Dog Mountain Round 3

3 years ago, after a memorial day hike of Dog Mountain, I decided to start this little blog. It's seen some action since, including one more visit to the mighty pooch. I've mentioned the hike a lot in these blogs as a standard of difficulty. Dog isn't the hardest hike, but it's tough enough to warrant comparison to everything else. If something is worse than Dog, you can be assured it's hard and you have to really be ready and in shape. If it's easier than Dog, anyone can do it. It's a great cutoff point because it's probably the absolute limit of hike for anyone out of shape and not used to this sort of thing.

This year, with a couple of friends in tow, we summited the beast again. Luckily, they were very in shape and had no problems getting to the top.

We sadly missed the peak flower bloom (warm weather all May really screwed us over) but the views are still stupendous and despite what anyone says, that final half mile climb through the summit meadows might be the prettiest half mile in the entire gorge. Unless you count Silver Star Mountain as part of the gorge, which I don't. Too far north. There is something immensely satisfying about climbing so much and suddenly having the trail open up into a wonderland of views and flowers to reward you for your efforts.

This was probably my easiest time going up. It was still tough, but I never felt like I required a brief break and our breaks on the way up never lasted long. Of course, compared to that 12 mile stupid fest that was Franklin Ridge a 7 mile 2800 foot climb isn't so bad. The first mile or so to the first junction is still brutal. The middle section is still okay, and the final ascent before the meadows is still stupid steep. The Augspurger Trail is still long and kind of boring (Coming back this way is easier on the knees but man it drags on towards the end). There is more poison oak than ever. The lower reaches are littered with the stuff.

They also consolidated the parking lot to accommodate fewer cars, which meant we got out there at 8:30 for safety, which proved to be smart since it was 80 degrees by 1pm, a half hour after we finished. Also an oil train exploded near Hood River, so that was a thing that happened.

Enough talk PICTURES TIME

The woods in Mile 2

Puppy Dog Viewpoint

The crew in tow and Mt. Defiance

"Soon Simba, all of this shall be your kingdom"
"What's that shadowy area?"
"That's the Dalles, you must never go there"

Shannon checks out the views

Puppy Dog group photo

Shitty view

Climbing the summit meadow

Cathryn stumbles from the beauty

Just a tiny pinch of Mt. Hood over Mt. Defiance

Waiting for me to hurry up

That final climb, so good

The top

I left my brain on Franklin Ridge

Council Crest Sunset on Thursday

The day is Friday, May 13th. I've been walking 5 miles per day for the last two weeks. I've just finished my now daily walk up to Pittock Mansion. I wanted to go for a real hike today, but I was busy and lazy. I figure I can go tomorrow. I'll just get my pack ready, wake up early, and try to catch Angels Rest in the morning light. Keeley comes back from Iowa later tomorrow night, I can do a Dave hike.

The day is Saturday, May 14th, at 6:30am. Haha fuck this early morning shit I'm going back to sleep.

The day is Saturday, May 14th, at 9:30am. Okay fine, I feel great now, lets get cracking!

The day is Saturday, May 14th, at 11am. Man the internet is fun to look at, but I should probably go hiking. But today is so ugly! It was 90 degrees and sunny yesterday, and now it's 50 and rainy? Screw you Portland, although rain is needed so whatever you do you.

12:02pm Okay fine, I'll go. It's nice and cool, rainy hikes are refreshing, I'll wear my rain slicker and pants and I'll be fine. Where should I go? There is no point to Angels Rest on a day like this, I won't see anything. Maybe I could do Wauna Point direct, take that alternate steep route to the top, Keeley would hate that, so it would be better to go solo.

12:25pm, nearing the exit. Huh...if it's wet taking the steep route to Wauna Point might be a little too risky. Plus I still won't get a view up there anyway. Maybe I should do a forested hike with no viewpoints since I won't get a view regardless. What's a good pick...Oh! Franklin Ridge! It's a long loop (Like 10 miles I think) but it's entirely forested and I haven't done it before, I'll get some nice solitude.

