Dog Mountain — Tuesday, May. 31, 2022

Tdlr: Flowers are at peak and amazing, bugs are horrific, parking is an issue even on weekdays.

I had an appointment on Tuesday morning so I wasn't able to get down to the trailhead until 3pm. By the time I got there, the parking lot was pretty crowded but there were a few open spaces. Parking pass is NW Forest or America the Beautiful. Additional permits are required for this trail on weekends and holidays during peak season, but not during weekdays. The parking lot is pretty small, and people were parking in questionably legal ways... Pit toilet is slightly up the trail, not directly at the parking lot. 

.6 miles from the parking area, the trail splits- there's a sign directing you to the "hard" trail to the right, or "harder" to the left trail. I went for the harder one... it's definitely nothing crazy (way less hard than something like the Old Mailbox Trail, for example) but it's .2 miles longer and has fewer switch backs so it's slightly steeper. I took the normal hard trail back down, and overall I think that side is prettier... it has a few more open areas so you can get some views. The harder one is all in the forest. Overall, I wouldn't go for the harder one unless you just really like making loops of things, or you're trying to avoid people. Bugs started to be an annoyance when I got on the harder trail, and they just got worse and worse towards the top. Definitely bring bug spray, and cover as much skin as you can stand. I hadn't been expecting the bugs and wasn't wearing spray and it was just miserable.. they were flying in my eyes and mouth, all over my hair, biting my arms.. disgusting. I wished I had my bug net hat. lol.

Shortly after the Hard and Harder trail rejoin, you'll come out of the forest and into the flower fields. The balsamroot was truly dense and amazing. Unfortunately the bugs were persecuting me to the point that it was kind of hard to even stop and take pictures. I kept hoping for every stray breeze that would push them away from me for a minute. Pretty gnarly. But yea, the views were amazing, and I understand why this trail is so popular. 

The actual summit was back in the trees, so nothing spectacular. I also did another little loop trail up near the top that was pretty overgrown... I would skip that next time. 

Tuesday night I camped at Turkey Hole campground off highway 142... it's a nice free campground (with a discover pass) on the Klickitat River for tents or RVs. I actually noticed some people dispersed camping right off highway 14 a little ways down from Dog Mountain, but I felt a little anxious sleeping in my car right by the side of such a busy highway. 

I had planned to come back to Dog Mountain on Wednesday to try to get up Augspurger Mountain, but unfortunately I slept in too late and didn't get to the trailhead until 10am at which point the parking lot was COMPLETELY packed with all sorts of dubious parking shenanigans happening... I went over to Spirit Falls (which was amazing!), ate lunch, came back again in the afternoon, and it was even MORE packed... I gave up at that point and just went over to Cook Hill. I've gotten careless because I'm used to showing up at popular spots on weekdays and avoiding people. Haha, lesson learned... Maybe next year.