First time up Dog Mountain. We used the regular "Difficult" trail (not the More Difficult) up and returned via the Augsburger trail after lunch at the summit, for a total loop of 7.8 miles, and about 2880 feet.
The flowers are ON. Absolutely spectacular. Lost track of the different varieties but of course the balsam root dominates. There were some gnats but I didn't think they were too bad.
Couple notes: we arrived at 8:30 am on the Wednesday and there were still a number of spaces. When we returned at 2:00 it was clear the lot had filled earlier since some cars were parked along the wider part of the US 14 shoulder.
Despite its name I don't think this would be a great hike for dogs because there is no water whatsoever and lots of people. Despite this there were plenty of dogs many off-leash which was surprising.
Returning via the Augsburger trail was peaceful and we got to see a bit more of the flower fields at the top. The trail is mostly smooth tread and easy walking. One rocky stretch near the bottom. I think going up it rather than down might be discouraging because it's in the woods the whole way and you don't get to the flower fields as quickly as the other way.
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