12:40pm. Parked. Got a great spot right at the Oneonta trailhead. Wait are those people really walking into Oneonta gorge? In spring? On a cold day? Idiots, I'm much cooler than them, and better looking! (Flexes to no one)

Mile 1: LETS DO THIS SHIT. I should come up on the Gorge 400 junction real soon. Yup! there it is. Damn, that sign says 2 miles to Multnomah? That's my way back, seems longer than I expected. I'll be fine. TO TRIPLE FALLS! Now there should be a spur trail with a viewpoint near here but I ain't gonna take that trail, I got places to be! Late start, if I gotta do ten miles here I need to do at least a 2 mph pace to get back during a reasonable hour. LETS PUMP IT

Mile 2: I FEEL SO GOOD ALL THESE PEOPLE I'M RAGING PAST ARE SO WEAK AND FEEBLE HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE SO LAME, LOSERS? HELL YEAH I'M AT TRIPLE FALLS ALREADY. SEE YA LATER, TOURISTS! NONE OF YOU BUMS EVER HIKE PAST HERE! I HOPE YOUR CHUCK TAYLORS FALL APART. NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUSE ME I GOT BIG BOY HIKING TO DO.

Mile 3: Shit, I knew the trail past Triple falls would be a slog but this is bad. At least I'm making good time here. This is just a hot uphill trudge through rocks and whatever. Oh hey, that couple has a St. Bernard, that dog must be roasting. Jeez I am roasting, I better take this rain slicker off so everyone can see my haines white t-shirt. Doesn't matter, still badass. Oh hey, the log bridge, I should be at the Horsetail Creek/Oneonta Trail junction soon!

Mile 4: I MADE 3 MILES IN AN HOUR UP THIS MO-FUCKA! I am so great and awesome, that's killer time, I could get this done in under 4 hours at this pace. I probably won't, BUT MAYBE I WILL. So here is the junction, sign says 1.7 miles to Franklin ridge? Damn, maybe this is longer than I thought, I'm going up the short way too. Whatever, let's do it. This trail is pretty nice, actually. I don't hear people at all anymore. It's not even that steep, really. I didn't expect it to be heading north, though. Isn't the junction further south? Am I even climbing this ridge? I should have brought my map, damn. Didn't even think I'd need it since this wasn't the plan.

Mile 5: THIS TRAIL IS TAKING IT'S SWEET ASS TIME TO CLIMB THIS DAMN HILL COME ON. WHY AM I MAKING HALF MILE LONG SWITCHBACKS? Stupid Franklin Ridge. I can barely see the top all the way up there, ugh. Maybe I'll turn around when I hit the ridge junction, I'll get 10 miles that way and I'm beginning to think this isn't a 10 mile loop.

Looking up towards the ridge

Not scary at all

Mile 6: FINALLY MADE THE TOP. ugh. Man what's with the trees up here? There is no undergrowth at all. Maybe I've climbed high enough to hit the snow-line during winter. Or maybe there was a fire. I should look it up when I get back. The trail is kind of hard to see up here without any undergrowth to cover the unused ground. Hey, someone put up pink flags. That's nice. Oh sweet! I made the junction! Should I go back? Hahaha nah I'm a badass and besides, It's all downhill from here.

The flat top of Franklin, note the lack of undergrowth

Mile 7: Man once you stop climbing you go from hot to freezing really damn fast, better put my slicker back on. This trail is nice. Easy downhill, some overgrown sections with pretty wildflowers. No views though, that website wasn't kidding. There is nothing to see, just a walk through the woods. It's nice at least. Lots of atmosphere. I'm really far from civilization, I wonder if a bear is going to eat me. I'd taste like burgers. Man those burgers I ate yesterday were great. I hope bears don't like burgers.

Mile 8: WHAT, WHY IS THIS A SIGN, WHY IS THERE A 3 WAY JUNCTION AND THE SIGN COULD POINT TO EITHER OF THEM OH GOD WHAT IF I GO THE WRONG WAY oh wait I have cell reception here...take the left path. THANKS GOOGLE! I'm in the Multnomah basin now, should be long till I hit Larch Mountain Trail and follow the creek all the way back to Multnomah falls. Oh yay! I did it! The creek is beautiful this time of year. Wait, have I taken a break yet? I don't think I have, maybe that's why my knees feel like jelly. Maybe I should sit down....there is no place to sit down. (Keeps walking). Wait is this a road crossing? Multnomah Basin road? HOW DID THEY GET A ROAD UP HERE, THERE IS NO ROAD ACCESS FROM MULTNOMAH IT'S A SHEER CLIFF IS THIS A GHOST ROAD?

