John Guilford's Hikes
Dickerman Mtn on 2000-06-17
Date: 2000-06-17
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
This was E.B.'s first real hike and Pam's exploratory hike with new
boots. For me, it was another training hike for Rainier. I took my pack
with 3 gallons of water which weighed in about 42 pounds (?).
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.
Pictures:
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.
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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