Dog Mountain

 Hiked up Dog Mountain via the new trail and came down the Augspurger Trail for 7.5 mile loop hike with 2,900 ft of elevation gain.
The first 1.8 miles are in the woods, but there were so many wildflowers in bloom today that we enjoyed all of this trail.








The trail is a steady climb throughout.














The sign marking the split between the old and new trails was gone, but some one had made a pine cone arrow showing the way on the new trail.

 From the first clearing at 1.8 miles, we could balsamroot in bloom, and far above, the fields were awash in yellow.

 Great view of the Columbia River flowing west.

 At 2.9 miles, another open area is reached, nicknamed Puppy Mountain. We could now see Wind Mountain to the west along the Columbia River.

 Pano to the south from "Puppy Mountain"

 The trail stays in the open as it continues to climb up Dog Mountain.

 There were lots of paintbrush and larkspur in bloom as well as balsamroot.

 As the trail continued to climb, we began to see Mt Hood across the Columbia River to the south,

 and Mt St Helens to the northwest.

 Beautiful fields of flowers near the top of Dog Mountain.

 The very top of Dog Mountain is covered in trees with very limited views.

Some of the other flowers we saw in bloom along the trail: