John Guilford's Hikes
Dickerman Mtn. on 1990-08-05
Date: 1990-08-05
People: (including myself): Lynn, Dr. and Mrs. Mahnke
Start : 12:30 1900'
Begin Meadow: 3:16 4200'
Lunch: 4:00 4800'
End Lunch: 4:30
Summit: 5:05 5723
Leave Sum: 5:35
End Meadow: 6:25 4200
Down : 7:35 1900
We took Lynn's parents up as a fairly easy hike on a fairly nice trail.
The first two thirds consists of grinding up numerous switchbacks on the
south side. As you climb the trees change from old giants to smaller and
smaller trees. Likewise the views of Big Four, Vesper, and Del Campo first
start showing through the trees and get better and better. The shade of
the trees going up helped Mrs. Mahnke (who is sensitive to sun). We went a
bit slower than I normally would have liked. To my surprise, there were
flies. They started off being merely annoying. They weren't bad when
moving, but when we stopped to rest they started congregating. I wished I
had worn long pants instead of shorts. After a while I broke down and put
on bug stuff (which helped). Nearer the top of the switchbacks we pass two
trickles where one can get water to splash on your face (I don't know if
I'd be real keen on drinking it). At the top of the switchbacks you enter
the meadow where there are lots of blueberries and huckleberries (in
September), here there wasn't as much protection from the sun. The path
continues at a reasonable grade through the meadow. Lynn kept egging us on
with things like "When we get to the top of the switchbacks, we get to
meadows which are flat" (which they aren't), then when we get to the
meadows, "We just have to get to the ridge on the far side where the view
is better". When we got there, we couldn't find a place to eat (it was
getting late and we were hungry. We finally found a place and had lunch.
Due to the sitting in one place, the bugs got worse (though not real bad
for most places), so more people put on bug stuff. After lunch Mrs. Mahnke
said for the rest of us to go on, and she'd take her time coming up. Lynn
stayed with her, while Dr. Mahnke and myself continued up at a faster pace.
We got to the top and took pictures. About 1/2 hour later, Lynn and Mrs.
Mahnke got up on top. After about a 15 min. wait, we headed back down.
There were some mosquitoes on top, and they seemed to like Lynn for some
reason. After getting bit quite a number of times, Lynn broke down and put
on bug stuff too. I was surprised that there were few people on top (only
2 other people when we were there). Coming down I was "tail end Charlie"
as I took my slow pace to protect my knees (which didn't cause me any
problems). Coming down ends up mostly getting monotonous as you grind down
all the switchbacks you have just gone up.
I was checking out my altimeter to see how consistent it was. It appeared
relatively consistent, though it appears to read a few percent low. I
calibrated it for 300' at my house. I forgot to check it at the base on
the way up. At the start of the meadow it read 4200 on the way up and 4200
on the way down. The summit read 5600 (the real altitude is 5723), which
is a -2% error. The base read 1850 after coming down (-2.6% error). Back
home it read around 250' which could have been a real pressure difference
or could have been the cal changing during the day (from handling,
jostling, etc). I think it is more reliable than it appeared on Vesper. I
suspect that it was the changing weather on Vesper that caused problems.
Please send comments or corrections to
john_guilford@keysight.com
Last updated on: Mon Jun 8 16:50:16 PDT 2015
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