Catchup: Hiking Dog Mountain
Last month, I had met up with axe murderers whom I met via DamnHikers and gone for a stroll in the woods - my apologies to just getting the photos up now. I met solteronita and jonboi_net at the trailhead of Dog Mountain, having driven over from sunny HR into a weather system that was heavily overcast and threatening rain. The sunny weather had been crushed only two turns of Hwy 14 back, but it was thick, and as I entered the misty woods with these strangers, it felt dark and gothic.
It was 8am when we started - we figured we'd beat the crowds for this popular trail. The others were fast hikers, but not without pity. The trail switchbacks steeply, and we took a break at a trailside bench.
We continued climbing after our rest, and commented on how spooky the forest was. Eventually, we broke through the cloud layer, and could see it from above. It was a thick, fluffy layer, completely filling the gorge. At least, as we looked towards Portland.
When we looked towards The Dalles, however, sunlight reflected off the water. The edge of the cloudbank was right here.
The trail however, continued up.
And so we climbed and gawked and heard an engine. A flying craft was diving in and out of the clouds below us, rolling on her belly, doing acrobatics. It seemed tiny. And, eventually, it buzzed overhead. My guess is it was a test flight for Insitu, a relatively local aeronautics company. That makes drones. This thing was unmanned.
As we neared the summit, I looked back across the cloud-strewn river, and could see the summit of Mt Hood peeking over the ridgeline. St Helens became visible later, but I didn't get photos of it.
When we reached the top, we sat and dug out our fruit and granola bars and watched that cloud layer retreat like a glacier, calving off wisp and revealing a river.
And then other hikers began to appear, settling in to the clearing at the summit and having their snacks. It was time to head down.
Our route down was on the Augspurger trail, which lacked the big views but was easier on the knees.
For everyone else's photos, please go here or here.