Dog Mountain — Saturday, May. 30, 2015

Southwest Washington > Columbia River Gorge - WA

With weather temperatures going to be in mid 80s and the prediction of crowds on the trail, we arrived at the parking lot at 6:30 am and were the second car there. The breeze was very cool at that time of the morning and on the summit, so warm temperatures were not a problem. Trail is beautiful. A nice mix of oak trees, maples and fir trees was a nice change of scenery for the wooded section of the trail, as well as the tiny flowers all along. The balsam root at the top is past its prime, but still is showy with lupine and indian paint mixed in for good color. Views and vistas are prime, but don't forget about the rest of the trail and all it has to offer. The small stuff is great, too. We took the Augspurger trail down to finish the loop and were able to avoid the crowds that the full parking lot indicated.