Dog Mountain – Augspurger loop, Apr 28th

Val and I had been talking about backpacking for a while and placing potential trips on the calendar. While doing so, we thought that it would be a good idea to do some training hikes with some extra weight to get our backs and legs ready. So we pulled our bigger packs, filled them with a sand bag and some pillows to maintain shape, added water and our gear. By the end, our packs were about 35Lbs each. With packs ready, we decided to try them out doing Dog Mountain which would offer plenty of elevation gain on a very good trail plus the possibility of a nice wildflower display. Unfortunately the weather gods played against us that day so we got an overcast day with some very consistent wind. We were still hopping for the flowers thought. At first Val was not very optimistic about her ability to do the hike with the extra weight. I was very confident she would be able to do it without a sweat. So we started climbing up and, as I expected it, she was flying up at her normal hiking pace which is a bit faster than mine. As we gained elevation we got some pretty good view of the Columbia Gorge and increasing winds, no flowers though. We were too early for those. Without a lot of work and in a very normal time, we got to a very windy summit. Trying to find a place to take a break, we walked around but then decided to get under a big tree and cover ourselves with an emergency blanket so at least we could have some lunch while enjoying the views. After that, since we were feeling good and the rest of the hike was downhill, instead of going down the way we went up, we opted for the longer Augspurger trail that would be softer on the knees. This trail is interesting as it traverses in and out of the forest keeping you all the time in line with nice views. We got to see some wildflowers but not too many but the best part of the hike was getting back down to the car with a broad smile and the sense that we were in better shape that we thought we were.



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