Dog Mountain is a very popular, tough, 6.9 mile gorge loop hike, especially in the spring when the balsamroot is in full bloom. Even on an ordinary August weekday, there were plenty of serious hikers on the trail. This trail is quite steep, going from essentially sea level to 2920 feet in just three miles. The loop down spreads the elevation loss over an extra mile, which is helpful. The trail is nondescript for the first half mile, but it soon enters a forest of Douglas Fir with little understory. The trail then weaves in and out of the forest/hillside meadows until trees are all below, and only the meadows are in sight. Then Mt Hood and Mt St Helen's come in to view on a clear day. The best part of the trail is the path down. The forest on the west side of the mountain was still in full bloom in August.
Two drawbacks to this trail: tons of poison oak alongside the trail and apparently people do see rattlesnakes, though I did not.
view of Wind Mountain
the Columbia River
thimbleberry
balsamroot covers the hillsides in spring
at the summit of Dog Mtn
a group of girls hike up behind me
snowberry
the forest train on the west side of Dog Mtn was in full bloom
Oregon grape
these threes were life-like
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