Dog Mountain, Carson, WA

Getting There

I took Hwy 84 to Cascade Locks, then crossed the river. I suppose it's a little quicker than going all the way to Hood River and taking Hwy 14 back to Cook. 

This was a WTA trail work party in conjunction with the Mazamas. James and several others were already there when I arrived to the parking lot.

I mentioned to James that I was having "performance anxiety", referring to be unsure how fit I was to hike to the top and then doing trail work. He was surprised and said he was feeling the same thing. It was a relief that I wasn't the only one. We joked about letting the Mazamas cruise to the top with a CL or ACLs. 

The Hike

Length: 6.48 mi
Elev. gain: 2,840 ft
Highest Elevation: 2,948 ft

Before we set out up the trail, we stopped to take a group photo with the park rangers. 

Surprisingly, I was one of the first to reach Puppy Dog Viewpoint with a couple of the Mazamas. I guess I didn't need to be anxious about my fitness.

We planned to work from the top back down to the viewpoint on eastern side of the loop trail which winds through the trees, instead of the wildflower route to the west. Since it took about 2 hours to complete the hike, we decided to have lunch before starting work. We dropped out tools and headed for the summit.

After lunch, we hiked back to the top of the work site.

The trail was in pretty good condition but there were several areas that needed re-benching and widening.

There was one small diameter tree (maple vine?) that was a bit close to the trail, at about eye level. Before this volunteer actually made the cut, I suggested that we cut a big chunk off the top to lighten the branch. I also showed them how to undercut so there wasn't a slab when the weight finally brought the branch down.

A little re-benching project.

We made it back to Puppy Dog Viewpoint. The weather was great and the work wasn't too difficult.

While this wasn't a leisure hike, it was some descent distance and elevation gain. Some work parties are only 1-2 miles and minimal EG so I don't count those. 

Hike: Dog Mountain via Augspurger Trail, Cook, WA

Getting There

The Augspurger and Dog Mountain Trails share the same trailhead parking lot off Hwy 14. 

I took I-84 to Cascade Locks, then crossed the river and continued on WA-14 eastbound. It's 54 miles (87km) from Portland and 6.2 miles (10km) from the Carson turnoff/round-about. Being a mid-week hike, the parking lot was mostly empty, save a few cars. 

I parked by the Discover Pass sign and geared up. After a pit stop, I set out on the trail, remembering my hike from last November.

The Hike

Distance: 6.92 mi
Ascent: 2,743 ft
Total Time: 3h 46m 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was my second hike of the year and my first "real" hike: decent mileage and elevation gain. 

I was settling into my groove but was quickly jolted by something on the trail. It was a dead deer on the trail. Sorry for the graphic details: it was on its back with hind legs in the air. It was just leg bones, the flesh had been eaten off. My mind went from "holy shit, this is gruesome" to "I hope there isn't a cougar or other predator or scavenger watching me, ready to defend its meal." I hestitated, trying to gather the courage to proceed or return to the trailhead and take the Dog Mountain Trail instead. As I stepped over the carcass, hundreds of flies took flight. I tried not to look too closely and burn a horrible image in my mind. I noticed some poop and entrails near the body. 

I cleared the body and quickened my pace. I had to get out of there. When I reached a viewpoint of Wind Mountain about 3-4 mins up the trail, I texted James about who to contact. He got back to me and said to forward to Stasia to message our forest contact. I was just thinking about unsuspecting hikers coming across the scene and possibly having an animal encounter.

 

The weather was great. I kind of hoped to meet a hiker coming down the trail but never saw anyone. Too few people around. I was preparing my spiel about the deer.

 

Snapshots of the trail from when I was there for the WTA work party popped into my mind, helping me gauge my progress. I wasn't terrible energetic, taking more breaks than I'd expected to need. Thank goodness for my electrolytes, they kept me going.

I was having doubts but didn't want to turn back and have to go by the deer again. (shudder). It gave me some motivation to push myself.

I was relieved when I reached Augspurger-Dog Mountain Trail junction. I poked my head around the corner on the Augspurger Trail. I want to check it off the list sometime. It's a long one, 12.3 miles (~19.8km), 4507 feet (1373m), maybe a good conditioning hike for MSH or Mt Adams, etc.

