John Guilford's Hikes

Date: 2000-06-17

Location: Dickerman Mtn

People: (including myself): Pam, E.B.

			My Alt.	Real Alt.	Miles
Start:		11:00	1920	1920
Moleskin:	11:50	2620
Lunch:		1:50	4300
Leave:		2:30	4260
Out:		4:00	2040	1920

The day was warm.  Pam and E.B. had worn long pants but soon wished they'd brought shorts.  We put on gaiters at the bottom but eventually took them off because they were too hot. 

The trail was in pretty good shape though in places there were trees blown down across the trail, which involved either ducking under or straddling over.  After crossing a creek, the trail immediately starts switchbacking up the hillside.  Unfortunately Pam's boots also immediately started slipping in the heel.  The constant up slope on the trail exacerbated the problem.  She stopped and put on some moleskin.  This helped some, but the moleskin refused to stay stuck on her skin and pulled off.  I felt some rubbing on my heels and after toughing it out a bit decided to err on the side of caution and put on some moleskin too.

The problems with Pam's boots continued and she tried larger pieces of moleskin and then trying to tape the moleskin down.  Taping it down did seem to help hold it in place better for her, but by then the damage had been done and she had already developed blisters.  She tried changing to her older boots (which we'd carried up).  These helped but didn't fix the problem as the blisters were already there. 

I thought that perhaps hiking on snow would help (there wouldn't be the up slope with the more flexible snow) and thought we'd run into snow soon.  This kept Pam going further, but it took longer to get to the snow than I had expected. 

With the heavier pack I was hiking slower than Pam and E.B. and they'd slowly gain on me until they stopped and waited. 

Eventually we hit snow about the same place as the waterfall that virtually marks the top of the switchbacks.  We continued a bit further till we came to a nice sunny rock for lunch.  We ate there with a fine view of Big Four and discussed options.  Pam decided that she couldn't continue on up with her feet in the shape they were in.  She suggested having her go back down to the car with E.B. and John continuing up to the summit.  Since there was quite a bit left to go before the summit, that would make Pam's wait at the car quite a long one.  We finally decided to all head down together and save the summit for another day. 

Pam changed back into her new boots for the descent.  On the way down they didn't really bother her feet. 

The hike down was relatively uneventful.  I could keep up with Pam and E.B. while going down. 

Back at the car it was pretty hot and we were very glad that we'd brought a cooler with some cold drinks. 

E.B. near the start of the trail. 

E.B. in front of waterfall at top of switchbacks. 

Pam crossing snowfield at top of switchbacks.