Dave Goes Outside: Dog Mtn. Round 4, now with Dog Creek Falls

FOUR MORE YEARS
FOUR MORE YEARS

Not for the current president of course, I hope he falls off a bridge. I mean 4 more years of Dog Mountain hikes. 4 years ago I was inspired to start this blog because of Dog Mountain, and I've hiked it every year since. It's worth it every time, although this year tested our mettle a bit more than usual.

Can't say much I haven't already said, at least about the way up.

THE GOAL:
Summit Dog Mountain and see the wildflowers again

THE PLAN:
Climb Dog Mountain, but go a different way down this time, for variety

THE TRIP:
Started out like normal. Parking lot was almost full at 7:45. First mile sucks all the ass. Steep, switchbacks, dry dirt, poison oak everywhere. However after the disaster of last week I at least knew what I was getting into this time and prepared. So I huffed, and I puffed, but nothing went down, only up.

Keeley on my favorite switchback

Someone decided to remove the signs at the first junction with the old trail, meaning there was no indication which way to go for newbies. I felt bad for the hiking tourists who were here the first time, they no had nothing telling them which was the good way up, and because the bad way actually looks easier from the junction, I'm sure some poor souls got suckered into a bad climb.

We didn't dilly dally much on the way up, just powered up with occasional 30 second rests. Skipped the lower viewpoint break entirely. Soon enough we hit the final sections and came out into the flower meadows, which still blow me away every time.

We take this picture basically every time we come up

Mt. Defiance looms over the Oregon side, people on Dog for scale

Entering the cloud level

The miracle quarter mile

I call it "Wind tree over yellow stuff"

Looking up towards the summit

However this year was different, because it was cold. A harsh and freezing wind was blowing clouds up over the summit (Blocking any view from the top for long stretches) and the wind was absolutely awful. I had no pockets in my fleece and had to shove them down my pants (out of view, of course) just to get them back to manageable levels. We didn't linger long.

On the way down is where this trip report diverges from normal. 3 years of doing the same loop has taught us 1 thing: the final 2 miles on the Augspurger trail to get to the parking lot are an incredibly boring slog. Tedious to the point of intolerance. It's the worst way to end such a great hike.

For the sake of variety I wanted to try something new. There is a trail from the summit that goes east through the woods and takes a meandering path back down to the lower meadow viewpoint. It was shielded from the wind and kind of peaceful. Nothing special, but it was nice to get away from the crowds for a stretch.

Mt. Defiance and people at the lower viewpoint from the alt summit route

Funky cloud over the east

Enjoying the solitude before it ends

Our second detour was the "Old" trail. There used to only be one way to the top. It was a viewless steep bastard of a mile in the woods. The top half of the trail is pretty mild and reasonable. The bottom half drops (or climbs) 500+ feet in .4 miles. We were glad we didn't go up, unlike the few clearly "took the wrong path" tourists we saw on the way down.

Our next attempt for something new was the abandoned logging road at the first junction. It leads down to the Augspurger trail. Sadly, Keeley didn't have long pants and because of the poison oak at lower elevations we nixed that idea for a possible winter idea instead.

Since going back down the shortest route left us at only 6 miles and done by 10:30, we decided to take a detour to Dog Creek Falls. In a narrow canyon creek just past the Dog Mtn. hoards there is a semi-secret waterwall just waiting for a quick pit stop. It's a very short walk from the parking spot and is a wonderful little place, we were happy to stop.