Dog Mountain is an extreme popular hiking trail in Southern Washington state by the Columbia Gorge. The trail is about 3.8 miles long to get to the top with steep elevation gain. Even with the steep elevation gain, it does not stop people from coming to Dog Mountain. During the Spring season, the wildflower bloom at the top of Dog Mountain is magnificent. Thus it is usually very crowded from late April to early June. During this period, hiking permit is also required for hiking this trail.
The hiking permit was no longer required in the second week of June and thus we went for a hike at Dog Mountain. Dog Mountain trail is about 1.5 hours of drive time from Portland. When we got there around 8AM in the morning, the parking lot was about 50% full. Northwest Pass is being honored here as the parking permit. If you don't have Northwest Pass, National Park pass will work too or just have to pay $5.
The rest room at the trail was not at the parking lot. The rest room was actually located 100M further into the trail. So before getting to the restroom, people have to hike a little bit first.
The was cloudy but it was not that cold. The trail started to climb right from the beginning. There were some mud on the trail, but it was not that bad. We steadily climbed the trail and passed by several other groups of hikers. We got to the first look out point where we could see the Columbia River. It was beautiful but extremely windy.
We continued on and started to feel the water drop. We were worried that it was starting to rain, but only to realize that the water drop was coming from the top of the tree. The water on the tree leaves fell off when the wind blows.
After about 1.5 hours, we got to Puppy Dog Lookout. This is the best look out place at Dog Mountain. We were very high up and could see really far over Columbia River. The wildflowers on the side were beautiful. But then again, it was extremely windy.
We continued on to the summit, but it was really getting way to windy. Thus we decided to turn back. The summit was not that far away and only about 0.3 miles to go. On the way back down, we saw many hikers with their lovely fur friends. The dogs were very cute.
Dog Mountain was one of the best hike and we definitely would do it again. Just keep in mind that the parking lot gets full really fast so you have to get there early.
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