John Guilford's Hikes
Perry Creek (Mt. Forgotten) on 1991-06-30
Date: 1991-06-30
Location: Perry Creek (Mt. Forgotten)
People: (including myself): Lynn, Matt and Dave Dierck
Start : 2:00 elev 2100
Ridge: 5:30 elev 4800
Down : 8:15
The weather was threatening today, although it ended up pretty a pretty
good day - weather wise, with high clouds mixed with some sun. Not bad
when the weather service called for showers. The first two miles of the
trail follow Perry Creek up to west flank of Dickerman Mtn.. The trail is
is good shape and pretty level. You pass numerous water falls on both
sides of the valley - with all the snow melt, some of the ones on the far
side were real pretty. The trail passes through new growth trees and ferny
hillsides and finally end up in some old growth trees. There are a couple
of small streams to cross. In two miles you get to Perry Creek Falls.
This is a 40-50' falls on the main Perry Creek. My new boots were rubbing
my heals a little and I was concerned about getting blisters, so I stopped
and put on some moleskin. This helped quite a bit (I didn't end up getting
any blisters). There isn't much view from the trail - as you can only see
it from the top looking down. Soon after this, you cross Perry Creek and
take a left and climb the side of the valley. At this point you could also
take a sharp right and climb up the north face of Dickerman (class 4 at
times) or take a not so sharp right and bushwhack around to the saddle
between Dickerman and Twin Peaks. We looked over some of these routes for
future use. The sharp right route followed a steep gully (w/snow) for a
ways. From the base of the valley it didn't look too bad. As we climbed
higher, though, it looked steeper and steeper. I think it was just
perspective, for when we came down, it didn't look that bad again.
After climbing a ways on the trail, we started hitting occasional patches
of snow. Lynn and Matt wanted to get up a snowball fight which Dave and I
later joined in on. As the pack straps were bothering Matt's shoulders, he
and Lynn were alternating carrying his pack and my camera.
The trail climbs a bit and near the ridge line we got into full time snow.
We lost the official trail under the snow, but it was an easy straight
ascent to the ridge line and the flat meadow there. From the meadow you got
a good view to the north, looking out the Falls Creek valley. You can also
see the ridge line leading to Mt. Forgotten itself. If you follow the trail
further (which we didn't) you are supposed to get a view out the east side
(Dickerman, Glacier Peak, etc). We had lunch (dinner?) and headed back.
Neither Lynn nor Matt had waterproof shoes and got somewhat wet feet. Matt
only had sneakers (which didn't have good traction in the snow) and his
feet got quite wet. Up on the snow, when we weren't hiking it got a bit
cool, so that the sweatshirts went on. When the sun came out, it was quite
bright and the sunglasses came on too. Although, once we started back
down, the sweatshirts came off again.
On the way back down, Dave and I tarried a little after some not so subtle
hints from Matt. Lynn and Matt got a little ahead of us and hid behind a
log. Unfortunately, the big blue pack Lynn was wearing stuck up in plain
view. At first I thought they had left the pack on the side of the trail.
I also said something, but then noticed that they were hiding. I quietly
pointed it out to Dave and we kept going down the trail. About 50' down
the trail, we hid out on them. After they passed us, we took up the march
again. They didn't see us, and were hurrying to catch up, which made them
difficult for us to catch. When they didn't come across us soon, Lynn
started getting suspicious that maybe we had seen them. We made good time
down the trail and caught up with them at the waterfall, where they stopped
so that Matt could change into some dry sneakers. From there is was an
uneventful hike back out (it was getting late and a bit cooler, but still
t-shirt weather) except, once, when Matt fell and hit his knee which wasn't
seriously damaged - just sore.
Bugs weren't bad at all. There were a few, and if you stopped on the trail
they would congregate, but they weren't biting, and weren't annoying.
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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