
 First Ice Cave |
 Lots Of Folks |
 Waterfall |
 Dickerman From Caves |
Trips - 2011
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