Dog Mountain — Saturday, May. 14, 2016

Southwest Washington > Columbia River Gorge - WA

Left Portland around 5:30am and got to the trailhead around 6:45am. There were three other cars in the lot before me so there was plenty of parking. The climb is steep and the hike is tough. You're grateful for the shorter length half way up. That being said, I gave myself 7 hours to do this hike (including driving and lingering time) and I was back at the car in 3 hours and back in Portland in four. (It was a foggy day, which meant I didn't linger at the top.) The wild flowers are lovely right now but I can tell I missed their prime. I doubt they'll last much longer than a few weeks-- and they'll only look more chewed up. I passed a few dozen people on my way down. If you want to beat the crowds, I suggest hitting the trail before 7:30am. It seems that's when folks really started showing up and people were pouring in by the time I hit the bottom of the trail. I got to my car around 9:45am and the parking lot as well as the next closest overflow lot were full. I saw folks parking at the lot after, which I'd estimate to be 0.5-1mile from the trailhead.