I've avoided Dog Mountain in the past due to how incredibly busy it usually is, but with only one other car in the parking lot today I decided to stop by. Well, the parking lot was empty for a reason. There's a fair amount of snow and ice on the trail, starting at about 1/4 mile up the trail and getting progressively deeper. I turned around about a mile up the trail because it was getting a little too icy. If I'd had my crampons with me I would've kept going; the snow was packed down pretty well. I'm sure the view from the top is fantastic, though. Even the glimpses through the trees in the first mile of the trail are nice.

Spent some time with my dad on this hike! Got to the TH at around 8:30am to only 5 or 6 cars in the lot. I was afraid there wasn't going to be any parking from previous trip reports and the warning on this site. Looks like the early bird gets the worm :) We were so confused as we saw two signs, the one pointing west read "Augspurger Trail" and under it was listed "Dog Mountain Trail". The other sign pointed east and read "Dog Mountain Peak". We took a guess and went for the west one. We were wrong. Looking at the map later, turns out we started on the Augspurger Mountain Trail. The "Dog Mountain Trail" sign meant that we were going to join the Dog Mountain Trail partway up the Augspurger Trail. Silly mistake. I'm actually really glad to have made this decision though, because the hike ended up being a loop. The Augspurger trail was mostly forested. My dad didn't have any long athletic pants so he wore shorts and we were keeping out eyes peeled for the poison oak as the warning stated. We didn't see any poison oak or poison ivy so that was great! We finally met up with the actual Dog Mountain trail and got to the top. The views were amazing, and I found it especially cool that you could see both the tip of Mt. Hood in Oregon and a good chunk of Mt. St. Helens in Washington. Warning: It's really windy up in the meadow! I highly recommend bringing poles to stabilize yourself as you walk along the mountain side in the heavy wind. I felt myself losing my balance a lot. Also, poles would be great to have for the hike back down the Dog Mountain Trail. Parts of the trail are really dry (it's really cool because you can see the change in the types of trees as you enter this part of the trail) and it almost feels like you're in Arizona on a hot day. The ground will be very dry in the summer after a period of dryness so make sure you bring stable shoes. It's very easy to slip on this trail! Again, bring your poles!! My tracker said we walked a total of 10 miles. My sore legs agreed. We got back to the car at 1pm, just in time to grab a snack and head home.

We hiked Dog Mountain on Memorial Day with our dog, of course. We got to the trailhead around 8:30 AM, which was not early enough. We had gotten there just in time to park at the overflow lot maybe half a mile down. The parking area is pretty small and I would imagine would be a nightmare if you got there any later. The hike itself was really great. Well maintained throughout. About half a mile up, you get the option to take the easier or more difficult route (the harder route is .4 miles shorter but quite steep). We opted to take the easier route up and the more difficult route on the way down. I would recommend going up the easy route as there are clearings to take in the view and jogging down the more difficult route made going down really fast. There were a ton of bugs out, so make sure you bring bug spray! Overall it took maybe three hours to walk up with our puppy (he likes to stop every 10 feet to smell grass) and about an hour and a half to walk/jog down. HIghly recommend! Just make sure you come early!

This hike, while steep (you'll feel the leg burn pretty quickly), is 110% worth it given the spectacular views during the last 0.5 mile. As others noted, poison oak is prevalent (wear long pants) and it can be quite windy at the top (bring layers and don't wear a hat!) Also, be sure to bring proper foot wear. You will want the traction due to the loose rock and dirt that covers most of the last mile. I somehow left my hiking boots at home, realized this when we arrived at the trail head, and ended up hiking it in Tevas and socks. Doable, but definitely not recommended.