At the Larch Mountain Trail junction with FR

Mile 9: My feet hurt. My arms hurt. My butt hurts. Why is this trail so rocky. This is stupid. hiking is dumb. I should stay home and play video games next weekend. Maybe I could roll the rest of the way home. Wait, what's that trail? High water trail? huh? I've never seen that on a map, or mentioned in a guide. WHAT IF I AM THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN SEE IT? What if I am part of a special chosen race of people who can see this trail, and if I go up it I'll find an ancient temple and a creepy old monk will bestow me with special powers and I can shoot lightning and fly. Then I try to bring Keeley here and she's like "Dave what trail there is no trail" and I'll be like "You are not chosen" then I have to break up with her because I'm a superhero now and she would be in danger for knowing me. How should I fake my death? Car crash? Nah, too much collateral. maybe I can "fall" off a cliff and they never find the body. Or I go for a hike and don't come back. You know what, lightning powers are dumb, I want to be able to stop time. Then I can go into stores and take stuff I want while time is stopped. I'll be the world's best petty criminal.

Big John Creek

Mile 10: HOLY SHIT YOU FAT COW MOVE OVER CAN'T YOU SEE I'M FASTER THAN YOU I DO NOT WANT TO WALK ANOTHER MILE BEHIND YOUR SLOW FAT ASS BECAUSE YOU DONT HAVE THE DAMN COURTESY TO STEP OFF THE TRAIL TO LET FASTER PEOPLE PAST YOU IT'S COMMON TRAIL COURTESY GOD I HATE YOU SO MUCH  oh good she moved. Thank you! Good for her, she hikes.

Man I'm getting into the touristy areas of Multnomah again. I probably look terrible by now, I know I sure feel terrible. Wait, why is my hat on backwards? When did I do that?

Mile 11: Where is the junction with the 400? Why am I not on it yet? I wish I could teleport. Then I could just go BOOP and be at the top of a mountain without any of this stupid hiking bullshit why do I like this I feel bad. What if I could teleport to anywhere I have a photo of? Wait isn't that the plot to a movie? Why do I remember that? Oh shit I said that out loud and that family is looking at me. Oh good, the junction. now just roughly 2 miles to go. Hooray! Hey isn't the entrance to the Elevator Shaft around here? Why haven't I seen it yet? Is it a fake trail? Did the landslide do a landslide again? Oh wait here it is. Man this looks weaksauce, I could take it. Not right now though, as my feet have literally turned to bricks. Wait. Oh no, I can feel a blister on my toe. THATS JUST DAMN GREAT (Kicks stone, stone does not move, now I have a blistered and stubbed toe)

The bottom third of the Elevator Shaft. I'll climb you soon

Mile 12: (All of this was said out loud to myself)
Woah, a fresh landslide here...why is the rock red? Is it lava? No it's not lava it hasn't been lava for MILLIONS OF YEARS but if you ask a christian the earth isn't that old BUT CHRISTIANS ARE STUPID THERE IS NO BEARDED SKY MAN MAKING LANDSLIDES WHY WOULD HE EVEN DO THAT? I can't wait till I see that junction from the first mile, then I'll know I'm home.

I'll be like "wassup sign?"

and he'll be all "yo dude what's up, haven't seen you in a while, man you look like shit"

and I'll be like "I feel like shit too but that's what happens when you hike eleven billion miles give or take my fitbit takes bad measurements HOW YOU DOIN, SIGN?" and he'd be like "you asked me that already bro but I'm cool, still standing haha you get it?"

