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Trip Report

Mount Dickerman — Saturday, May. 2, 2026

North Cascades > Mountain Loop Highway

Took the winter up and the summer route down. There is not enough snow on the winter route, not recommended but the summer route was reasonable. Snow was very soft and we did experience some significant post holing at times but only at areas like crossing over trees or water, otherwise we mostly just sank ankle deep. Gaiters, waterproof footwear, and poles highly recommended. As mentioned, about a dozen trees down in the first miles, then mostly clear until towards the end of the summer trail. 

Road/Parking: Paved all the way with one rough spot. Large gravel lot with less than a dozen vehicles today but there was a chance of rain. Bathroom was open, in good shape, and stocked. 

Trail: Some tree falls involved some climbing to get through but none were too bad and most were small trees. The tread for the first couple miles is generally in really good shape with just a few rocky corners and areas to navigate. There were only a couple water crossings, the snow is gone at the waterfall now but there is a little hanging on at the ledge just before the waterfall making it extra narrow and potentially slick.

There was almost no sign of snow up to the waterfall but the consistent snow starts abruptly right around 2.5 miles, 4400 ft elevation, just after the waterfall. There is a split there. The trail to the left is the summer trail, check you map. Towards the top there are a couple wooded areas with partially melted snow patches close to the cliff edge that could be treacherous and the trail is a bit hard to see sometimes. There were a couple areas flooded with melt area. 

There are some cornices along the edge at the top to stay clear of, but there are some rocks sticking out to indicate safe areas if you want to get close to the edge. Amazing 360 views on a good day and one of my favorites. 

Gear: I brought an ice axe and microspikes, which I never used because the snow was so slushy, but I wished I had my snow baskets on my poles. 

Stats: My device glitched and didn't recored right but our moderate paced group took about 3.5 hours on the way up and under 2 hours going down. The snow was a bit slow going and the boot pack may help or hurt because you sink less but some is more slick and spikes may help. 

Tree example
Incredible views on the way up, steep and extra hard because of the soft snow
Cornices along edge
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