Earlier this year, my older boys enthusiastically expressed a desire to hike Dog Mountain with me while the wildflowers were in bloom. So we did. It was a little tougher than they expected, but they did great. On the way down, they took off racing ahead… for about 20 minutes. Then they slowed down to my pace, Henry admitting, “My knees hurt.” Same here, kid.

Trail: The main trail loop (Augspurger to Dog and back to the trailhead) is in good shape. There were some muddy spots higher up the trail, but they were minimal and easily navigated. You can navigate the trail as an out and back, or you can do the loop with the Augspurger Trail. I’d recommend doing the loop, however, it is a bit longer (but with a generally more moderate incline/decline on the Augspurger Trail). The Augspurger Trail - towards Augspurger Summit - is very overgrown in a handful of places. A well-defined trail does exist beneath the overgrowth, but it can be tedious at times. The turnoffs on this trail are also not especially obvious - I would recommend having a GPS track so you know when to start looking for trail branches.

FLOWER STATUS: Full bloom but diminishing. A handful of flowers have already bloomed and are finished. A handful are on the upward trend still. The majority are in full bloom (if slightly on the decline). I expect there will be flowers for a while still, but this week is probably the last of the "prime time" season... realistically, probably by early next week.

Bugs: Minimal. Not an issue.

Road: Parking lot for the trail is immediately off the highway.

Gear: Can be done in low cut hiking or trail running shoes. Some folks will find trekking poles useful due to the incline. I recommend a GPS if the Augspurger Mountain summit is in your plans. Might also recommend a pair of waterproof pants/shoes if going to Augspurger in the AM (the dew on the overgrowth is enough to soak shoes and there are some prickles present in the overgrowth as well).

More Complete Trail Summary:

Dog Mountain Summit: Very straightforward. I did the loop in reverse (Augspruger to Dog Mountain route), but I might recommend doing it the other way (if Dog Mountain is the only destination). The incline is more significant on the Dog Mountain trail, which makes the decline less severe if you use the Augspruger trail on the way back down. The Dog Mountain Trail is very well marked, has minimal obstacles, and is generally very easy to follow. The elevation gain is pretty significant, particularly considering the distance. There are actually two Dog Mountain Trails - the old and the new trail. Both are very well defined and end up in the same location. The Old trail is about a ⅓ to ½ of a mile shorter than the new trail - as such, the incline is more severe. So choose your own adventure on that. The views are best just below the summit. The actual summit is treed and offers no real views - but is only a minute or two past the the best viewpoint.

Augspurger Mountain Summit: Less straightforward than Dog, but not technically difficult. From the spur of the Augspurger/Dog Mountain trails, continue traveling north - you’ll know it’s the right direction because you will immediately begin losing elevation (about 400’ or so in total). This is the point where the trail is most overgrown - albeit intermittently. If you don’t get deterred by the overgrowth in the first 1/3rd of a mile on the descent, you should be good the rest of the way. After descending, the trail will dump you onto an old forest road, which you will follow for a good distance. The incline is moderate and after the overgrowth, the forest road is a welcome respite to be honest. After some distance on the road, you will come to a sharp turn (the turn goes left) on the road - this is your cue to look to the right for a trail leading into the forest. A sign exists, but it is not prominent. I threw some logs onto the road as a visual cue, but I’m sure someone will move them eventually.
IF you miss the turn, you can rejoin the trail higher up - however - this will add some distance and a bit of off-trail navigation. IF you do not have a GPS, I strongly discourage this.
Assuming you find the trail, you will follow it as it gradually winds up to a ridgeline where it meanders for a bit. There is overgrowth here as well, but it is generally less invasive than earlier. The trail is well-defined from here on out - follow it to a fully-treed summit. There was a trail that extended past the summit, presumably to get a view looking northward. I was in a hurry so I took a quick break and then started back towards Dog. One last thing. As you approach the ascent back to the Dog/Augspurger junction, you should be paying attention for a trail (on the left) going into the woods towards the ridgeline. I missed it on the way down and had to backtrack to find it. It is well-defined, but it lacks physical cues and is easy to miss if you aren't paying attention.

Total distance: 14.4 miles (averaged between two GPS devices)
Elevation Gain: 5,380 feet (averaged between two GPS devices)

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.