Early last year, I saw a video about Red Bull’s soapbox derbies that are held around the world every year. In the past, Red Bull had held the US event in San Francisco, but in 2014 it was being held in Seattle. Vinny was already thinking about taking a trip to Seattle to visit Geoffrey, so I sent him the link. I was only half serious about wanting to see it. Traveling within the country to watch an F1 race is a no-brainer to me. Traveling for a soapbox derby though? I wasn’t so sure. A few months later, Vinny brought up the idea of a Seattle trip again and we decided to jump on it.

We flew in on a Friday night after work and returned on Monday morning before work. That gave us three nights and two full days. While Vinny was searching for Airbnbs for us to stay in, he was lucky enough to book an amazing one for a really affordable price. Later, we found out that the host temporarily put his extra room up just so that he could show the pictures to potential roommates. Vinny somehow reserved the room within that narrow window.

Vinny and I arrived late at night and went to sleep as soon as possible. We knew we had a long day ahead of us.

 

 

Mount Dickerman
Northern Cascades, WA
Length: 8.2 mi. roundtrip
Gain: 3950 ft.

After a decent night’s sleep, Geoffrey picked up me and Vinny early in the morning on Saturday. We stopped for some breakfast and snacks along the way and then started the two hour long journey to Mount Dickerman.

 

 

Eventually, we got our things together and began walking the 4.1 miles up to the top. Hiking is one of my favorite pastimes. I really should be doing more of it. I find that the thought of going on a hike only appears in my mind when someone is visiting or I’m visiting someone else. If you are reading this and like hiking, let’s go on a hike!

 

 

In my eyes, there are many different types of hikers. Some like to take their time, stopping for photos, investigating the flora and fauna and snacking along the way. Geoffrey, on the other hand, is the type that goes to the top as quickly as possible. Even though I’d consider myself somewhere in the middle of the hiking speed scale and do a lot of cardio, I had some trouble keeping up with him at times.

 

 

 

 

 

The views got better and better as we hiked further up the mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

Once we reached the top, the views were amazing. We were standing among rolling meadows dotted with wildflowers and framed by majestic snowcapped mountains.

 

 

It felt like we were in a scene from “The Sound of Music”. I had a strong urge to run through the grass while singing “Do-Re-Mi”.

The image below is a panorama. Swipe or scroll horizontally to view it.

 

 

Protip: If you want to make Vinny laugh, just tell him not to laugh. It works every time.

 

 

The rear camera on Geoffrey’s camera was broken. So the only way he could take photos was to face the phone away as if helping the world take a selfie.

 

 

 

 

 

While at the top, I tried taking a few multiple exposures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As time went on, a mistake we had made much earlier became obvious. We hadn’t brought enough water and were quickly running out of it. We certainly wouldn’t have enough for the hike back down. That’s when we noticed some fellow hikers collecting and eating little blue berries from small bushes.

 

 

We learned that they are huckleberries and completely safe to eat by humans. I’d like to think that the huckleberries were what helped us get down most of the way. They were so delicious and each one contained just a tiny bit of water.

 

 

Unfortunately for us, as we descended lower and lower, the huckleberry bushes and flowers gave way to tall trees and very little undergrowth. Our last source of water had run out.

 

 

Our once cheerful and casual hike had transformed into a minor ordeal. Morale was at an all time low and all we could think or talk about was what we wanted to drink at the bottom.

 

 

Did we finally reach safety? Maybe these photos came from a camera that was recovered along the trail and my blog has been ghostwritten ever since. Read part 2 to find out.