Chilly at the parking lot. Soon I warmed up and down to T-shirt. Even thought the trail was gentle, but it goes up relentlessly. A is very fast, despite of the fact that he hadned hiked this summer. I had trouble keeping up. The first 2 miles are in the woods, fairly boring. Then, Vesper Peak and Big Four across the highway appeared through the trees. After another mile, reach a plateau, a good area to camp. Lots of low lying huckleberry bushes, now dry and brown, still had shriveled berries on them. The view gets better and better. Almost no snow on trail.
After traversing the plateau, you see the ridge going up to the mountain proper to your right. Into the woods for a bit, then again, a huckleberry covered zigzag. Near the summit, you are high enough to see Rainier over the closer peaks. 
At 10:20, we reached the top. What a grand view. Lunch, and chatted with people here. Bathed in the view to the north for ~40 minutes. Glacier Peak, Baker, ... many more. The south is blocked by a band of trees. So after lunch, we walked along the summit ridge to right for more photos.
On the way back, saw this lady preparing photos with her beautiful sari. Y recoganized the lady, as they follow each other on Strava. This is their first encounter. She allows everyone take photos of her. So here is one. By the time we are back at the parking lot, it was overflowing along the roads. Yes, met a lot people on our way down. Two backpackers. One guy had snowsnoes!
Finished the hike early. To add towards 5000' elevation gain, we decided to swing by a short hike. Heather Lake is only 2 miles (one way), and almost on the way. The 1 mile gravel road is full of pothole. Y drove his low clearance sedan slowly. Both Y and A didn't quite like the lake. A lot of people here, as usual. The trail here is actaully more rugged than Dickerman. Lots of roods and rocks, very muddy too.
Back in Seattle around 6pm. Another fabulous day. Perfer weather for hiking.
