We came to the Columbia Gorge for a 3 day spring wildflower hiking trip. Despite the weather we braved Dog Mountain today along with scores of other hikers. The parking area was 3/4 full when we pulled in at 9:30 under a heavy down pour. As mentioned in previous reports this hike is a real leg grinder the whole route. The wildflower display at the top totally made it worth the effort. To see a whole mountain side covered in arrow leaf balsam root was amazing. The toilet facility up the hill at the start needed serious cleaning and TP supply refreshment. The entire trail was saturated well packed, soil with a few muddy areas. For the most part foot traction was not a problem. We were basically in the clouds with 30 mph wind gusts at the last rocky outcropping so skipped the last 200’ of elevation for no noteworthy views. Many more hikers were headed up the trail on our decent as skies parted on and off. Another fantastic day out in nature with friends.

Trail was in good condition except for some muddy, slippery conditions due to rain. Lots of wildflowers and the shuttle was effortless to use. Great memorable hike!

Bottom Line:

Go now! Peak flower conditions, and with rain and wind in the forecast, the balsamroot is likely to fade considerably in the next week or so. Already, the wind has it looking a little ragged in spots. I cannot think of a better WA spring for simultaneously blooming balsamroot, lupine and paintbrush - beautiful! And these are just the start of the flower mix right now - more details below. The forest hike is as lovely as ever, especially the stretch of oak groves early in the ascent. The first 2K feet has limited views, but it will not feel like work after that - ~1K feet drinking in amazing views of flower meadows, the Columbia River and Mt Hood. No permits required on non-holiday weekdays, but still pretty busy. After lots of recent flower hikes around Leavenworth-Wenatchee (Tibbetts, Sage Hills, Sauer's, Iron Bear & Cashmere Canyon), this was a nice change of pace with a wetter climate and fantastic water views.

Stats:

• Distance: 6-3/4 miles
• Vertical: 2900 ft
• Duration: ~4 hours
• Road/Parking: The roadside lot is east of Carson, WA on SR-14. It has room for ~50 cars with roped off spots. National Forest parking pass required; kiosk available to purchase a day pass. Toilets up the hill a bit beyond the trailhead. There are "No Parking" signs all along SR-14 with just a few exceptions a pullout allows parking between marked signs (CAUTION: No sidewalks for highway walking). There was plenty of parking available on a Thursday morning both coming and going, perhaps because the weather was not optimal. Permits are required on weekends and holidays with rangers checking permits at the trailhead.
• Weather: Increasing cloudiness, 50-60Fs, very windy at the top. On the one hand, the steel gray skies made the flowers pop, but the high winds made close-up flower photography a challenge :)
• Water: There is no water for filtering on this trail; carry water
• Flowers: On a non-windy day, this hike is buzzing with bees, butterflies and if lucky, hummingbirds. With the wind, really only saw the bees. The flowers were nothing short of amazing, with the balsamroot, lupine and paintbrush combination being the star of the show. In my experience, pretty unusual to have them peak simultaneously - probably due to the unique position of this trail on the boundary of the "wet West" and the "dry East" parts of The Gorge. There are flowers in the meadows, but also in the forest, pretty much from top to bottom. Among the other flowers seen: Columbia windflower, yarrow, vanilla leaf, western serviceberry, Oregon sunshine, Nootka rose, Cascade Oregon-grape, ocean-spray, shortspur seablush, cow-parsnip, clover, oxeye daisy, California poppy, clasping arnica, buckwheat, western wallflower, larkspur, oookow, phlox, goatsbeard, small-flowered woodland-star, ragwort and queen's cup. A LOT of stuff grows here (see link below) - you will have your work cut out for you identifying it all ;) NOTE: Please stay on the trails to protect the meadows - balsamroot takes many years to establish itself.
• Trail: The trail was fairly busy for a weekday even if the lot did not fill. There are a number of options here, and the trails are all lovely and well-maintained. I would recommend the counterclockwise loop up Dog Mountain Trail, returning on Augspurger Mountain Trail. With time constraints, I instead did an out-and-back on Dog Mountain Trail, but with an internal loop using the "Difficult" trail to ascend, and the "More Difficult" trail to descend. The trail is a bit of a grunt, but the well- maintained trail surface helps a lot. You will be in the flower meadows after 2K feet, and the challenge of the ascent a distant memory. I found the descent more challenging (knees) - it is steep in a few spots! Poles are recommended for coming down. There is a loop off the summit as well. You can see I hiked slightly east of the summit on this loop to get some amazing views of the meadows but backtracked to descend. CAUTION: Ticks and rattlesnakes present.
• Takeaway: I have done this many times, but it never gets old. This is a reliable spot once the trails in the eastern Gorge, and up around Wenatchee, have begun to fade and dry out. I still have a sunrise hike here on my bucket list. Conventional wisdom calls for a 2:30am start this time of year (!!) and you would be looking for a broken cloud sky at sunrise. The weather did not cooperate for that yesterday, which is probably for the best as not exactly an early morning person! Probably my last "spring flower" hike of the season - looking forward to alpine meadows now!

The attached video captures the trail end-to-end, and current conditions for mid-May 2025.

Dog Mountain again. It was veryyyyy windy! Balsamroot was looking fabulous.

The hills are alive with the sound of balsamroot. Flowers look at peak bloom to me. Seems a bit early this year.

Partly cloudy day and managed to go up ahead of some forecasted cloudy weather in coming days. Been doing this one for years and still look forward to the flowers every time.

I go up/down the regular "Difficult" way, not taking Augsperger's as I don't mind the steepness and was able to run some stretches going back down in trail runners.

This was done on a Friday afternoon, so no Dog Mountain specific permit needed (I still have the annual NW Forest Pass), but keep in mind the specific permit is required on weekends and Memorial Day now. Search online for details. Car park fairly packed, but no problem getting a spot rolling in around 400 PM. 

Top can get windy, so might be good to pack a jacket.

Start: 410 PM

Top: 540 PM

End: 645 PM