Tag Archives: Patricia Chow

Mt. Dickerman Hike, September 2012

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Mount Dickerman
Date: September 22, 2012
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 8.6 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3,875 Feet
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Verlot, Washington (Mountain Loop Highway)
Users Group: Hikers & Dogs Only
Permits: Discovery Pass
Trail Conditions: Dry all the way to the summit.
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Garth Heuchert, Patricia Chow, Ben Baker & Macho the dog wonder.

Linna (my beautiful wife) wanted to hike Mt. Dickerman for a while now so she coordinated this excursion with a few friends. Linna gets bored of my I-90 hikes and has been starting to enjoy the Mountain Loop Highway trails located north of Highway 2 in Washington.

The Mountain Loop Highway connects the towns of Granite Falls, Verlot and Darrington, Washington. It is paved for 34 miles from Granite Falls to Barlow Pass (2349′) where the highway becomes unpaved for 13 miles and then paved again for the remaining 9 miles to Darrington. Portions of the unpaved section were closed for several years due to flood damage, the Mountain Loop officially reopened on June 25, 2008.

The 360 view on top of Dickerman is to die for and the forecast called for party sunny skies which was good enough for us. As you can tell from the pictures the forecast was wrong, the weather was like soup on top and there was no view to be had. Linna threw out a proclamation that we must come back to capture the beautiful views that Dickerman has to offer. For more details on the Mt. Dickerman hike click here bit.ly/OSSuyI.

Source Lake Snowshoe, December 2009

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Source Lake Trail
Date: December 4, 2009
Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Distance: 6 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 700 ft
Time: 3 to 4 hours
Location: I-90 exit 52; Alpental Ski Area
Users Group: Hikers & Leashed Dogs Only
Permits: No Permits Required
Trail Conditions: Hard pack snow
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Patricia Chow & Garth Heuchert

We met up at Starbucks, exit 17 off of I-90 determine our hike for the day.  The bitter cold was still hanging around, but…it was going to be a beautiful sunny day.  Knowing that Garth brought along his new MSR snowshoes, I thought it would only be right to get into some snow.  There wasn’t any fresh snow for the last 4 or 5 days, so…and the only place to get into snow right away from the care would be the pass area; Source Lake was the lucky winner.  We put on our snowshoes as soon as we got off the parking lot; it wasn’t really necessary…but they provided the traction needed on some slick areas.

Winthrop Ski Trip, February 2009

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Winthrop Ski Trip, January 2007

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Eagle Peak, September 2009

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Eagle Peak
Date: September 20, 2009
Difficulty: 6 out of 10
Distance: 7.2 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 2,955
Time: 4 to 5 hours
Location: Near Longmire, Washington
Users Group: Hikers Only
Permits: $10 per car access fee
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Patricia Chow & Garth Heuchert

After finishing an easy hike yesterday (Comet Falls) and today was going to be sunny warm day, we needed a hike with a colossal view; this is where Eagle Peak comes in.  This hike should only be done on a sunny day, the Mt. Rainier views are to die for.  This hike also deserves a little picnic on top so you spend time resting and absorbing the enormous views.

Comet Falls, September 2009

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Comet Falls
Date: September 19, 2009
Difficulty: 2 out of 10
Distance: 4 miles roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 300 feet
Time: 1.5 to 2.5 hours
Location: Near Longmire, Washington
Users Group: Hikers Only
Permits: $10 per car access fee
Hiking with: Linna Freeman, Patricia Chow & Garth Heuchert.

Since we were staying near Mount Rainier National Park and the weather forecast called for rain all day, we decided to hike Comet Falls.  The trail is under tree canopy for most of the route and has a spectacular view even on a rainy day.  Because the waterfall resembles a tail of a comet, it was named Comet Falls.  This is a fairly easy hike that you could do with the family, kids and beginning hikers.  The trailhead and small parking lot is located on Longmire Road; go early if possible, the parking lot fills up quickly.

There is really not much elevation gain on this hike, but…you do start the hike at 3,600 feet.  Within a 1/2 mile, you cross Van Trump Creek on a small wooden bridge.  You will cross three avalanche slopes after the creek, another good reason to do this in the fall….all the snow is gone.  At two miles you will see the magnificent Comet Falls.  The falls plunges 320 feet with a significant force of mist blasting from the bottom.  Since it was the fall, there wasn’t any snow and the creek level was low enough to walk on the creek bed to get close to the base.  Being this close, it felt as if you were caught in a hurricane with the horrendous sound and gale force winds generated from the 320 foot fall.  After getting soaked from the hurricane like mist and plenty of pictures taken, we headed back down.  For a longer hike, the trail continues another mile to the meadows of Van Trump Park.