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Dog Mountain, Columbia River Gorge |
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Finally free from the honey do list and work's never ending wrath over my weekends, I thought of celebrating this Father's Day weekend with a jaunt around Mt. St. Helen's Loowit Trail. Due to the fickle weather reports and simply wanting to be lazy on my first weekend "off" in a while, I chose a simpler hike involving Dog Mountain and it's northern companion, Augspurger Mountain. Arriving at the trailhead at 7:00 a.m. with only two cars in the parking lot, gave me a hint of the freedom and solitude I most desperately needed.
I was on the trail in under five minutes, looking at everything I could while trying to evade Mr. poison oak's outreaching leaves. Because there was no one to be seen, I had the whole trail to myself and could think out loud while walking in it's center. The miles cruised by as I missed the woods and the peace it provided me.
I took the hardest route on this trip for some badly needed exercise and flowed through the forest section with little effort. Upon reaching the open fields of Dog Mountain's southwestern flanks, the contrast to a few months ago struck me as amazing. The trail was beginning to become overgrown by it's neighboring vegetation as this meant Augspurger's trail would be even worse.
Now out of the tree line, the wind picked up in velocity, topping out at ferocious levels. As cold as it was, the sustained 20 mile per hour winds chilled me as I picked up my pace. At times, the winds would gust to 40 as it nearly knocked me over. Even in the mist, cold, I was all smiles as I had made it in time before the last of the balsam root was gone.
I reached the summit and put on all my layers while having a sit. I downed a couple of breakfast bars and called it quits. It was simply too cold as I could not feel my hands anymore. I stuffed my gear back in my pack and thumped my way back to the junction with the Augspurger Mountain Trail.
As I had thought, the trail was horribly overgrown. This did not bother me, but the mud did. The ground was so saturated and slick that with the combined grade proved not worth the risk as I turned around and headed back up to the junction.
The wind was quite calm as I came out of the clouds, around 2000 feet. I took my time descending as I did not want my day to end so soon. I planned to hit up Augspurger after Dog, an additional 9 miles, and did not know what to do with all the extra time. I looked at plants and trees while cursing the never ending poison oak.
Just before the trailhead, I stopped to look out at the gorge as my hiking this year has not been what it was last year. I have a lot planned, I just hope the weather cooperates with me. I glanced down to continue back to the truck when I spotted a large bumble bee sleeping on a flower and had to take the opportunity for a shot without the risk of being stung. I could learn a lot of this little guy. Happy that I walked the Dog while the flowers were still in bloom, I thought it a grand time to head home for a nap.
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