2023-03-17 Dog Mountain - St. Pattrick's Day Snow Adventure

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JustinFromVancouver
Posts: 4
Joined: February 15th, 2023, 4:33 pm

2023-03-17 Dog Mountain - St. Pattrick's Day Snow Adventure

Post by JustinFromVancouver » March 18th, 2023, 7:40 pm

Dog Mountain seemed like the perfect hike for this warm, sunny Saint Pattrick's Day. The views were clear and the hiking was great despite the struggles. I’m super glad I brought hiking poles and microspikes, I WISH I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT MY GAITERS to keep the snow out of my shoes. I get what I deserve for wearing trail runners in the snow.


At 1200 I arrived at the Dog Mountain trailhead, about 25 cars in the lot with plenty of empty spots. The trailhead information board had some spiders and "stink bugs" stuck under the plexiglass.
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 3 photo.jpg
Bugs on the info board
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 1 photo.jpg
Bugs on the info board
At 1210 I was on the trail and it was pleasantly warm.

At 1226, only a half mile into the climb up the so-called older, steeper, “more difficult” trail I had already stopped several times to remove a layer or two at a time and there were no more layers to shed. Bring on the good weather! I could see snow on the NE side of Wind Mountain so I knew I would be in for a lot of snow further up this trail.
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 7 photo.jpg
Snow on Wind Mountain

At 1251 and 1.75 miles, I crossed paths with the first hiker I had seen so far at a sizable blowdown. The blowdown was easy to over or under.
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 5 photo.jpg
Nice clear trail before the snow
At 1308 the trail is now solid snow. Equipped microspikes here (2.5 miles).
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 6 photo.jpg
Snow on the trail
At 1325 I arrived at the junction for Dog Mountain and Augspurger trails (2.95 miles, 0.9 miles to dog according to signage)
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 9 photo.jpg
Augspurger trail jungction
It must have been around this time that I went off trail by accident. I was following boot tracks at first but lost them at some point. Ended up bushwhacking up the ridge until finding the trail again. Was in knee-to-waist-high snow a lot of the way but no real fall risk, and I could see the Dog Mountain summit so I wasn't worried about getting lost.

At 1400 (mile 3.75 according to Strava) after bushwhacking up the ridge for a while, I emerged in a clear spot with a nice grassy mossy rocky spot with no snow where I sat down for a break and to consider my options. I could see the familiar switchbacks that go to the Dog Mountain summit across the way so I was pretty confident I could get to the trail with a bit more bushwhacking.

After reviewing my GPS track, I see that when I sat down for that break, I was still on the trail. The snow really obscured the trail at this point so I resorted to what felt safer to me, which was sticking to the ridge top, rather than the steep hill side where the trail resides.
FATMAP bushwhack segment.JPG
Section I accidentally went off trail
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 20 photo.jpg
Familiar summit switchbacks viewed from my ridiculous off trail adventure
1430 at the summit and I see only one hiker (only the second hiker I had seen all day). Where is everyone from the 20 or so cars in the lot?!

1435 chilled at the top, had a snack, and started heading down.

Took the wrong turn 0.1 miles from the summit and hiked for like a half mile before losing all boot prints and realizing I needed to backtrack to that junction. Once I was on the trail down from the junction again it was super easy to follow with all the boot tracks. The visible trail was a huge relief after bushwhacking and post holing for those previous miles.
Took the newer “difficult” (rather than “more difficult”) trail down. I was happy to get on some dirt trail and take off the microspikes.

1555 at the trail head (7.73 miles, 2976 feet of elevation gain according to Strava).

1600 on the road headed to Walking Man Brewing for an after-trail St. Patty’s Day beer. Here are a few more photos.
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 26 photo.jpg
Summit photo (sorry for my water bottle in the shot)
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 29 photo.jpg
Snow/ice in the trail runners.
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 30 photo.jpg
Snow-buried sign at the junction 0.1 miles from summit
FATMAP full track.JPG
FATMAP full track of the route
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 16 photo.jpg
Mt. Defiance with Mt. Hood peaking over the ridge
2023 03 17 Dog Mountain 25 photo.jpg
Mt. St. Helens from the summit of Dog Mt.

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retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: 2023-03-17 Dog Mountain - St. Pattrick's Day Snow Adventure

Post by retired jerry » March 19th, 2023, 5:39 am

"sorry for my water bottle in the shot"

that's all right, you're forgiven, it's supposed to be a beer bottle I believe

I've seen zillions of those stink bugs recently in the city, and in Seattle

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Charley
Posts: 1834
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Milwaukie

Re: 2023-03-17 Dog Mountain - St. Pattrick's Day Snow Adventure

Post by Charley » March 19th, 2023, 7:46 pm

Goodonya! I think Dog Mountain is more fun when it feels like a real mountain climb.
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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sgyoung
Posts: 393
Joined: November 3rd, 2013, 7:30 pm
Location: Seattle

Re: 2023-03-17 Dog Mountain - St. Pattrick's Day Snow Adventure

Post by sgyoung » March 21st, 2023, 8:39 pm

retired jerry wrote:
March 19th, 2023, 5:39 am
"sorry for my water bottle in the shot"

that's all right, you're forgiven, it's supposed to be a beer bottle I believe
Yeah, I thought chip was a reformed man for a second.

Very fun report though! It looks like a lot of fun to do Dog in the snow. I really need to get down to the gorge again soon. As spring hits and the trip reports become more frequent I find myself missing some of the classic gorge hikes

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