 

As with other hikes I've done, I've compressed the next section in my mind. It's longer than I remembered and a little more elevation gain. I encountered a few downed trees over the trail.

 

I finally emerged from the trees and I could see to the Dog Mountain Trail. I was almost to the apex of my hike. The views were spectacular. The sun was still a bit high in the sky, the lighting still a bit bright. Someday I'll hike here when the wildflower are in bloom.

 

On my descent, I passed a hiker coming up to the summit.

 

I made sure to enjoy the views after the difficult ascent and trace of doubt. 

After Puppy Dog Point, I passed another solo hiker. I passed another couple in the trees, and a pair of hikers past the Hard/Very Hard routes. I thought about folks that hike late in the day. I wondered if they had the 10 essentials including a light source. 

I took a picture of the Mitchell Point. Awesome to see it from this side of the river. 

 

I was elated to have made it to the top and I was making good progress down (knees intact). 

I finally reached the lower section, the switchbacks. I inspected our trail work from last year. I tried to find that section that were excavated and filled in. It was invisible :)

  

Back at the parking lot, I counted the cars and matched them in my mind with the hikers I'd seen.

A successful day. I'm still pretty fit for the terrain and difficulty. It it motivation to resume my hiking frequency, balancing trail work with personal hikes.

Hike: Dog Mountain via Auspurger Trail, Cook, WA

Getting There

I adhered to my usual M.O: I got a late(r) start and didn't really know where I was headed when I left the house. I'd told my mom and she told my aunt that I was going to Dog Mountain, but I really wasn't sold yet. 

I knew it wasn't Kings Mountain because to eastbound. I instinctively found my way onto I-84 east. That meant that I wasn't heading to Silver Star. I was going somewhere in the Gorge. Wahkeena/Multnomah Falls was out since that was my hike a week before. I considered Eagle Creek but figured it would be crowded. I tried to visualize Ponytail to Oneonta Gorge, tempting but no.

I continued to Hood River, where I had several options. When I got to that point in the journey, across from the Dog Mountain Trailhead, I saw a block of color: cars. It was a somewhat rare nice day so maybe it wasn't doable. (I thought about summer days when cars were parked (illegally) along Hwy 14, or when parking permits were required.

I stopped in Hood River to top off my tank and grab some water since I'd left my insulated water bottles at home. Oops. I crossed the bridge to WA, noting the automated fare system. On the WA side, I hesitated at the signal: should I go eastbound to Lyle/Cherry Orchard + Coyote Wall, or westbound to Dog Mountain, my stated destination. Fuck it.

I found the parking lot only partially filled with plenty of spots. It wasn't nearly as crowded as it had looked from across the river. I wanted to try something new, Augspurger. 

The Hike

Length: 7.31 mi
Elev. gain: 2,812 ft
Moving time: 3:22:28
Avg pace: 27:43
Calories: 1,784
Total time: 3:42:10 

 

 

 

 

 

The last time I was here, I worked on the lower section of the Dog Mountain Trail so not a hike. I did count the trail work party we did on the Auspurger Trail back in April 2024 and I hadn't actually hiked Dog Mountain since March 2024, and the top was deeply covered with snow. 

The trail was vaguely familiar from 1 1/2 ago, ... vaguely. I enjoyed the views of Wind Mountain and the river. I wasn't really expecting to encounter anyone on this side but was surprised to see several folks on their way down, completing the Dog Mountain/Augspurger Loop.

I even met a fellow volunteer from MSHI that recognized the patch on my pack. I mentioned getting a later start and hoped I had enough daylight. She assured me that the loop should only take 3 to 3-1/2 hours. I was relieved a little. (I thought about my hike around Smith Rock and the section to the upper side of the Burma Road Trail: I wasn't sure how far it was.) I wish AllTrails could show you distances to the next junction or waypoint.

The trail climbs steadily the entire way. My legs were burning but I felt good. I thought I passed a section of the trail I remember working on. I knew our turnaround point was a switchback. I delayed a map check until then. When I got there, I still had a ways to go but mot of the elevation gain was behind me.