And I'd high five the sign but it doesn't work out well because the sign is old and rotted and such and I just broke a piece off and OH BEARDED SKY MAN WHERE IS THE JUNCTION I WANT TO BE HOME and hey, is this trail going down to meet the highway? Really? Why? oh it's gotta go around that big rock and OH NO I HAVE TO CLIMB AGAIN THIS IS NOT THE PRINCE THAT WAS PROMISED I WISH NOTHING BUT DEATH UPON THIS WORLD FUCK ME THERE IS EVEN POISON OAK OVER HERE POISON OAK IS DUMB wait I know poison oak is poison to us but is it poisonous to everything? Like what if I rubbed a cat on that bush, would it get itchy? Are there plants that give animals rashes but not humans? Probably. I wonder what gives cats rashes. Cats are dumb. I want a dog. A big one, one that could carry me home. Home. I'll never see mine again. I'm going to die out here. I'm going to lay down in that bush and go to sleep. Why do I keep smelling a fire? Am I having a stroke? What if my car is on fire? What if I left the car running and didn't notice and then it exploded and I have to take a lyft home do lyfts even come out here maybe I can hitch on the next train like a hobo and HOLY SHIT THAT'S THE JUNCTION I MADE IT I CAN SEE THE CAR IT DIDN'T EXPLODE I DID IT I AM SUCH A BADASS HOORAY ME

Franklin Ridge loop:

12 miles
2800ish feet elevation gain
completed in 4 hours 20 minutes

I made pretty good time.

Also the High Water Trail is apparently a bypass for a part of the trail that floods, not a ghost phantom trail only I can see

Rowena Plateau and McCall Point

Mt. Hood on the wildflower slopes of McCall Point

Rowena Crest is a plateau sticking out over the Columbia River on the Oregon side, about halfway between Hood River and The Dalles, just past Mosier. It's a lot like a eastern gorge version of Crown Point, in that it's a nice, wide view plateau resting on some old volcanic flows right along the path of the old historic highway. Today, the historic highway winds up the hills to this overlook, which offers a great view both east and west. From Rowena you can walk down the plateau to the areas overlooking the river (an easy gentle mile), or you can go uphill south to a mountain called McCall Point. It's a popular destination, especially in spring, which is when the wildflowers come out.

I've had Rowena and McCall point on my radar for some time. Two things kept me away from it until this past weekend:

1. It's a long drive, over an hour. For a short hike, that's tough to justify, especially when the hike only looks to be worth doing during the flower bloom, so you have a month window.
2. The hike has a reputation for lots of poison oak and ticks (This is a frequent problem in most eastern gorge hikes). I've more or less managed to come to terms with Poison Oak, but ticks make me nervous thanks to a bout of Lyme Disease in 2010 (Spoiler alert, I lived).

We're both still working our way back into good hiker shape and we wanted something new, so we decided to commit. We went to bed early, got up at 7:30, and reached the trailhead by 9:30, ready to rock n roll on the most eastern day hike we've ever done. It proved to be completely worth it. The gorge never disappoints.

The view east from Rowena

The river beyond the Plateau

East from a little ways up the McCall Point trail

The trail to McCall point is pretty manageable. It's only about a mile and a half to the top, though it does get harder as you climb. You'll get about 1,000 feet of elevation as you go. The trail starts by traversing a nice big flat-ish meadow covered in wildflowers. After the meadow ends and the hill starts, the trail just keeps switch-backing up the hill till you reach the top. However the area is mostly open air, and you have constant views. The trail always switches back at a cliff edge looking east, and when it departs the cliff you stroll through wildflowers with great views west and south. Your constant companion is Mt. Adams, which starts off from the parking lot as a tiny white speck just over the north mountain wall and grows bigger with each step, like it's slowly gathering the courage to ask you out.

A perfect bush of Lupine

The trail on the way up

Purple = Lupine. Yellow = Balsamroot. Red = Indian paintbrush

The lower meadows and the Rowena plateau to the north

Shady section

The trail follows an old wagon road, but it's really only noticeable near the bottom

Rowena Plateau, the River, and Mt. Adams saying hello

A different yellow flower

There is indeed a plethora of Poison Oak. The trail is wide enough to avoid it, but when passing people I had to take care not to step in the stuff while letting people by. I saw a lot of ignorant hikers do exactly that as they let us pass. People gonna be itchy in three days. Sucks for them, learn your plants! *Gives self a high five for being a cool sexy outdoor man*

I didn't find any ticks, but I took special care to avoid tall grass of any sort and spent half the hike looking at my legs every time I touched a plant. Ticks are dumb. Why do they exist. If god is real I'm going to ask him why he made ticks because he really blew that one.

