10th Training Hike - Dog Mountain May 8th, 2010

The location for this lung and quad burning session was changed to Dog Mountain due to the winter like condition in the Mt. Hood area.

Under the crystal clear sky that would warm us up in its 70 degrees air today, we sucked it up and started pounding the trail that launched steeply via a series of switch backs until we reached a split in the trail where, once again, it offered us a choice between "More Difficult" and "Less Difficult." At glance, it would be somewhat deceiving to first-timers as the "More Difficult" trail continued from that point with a short flat section while the other one climbed on. I'm sure you can guess by now which way we went.

Jason led my group, the intermediate group, with good spirit. From the beginning, he did a great job of reminding us about the abundance of poison oak on both sides of the trail whenever we made brief stops to adjust our gear, etc. We were also very wary of any dog dragging a hiker as it most likely had been going in and out of the poison oak bushes and looking for some victims to brush up against.

Since we had been on this trail before on one of our training hikes, we were more zoned into the task of climbing than the last time and not getting distracted by the gorgeous scenery, I think. Not that that was much possible at the pace we were going. I was actually hoping to see a knoll covered by spring flowers as we broke out of the wooded section but it was obviously premature despite the warm weather today. There were some flowers blooming but not to the extent Dog Mountain was known for.

But we thoroughly enjoyed the panoramic view of the Columbia River Gorge while we devoured our feed at the summit. Especially after beating the time from our last hike here by 15 minutes, at 1:45 to slither up from the trail head to the top, gaining 2850' in elevation. That's 1,629'/hour!

Now the only carrots hanging in front of our noses were the nice tall cold ones down at Edgefield which had become our regular hang-out in this area. We were thankful that we started our hike early enough in the morning before the temperature shot up to bake anyone going up that south facing trail. It also helped that we descended via the "Less Difficult" trail flanked on the shadier side of Dog Mountain. About a half way down the mountain, we found Jennifer, Abby and Hilary sitting at a nice little trail side bench enjoying their lunches.

Edgefield was packed with weekend warriors and alike outside. Every single table was taken so we planted ourselves on the lawn just behind a huge water tower. The cool grass felt great after the rigorous exercises. Our waitress was nice enough to accommodate us there for much needed beverages and even some real food. Couldn't get much better than that!

Now that our climb dates are getting closer, we will be going back to Mt. Hood next weekend to get some night hike time under our belts. We will start climbing around midnight from Timberline Lodge to Silcox Hut where the Mt. Hood climbers will be spending a night just before their summit. Stay tuned!!