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With beautiful views, amazing spring wildflowers, and a relatively short effort, this is one of the most popular hikes in the Gorge. On a good day, you can get a view of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River.
Good resources: WTA Portland Hikers
Activity Notes
Every time I've ever led the Dog Mountain Loop, we've gone up the nearest trail to the Columbia River and descended the Augspurger Trail, but when we reached the first spectacular viewpoint, we always went left to a zone that's often incredibly windy. I recently learned of an alternative to the windy zone popularly known as the Puppy Trail, but which on my map is labeled Dog Mountain Summit Trail, and I aim to take this route to the summit. That 0.6 mile trail will be exploratory for your leader, but I have good intelligence that the trail is in fine shape. As with the other times I've hiked this loop, we'll hike 6.9 miles, ascending 2,750'.
We can leave a little later than in the spring because the parking lot is not expected to fill as rapidly in mid November. But these trails are always popular and we won't be hiking alone. No permits are necessary outside spring weekends, but vehicles will need to display a NW Forest Pass or other federal pass. Our listed speed of 1.5 to 1.9 mph reflects my experience with groups on these steep trails.