You'll know you've almost hit the top when all of a sudden you reach another meadow viewpoint through a forested section and BOOM, Mt. Hood is just sitting there peacocking at you.

SUP HIKERS, LOOK HOW SEXY I AM, LOOK AT MY AMAZING GLACIERS AND RIDGES, it seems to say, playing coy with a cloud around the peak. Meanwhile Mt. Adams gets jelly across the river.

"I SAW THEM FIRST, BACK OFF, HOOD!"

Hood responds with "THEY ARE ON MY SIDE OF THE RIVER, YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE, ADAMS YOU ROUNDED TOP LOSER MOUNTAIN. AT LEAST YOUR SISTER HELENS DID SOMETHING COOL ONCE" Then Mt. Adams gets sad and pouts and my mountain fanfiction ends.

The flowers in bloom aren't Dog Mountain levels of saturation, but it's close. Balsamroot and Lupine litter the hills, with scatterings of other flowers. I think we were a couple weeks late from peak bloom too, so it probably looks even better sometimes. Still, am incredible display.

The top of McCall Point is a little loop with some sitting picnic spots to linger and admire the view. You can see Hood, looming closely to the southwest over the flowers. Adams lingers north over the plateau and the river. You can see up the Columbia for a short way to the bend, and westerly to Dog Mountain over the Mosier township. The town of Lyle sits on a cliff at the mouth of the Klickat River valley to the northeast.

Mt. Hood from the summit of McCall

Mt. Adams and some Balsamroot

Looking sexy, Mt. hood

Cool sexy hiker man

FLOWERS!

Mt. Adams

The river and Mt. Adams

Hood

Girls love flowers

Hood and out of focus balsamroot

What a single isolated plant of Balsamroot looks like

The town of Lyle and the Klickitat river valley behind it

A small trail continues from the summit down a saddle then farther up a bigger hill, but both me and Keeley decided it wasn't worth the climb. We putzed around the amazing summit for a while then headed back. The amount of people who decided to show up between 9:30 and 11 was astounding, and we gave ourselves a high five for getting there early. On the way back we never got a tenth of a mile without having to pass people heading up.

At the bottom we decided to head down the plateau trail, past a couple of ponds that felt like the New York City of poison oak. We over looked the river and headed back up to the car. All in all, less than 6 miles, 1,300 feet of climbing, and some mild sunburn. We were done by 1. We celebrated with pizza, beer and ice cream, carefully undoing all our fitness.

The Two Lost Firelanes of Forest Park

So last post I went into massive detail about Forest Park, and I ended it with "Now to finally hike somewhere else."Yeah, so, about that. Either Forest Park has simply ENCHANTED ME, or I'm an OCD nutjob who needs to explore every possible nook and cranny. (Hint: it's the latter)

In my research for Forest Park in the past few months, I tried to find out some history. Basic history was easy. Used to be a planned development, plans fell through, the park was bought by the city piece by piece thanks to the efforts of certain conservationists. That wasn't the history that interested me. I wanted the trail history. It was tough to find a definite reason for the existence of the Firelanes outside a vague mention of a large fire in 1951. On top of that, why do some not exist? (Namely 6,11,& 14, and what the hell is up with 8). One book kept getting mentioned from the small snippets I could gather. One City's Wilderness, Portland's Forest Park, by Marcy Cottrell Houle.

I went to Powells and managed to find it, even though it's out of print (it was published in the late 80's). I found a single copy tucked away on a bottom shelf for 6 bucks. On top of that, it was Autographed!

The Autograph reads:
Dec 1991:
To Fran,
Happy Hiking!
Marcy Cottrell Houle.

So either Fran is dead or shamelessly gives away books even when the author signs it for you.

