Arrived at the trailhead at 8 am, to find a good sized parking lot with ample spots left being a mid October morning. This is the trailhead for two different trails, Dog Mountain and Augspurger Mountain. At first I did not think there were bathrooms at the trailhead, but they are located up the Dog Mountain trail about 100 yards. There is a sign at the trailhead describing the trail with a note that states it is a great training hike with it's steep inclines of 10-25% grade!
After introductions and a daily briefing on what our crew of 11 volunteers would be doing we started our journey up the trail - our worksite for the weekend would be at the top loop, reclaiming the trail that is starting to become lost due to being overgrown.
The first 1/2 mile of the trail has switchbacks, and just below the last switch back you go through a small oak grove which is vastly different from the rest of the trees that you've hiked through so far on the trail. At the 1/2 mile mark you have two choices go the 'difficult' 1.5 mile trail with a lower view point, of the 'more difficult' trail 1.2 miles to the next junction where these two trails meet up again. Our crew decided to go the steeper shorter route up to the worksite.
Our assistant crew leaders were in the back of the group while our crew leader was in the front. The more difficult way is pretty straight up, a heart pounding, blood thumping out of breath sweaty hike up with tools. I was the last one in our group going slow with lots of little breaks what felt like every 10 steps! I was having mental battles with myself with how frustrating the trail was with how steep it was- and some personal battles I was going through. I knew it would be steep but I was not expecting this. (Side note, I've hike the Grand Canyon to the bottom and back up, and this trail is WORSE than the G.C. Bright Angel Trail. The Gorge is a mini Grand Canyon but this hike was kicking my butt!)
Once the two trails meet up again there is a sign that says 'Dog Mountain 1 mile' and then you look at the trail and it's just a steep as what you've been climbing up so far. Just keep going, a few more switch back and you'll be greeted with an open meadow above the Columbia River. after another 1/2 mile you'll reach Puppy Dog Lookout. A great place for a nice and much needed break overlooking the river with awesome views looking east towards Hood River Valley, and then to the west towards Beacon Rock. It took me 2.5 hours to get to this point. After the first real break since we left the trailhead at 9 I went to find some work on the trail - to get this lost trail found again. We worked on about a half mile of the trail removing branches and working on getting the trail back to what you'd want to hike on.
From the top of Dog Mountain you can see Mt. St. Helen's and Mt. Hood, along with some pretty epic views of the Columbia River. You can also see evidence of the Eagle Creek wildfire from 2017.
The hike back to the trailhead we opted for the easier on our knees down hill with the 1.5 mile 'difficult' trail. The view from the lower lookout was pretty spectacular. The hike back took us as a group about 2 hours with everyone going pretty much the same speed.
Until next time- Happy Trails!
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