Dog Mountain — Friday, Apr. 15, 2022

Hiked Dog Mountain today with my 12 year old daughter and medium sized dog. The parking is right on the highway which is nice given all the breakins you hear about. There were maybe 8 cars when we arrived at 10:30. The trail is steep but in great condition. We went up the steeper route and down the slightly less steep. The less steep route was more exposed to the sun. Snow started covering the trail about a mile in and we needed spikes. We forgot our poles and those would have been nice to have. It was easy to follow the footsteps of prior hikers and the snow was shallow and somewhat packed. Views at the puppy lookout were awesome. Mt Hood was obscured but the gorge was incredible. And there was a nice dry rock to sit on for lunch. Deeper snow started about 1/4 mile before the lookout and got much deeper after the lookout. We were postholing regularly and our dog sunk into the snow over her head with just about every step (she loved it!). So we turned around maybe 0.2 miles from the summit. The descent was uneventful. Round trip was just under 4 hours including breaks. Would love to come back when the flowers are out.