Dog Mountain Spring Hike

We headed up to Dog Mountain (picture here was taken from the Oregon side of the Columbia River) to do the 7.3 mile loop trail with 2900 ft of elevation gain. The trail is located 10 miles east of Stevenson, Wa on Hwy 14.

 The trail starts in the woods and begins to ascend immediately.

















About 1/2 mile up the trail, it splits into two, the old steep trail to the left (with no views) and the new trail to the right with views and not quite so steep. We took the new trail.

 We didn't mind the steep trail, because there was an abundance of wildflowers both in the woods and on the upper exposed sides of the mountain. We saw lots of chocolate lilies and other wildflowers.
There were also peek-a-boo views of the Columbia River below.

About 1.8 miles up the trail, at 1600 ft of elevation, the trail opens up to a grassy area with great views.

Panorama View looking south along the Columbia River into Oregon:

 Happy hikers! We are standing in front of Wind Mountain to the west.

 The trail reenters the woods and after another 1/2 mile and 300+ ft of elevation gain, rejoins the old trail before heading to the summit.

 A little less than 1/2 mile up, the trail opens to the upper meadows and an abundance of wildflowers and gorgeous views.
Looking west toward Wind Mountain and the Columbia River.

 to the north, the wooded summit of Dog Mountain.

 Near the top, the Dog Mountain Trail joins the Augspurger Trail, with a spur trail up to the top of Dog Mountain.

 Nearing the summit, we had views of Mt St Helens to the north.

 I heard there was an old circular trail at the top of Dog Mountain with possible views of Mt Adams. We found a trail that was lined with scrubby bushes and lots of trillium. It ended in downed trees and a loss of the trail.
We returned our steps and found

 a view of Mt Adams to the northeast through the tree branches.

We returned to the open slopes on the west side of Dog Mountain to take in the view and enjoy our lunch.
Panorama looking west, Mt Hood to the south and Mt St Helens to the north:

 We choose to take the longer, but easier on the knees, Augspurger Trail down.

Most of this trail is in the woods, but again, there were many forest wildflowers.

We saw lots of Calypso Orchids on this trail.

Some of the other wildflowers seen on our hike today: