Dog Mountain - May 20, 2011

I'll keep this one short since I recently posted on the same hike. On Friday, May 20, my friend Jared and I hiked up Dog Mountain on the Washington side of the Columbia River in the Gorge. Despite spectacularly missing the exit for the Bridge of the Gods in Cascade Locks (my bad), we arrived at the trailhead via Hood River (NOTE: to the Oregon Department of Transportation employee in charge of directional signage in Hood River - you suck! The bridge exit in Hood River was blocked and we had to go east to Mosier before turning around). Jared kept his cool during the driving blunders.

When I went up in March, the upper half of the Dog was completely covered in snow (click here for the March trip report and here for a report from April 2010). What a difference two months make! The hike was nearly unrecognizable. We didn't encounter any patches of snow. After loading up our packs, we launched up the switchbacks, took the "more difficult" variation of the route and reached the top at a good clip. Usually the upper reaches above the treeline are covered in wildflowers. But the stubborn refusal of winter to move on seemed to delay the fields from blossoming.

Here's a video from the summit...



The trail was surprisingly crowded for a Friday, in part because the weather was beautiful. We scarfed down some quick carbs and hurried down the trail. We took the slightly longer Augspurger loop from the summit to avoid some of the masses. About 3 hours, 15 minutes after leaving the car, we were back in the parking lot.

On the way home we stopped by the new official Pentaquest post-hike venue: the Pacific Crest Pub in Cascade Locks. The food is great - they have a house-made salmon burger - and carry Walking Man brews from Stevenson, WA. And their extra-hot horseradish sauce (since 1965) will kill you in a good way.