The book brought me lots of interesting facts about the park, and the trees and animals who live there. It's an interesting snapshot of a park from 20 years ago. For one thing, the Wildwood trail only existed to Germantown road. the upper reaches were untouched outside the firelanes and BPA road. So between '87 and now, the Wildwood from Newberry rd to Germantown road was built. The book even came with a map in the back! And that was when I saw it.

FIRELANE 14?!?! WHAT? WHAT? WHAT

If you recall in my last post, this is all I had to say about Firelane 14:
"Firelane 14 does not exist, and literally has no place it could have ever existed."Screw you, book. Proving me wrong. But this actually answered three big questions I had.
1. Did these 3 firelanes exist, or did they not get past the planning phase?
2. Did Firelane 14 exist specifically, and where?
3. What the hell was that side path I noticed last time?

I actually already explored F14. It was the side path I noticed at the bottom of Firelane 15 and 12 with the survey marker. The trail that "turns a corner and hops a creek", then basically vanishes. Well, now I know why. It was Firelane 14, and F14 basically just terminates on a small plateau. Not enough reason to go back out and see for myself, but now I have an answer.

The "entrance" to F14. It's the faint path on the left, over the creek. 

On F14

F14 in April. Already basically vanished undergrowth

Something else got me out there again. And this was far more interesting. I was studying my google map with "Terrain" view turned on, and I noticed a thing.

This is just a hair north of the F12 junction on the BPA road. Could this be the elusive Firelane 11?

So I was on my way. It's amazing how different FP is in spring compared to winter. A month and a half ago, this area was a pristine eerie mystical place. Now it's a buggy, humid mess. Fall/Winter is definitely when to hike FP. It didn't help I had long pants on because I knew I'd be offroading. I re-explored F14 (It's pretty lame, to be honest. It was abandoned long ago and it's impossible to tell where it ended). I can see why F14 was abandoned. It doesn't go anywhere, and it's really short. There wouldn't be much reason to keep it maintained when it has nothing to offer.

I got up to the BPA road and began my search. Then I saw the faintest hint of a hole in the brush, and I could see a flat-grade path through the trees. If you have no idea this exists, you'd never find it. I was lucky I did find it. But find it I did. And it was glorious.

The "Entrance" to F11. It's that shadowy hole on the right side. Yeah. 

Once I got past the brushy entrance, it was clear I'd found something. The old road-grade is plainly obvious, even without a hint of a boot trail. I can't say for sure if it is indeed the lost Firelane 11, but judging from the location on the map (Between 10 & 12) and the general feel of the road, I'm going to say with 99% certainly it is F11. It has the unmistakable air of a classic firelane. The road travels gently down a ridgeline, and you can see old mounds of dirt that where obviously shoveled away to make a path. The ridge goes into a fairly open area of Forest park that offers no other types of foot traffic, between the BPA and Newton road ridges. I have no idea how long this road has been abandoned (if it wasn't on a map from 1987 then likely well before then), but exploring it felt magical, like I'd stumbled on an old secret mayan temple road. It was at least neat to consider the mild history.

At some point someone decided this Firelane wasn't worth the upkeep. It's strange, because it's significantly longer than F14 and really nice. It doesn't offer a view, or a connection to anything, but it is still worth a hike. The lane becomes less and less visible the further to go. For about a half mile, it's pretty obvious where the old lane was and following it is easy. Then the lane sort of dissipates, its fate long forgotten, but an obvious game trail continues down the ridge. Eventually, near the bottom, it vanishes entirely. I only pushed on because I knew I'd hit the Newton Road at the bottom. The final 10th of a mile was a complete no-trail at all bushwhack. If I go back, I'd turn around well before I got to this point. So that was it. I discovered an explored a lost secret of Forest Park. I don't even think it's outrageous for me to assume I have been the only person on that trail for quite some time.

I didn't take any pictures of F11 because I was 1. Too enthralled with my discovery and 2. Dumb. I kept expecting to come back up and do it then until I ended up at the bottom.

I had to climb up the BPA road to get back home, which really ruined everything. But at least I found some answers.