I finally reached the junction, a sharp right turn. This is where I started to see white stuff on the ground. There were small sections of hard snowpack/ice. The late afternoon sun and views made for a spectacular traverse toward Dog Mountain.

Eventually, I emerged out of the trees and had a pretty clear line of site of the trail. I could even see people on the Dog Mountain ascent. I breathed a sigh of relief: the uncertainty in the back of my mind could finally take a rest. I knew once I made it to the top, it was all down hill (ba dum clank).

 

I passed an older guy on his way down and said "Afternoon" but got no response or even acknowledgement. Weird.

At the top, there was a guy talking on a cell phone. I didn't mind and gave him some space. Every other time I'd been up here, there was feet of snow. It was awesome to actually see the views to the west. I took a couple of photos and wandered back down the trail a bit and sat down for a min.

The descent was amazing. The sun was on its way down below the horizon, casting gorgeous hues, washing the Gorge with amber light.

I concentrated on proper form going down to preserve my knees and made sure to enjoy the surroundings. 

At the lower viewpoint, the sun was kissing the horizon on the Oregon side. I waited for it slide behind the mountains (but didn't; close enough).

I crossed paths with a hiker pretty low down, wearing shorts. t was 4pm and there was likely less than 30 min of light. I  thought about the guy on his phone at the top. I hoped they had flashlights.

When I reached the parking there were only two other cars: one parked next to me with Florida plates (belonging to the gut at the top cuz' I remember seeing it when I left), and another car of some kind (belonging to the late hiker.) 

Prologue: I changed into my regular shoes and a dry shirt and sped off westbound on Hwy 14. By the time I reached Stevenson, it was getting pretty dark. The sunset was ah-mazing. Great day on the trail. I won't hit my goals by a long shot but that's okay.

Hike: Auspurger Mountain Trail, Bingen, WA

Getting There

The Augspurger and Dog Mountain Trails share the same trailhead parking lot off Hwy 14. 

I took WA-14 eastbound from Vancouver, WA. It's 54 miles from Vancouver and 6.2 miles from the Carson turnoff/round-about. For a midweek work party, there were more cars in the parking lot at 8:00am than I expected.

I got my gear on and was ready for the safety talk at 8:30am.

The Hike

Distance: 4.57 miles
Elevation Gain: 1,610 feet
Maximum Elevation: 1,712 feet

I'd been wanting to hike this trail for a while. I'd seen the connection point near the Dog Mountain summit and remember meeting some hikers that had made it a loop. I've been up the longer ("Difficult") route up the Dog Mountain trail and had hiked down the shorter ("More Difficult") route but never the Augspurger Trail. Also, I've seen photos from the Augspurger Mountain "summit".

This trip was a work party. It was marked as a "high mileage" outing. Compared to other work sites, this one was still relatively close to the parking lot (2.75 miles), albeit with some decent elevation gain, 1610 feet. Also, we were carrying tools: green grubber, handsaw, loppers.

In the couple of weeks leading up to this work party, I'd been getting a lot of nose bleeds and had received a couple acupuncture treatments. I was a bit on-edge about having another one. 

Just 4 days before on my Hamilton Mountain hike, I had a bad nose bleed on the trail after a strenuous ascent to Rodney Falls. More of an inconvenience but disconcerting. I didn't want to alarm other hikers either.

I was a bit sluggish but still faster than a couple of the older folks. This was not my first rodeo for hiking fatigue, I tried to eat some snacks and hydrate. It seemed to help a bit but it wasn't until I tried some SaltStick tablets from Mike. I loved them. Easier than powder packets and "contaminating" my water bottle. I pushed on and helped on some bigger tasks for widening and benching the trail at spots.

I was overdressed from the cold morning and I was wary of the poison ivy or oak on the trail that we were warned about. A fellow green-hat showed me what to look for. I didn't want to put my bag down in the middle of a patch.

We completed all of the repairs on the list but we didn't do a loop. We turned back about 1.75 miles from the Dog Mountain summit with another 1,000 feet of elevation gain. I want to come back this spring or early summer, probably midweek due to parking permit requirements during the weekend.