Dog Mountain Loop
6.7 mi
Distance
2 hrs 49 min
Time
terrain
2,838 ft
Elev Gain
Overview
This is a difficult loop trail to Dog Mountain in Washington.
This trail goes by Puppy Dog viewpoint.
Sights to See
Rate this Hike
★★★★★
The day we went had low level clouds covering the mountain top above about 1800 feet so no views. The date was April 17 which is about two weeks early for what will be the main Balsolm root bloom as buds were just showing. There were plenty of yellow bells, bleeding hearts and red currants among other varieties. The trail had lots of recent rain so was slippery but manageable.
★
★
★
★
It’s a calf burner hike and the views are still spectacular even in November. A little muddy at top and some frost with winds. But still special place.
★
★
★
★
Public Tracks
Dog Mountain
Large lot, but heard it fills fast weekends. I went Wednesday ~130pm. Lots of spots.
Permit only required weekends short time of year.
Pretty steady climb up.
2nice viewpoint stops
2nd one is almost nicer than top in my opinion
I took the A... trail back down, which was 0.9mi longer but flatter. No flowers on up trail. Quite a few on way down.
A... trail had a few rocky segments like small ones but you have to cross a Rick slide in several areas. Watch footing.
Was glad to have poles for steepness up and terrain down. Really nice trail.
Great views of the Columbia river
Dog Mountain, Skamania County, WA
An early spring hike on a sunny last day of March up Dog Mountain in Washington's Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Lots of early wildflowers were blooming, lots of broken-off fir and pine branches were scenting the air, and the muddy trails were drying out. And poison oak was showing tiny new leaves, bright and shiny.
Dog Mountain (3/30/19, 9:01:22AM)
Mid 40’s at Th and 70’s in PDX as a high with mid to low 30’s at summit felt like 60. Sunny with 5-10mph wind to start and 5mph at the summit and clear. Descended via Augspurger. No snow on ascent and snow down to 2K ft descending. JZ, AB
