Dog Mountain

I drove down to the Columbia Gorge to hike Dog Mountain today. I hiked up the Dog Mountain Trail and came down the Augspurger Trail for a loop of 7.5 miles with 2,800 ft of gain. The wildflowers were wonderful on a day that had mixed sun, rain, clouds and wind.

Balsamroot and lupine near the beginning of the trail

There was a nice assortment of wildflowers in the forest and balsamroot were blooming at the first viewpoint along the "difficult" trail. Looking west along the Columbia River.

View towards the east at this first viewpoint, parsley, paintbrush and balsamroot in bloom.

As I returned to hike up through the forest, I entered the clouds.

The sun was trying to break through the clouds as I neared Puppy Dog viewpoint.

a nice assortment of phlox and paintbrush

Balsamroot and paintbrush at Puppy Dog Viewpoint looking west

view to the east from Puppy Dog Viewpoint

The clouds became thicker as I continued up the trail, enjoying the balsamroot, paintbrush and many Larkspur plants mixed in. 

Even without views, the trail near the top was beautiful.

Since it was very cloudy and windy when I reached the top viewpoint, I decided to take the short spur trail to the "top" of Dog Mountain which is completely in the trees without a view. There were many trillium in bloom here.

As I headed back down the trail, I had some views between the clouds racing by. Looking south across the Columbia River with Mt Hood in the far distance.

zoom of Mt Hood 

I was amazed at the many Larkspur plants I saw all along the upper portions of both trails.

As I started down the Augspurger Trail, the view opened up. Looking to the west with Wind Mountain below.

The trail eventually returned to the forest for most of the way back down to the trailhead, here a lower view of Wind Mountain along the Columbia River.

some of the many wildflowers seen along the trail today: