John Guilford's Hikes

Perry Creek on 2025-10-14

Date: 2025-10-14

Location: Perry Creek

People: (including myself): Happy Hikers

			  	Alt.	Miles
Trailhead:		9:30	1880	0
Old Trailhead:		10:00	2020	1.2
Perry Creek Falls:	11:45	3300	3.7
Leave:			12:30
Old Trailhead:		1:55		6.4
Trailhead:  		2:20		7.4

It was a chilly morning with trailhead temperatures in the mid-30s.

The trail starts at the Mt. Dickerman parking area and initially goes NW paralleling the Mountain Loop Hwy before rounding the western corner of Mt. Dickerman and turning to the NE. Along this initial stretch of trail you get several good views of Big Four towards the SSW.

About at the western corner of Mt. Dickerman you come across the old trailhead a little more than a mile in. The road into that, Perry Creek Road, got washed out and there are no plans to rebuild it. It is open to bikes and foot traffic but not cars.

The trail was in the shade of Mt. Dickerman the whole trip. The sun would have felt nice.

Part way up the valley the temperature had climbed into the mid-40s.

Continuing up the trail we started getting patches of frost on the trail from the previous night. This sometimes made the rocks slippery.

We got to the falls, which lie just before the creek crossing. We stopped for pictures, continued a short way to the creek crossing. If you wanted to head to the meadows, you'd cross the creek on a large log sitting on the stream bed. This was as far as we were going, so we didn't try crossing. Another group of hikers did cross, with one slipping and falling, and getting a bit wet. But they continued on despite this.

We went back to the falls and had lunch. It was cooler here, with temperatures back in the mid-30s. Another group of hikers had gone back down to a dry creek crossing where it was warmer for their lunch.

The fall colors were grand, and the sky was deep blue. It was a great day for a Autumn hike.