The Doggiest Mountain in all the world - Dog Mountain Trailhead
Dog Mountain Trailhead, Washington State, USA
Hello! Welcome to my next article in the series of 'Mountains we didn't get to the top of'.
You can see Part 1 - Table Mountain & Part 2 - Kings Mountain if you click on the links.
The day started as no Sunday has in the history of the universe... with my partner waking up and getting up ages before me. I was dog tired from a Ninja Comp the day before, but she was super pumped for our last chance training before our Grand Canyon trip this coming weekend.
I managed to awake in a state I can only describe as half-panicked, half-groggy, not in a mountainy mood. Dog mountain, however, waits for no man, and even Super Bowl Sunday wasn't going to hold back the crowds, so off we went.
We've been fine-tuning our kit the last two hikes and I was feeling pretty confident despite my legs feeling like 2 metric tonne inflamed sausages. We packed heavy to smash ourselves but both felt like our backpacks were pretty doable. Especially with my camera out my bag wasn't heavy at all, even with all the required stuff recommended by the GC tour guides.
It rained the entire drive... like hardcore torrential rain. The kind of rain that would make you turn back if it was any other weekend but last chance training weekend, so we arrived, got organized in the pouring rain and set off... and the rain immediately stopped. Great job Washington!
I've made the above image clickable so you can see that sign on tree has two options:
- Difficult
- More Difficult
Oh yeah, we're not just going to take a difficult hike like noobs. We're More Difficult and proud!
Like the other hikes we've been on in the Pacific Northwest, everything is so green... I'm not sure if the moss is trying to hug those trees or smother them, but either way.... so green.
By about this point we were an hour and a half in... it was really tough going and we had to stop and catch our breath a few times... okay, a lot of times. It just felt straight up for an hour. This is exactly what we were looking for though... everyone has told us the Grand Canyon is hard... that it's 3-4 hours of just straight down... and then later 3-4 hours of just straight up.
They also say there will be plenty of rest stops, but it's the conditioning I was worried about... if our legs aren't strong enough no amount of rest will fix that, it just extends the pain-time.
Anyway... the higher up we got, it suddenly turned ominously foggy. The green photo above was all sunny and nice, and then it just wasn't.
As we got closer to the top, it got real rocky and really bleak. The trees fall away completely and it's just a rocky trail and crazy hardcore winds. Everyone was turning back, but I was confident we could smash through, we went up a bit further and randomly bumped into some friends, but the rain was back, the wind was hardcore epic and we were getting pushed around.
We went probably a quarter mile further than I took this photo and it got bad. We were both wearing glasses and it was raining so hard were completely blinded, the wind was literally pushing us around on the craggy rocks, our hats gone blown off but I was determined to make it... we couldn't not get to the top of all 3 of our practice hikes!
Alas though, my wife was actually terrified... she couldn't see, couldn't find her footing and was getting pushed around... we had no idea how far the top was because of the fog... and even if we made it we wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.... Dog Mountain, you won this battle... but come summer/not-winter, we will hike you.
We came back down... it was still pretty scary until we got back amongst our friends, the trees, and we took the Difficult path down which was lovely. My other knee was super playing up in the last 10-20 minutes or so, not ideal, but again, was totally fine once we got to flat ground again.
We went across the Bridge of the Gods with is a famous stopping point for the Pacific Crest Trail. Found an awesome hipster brewery for lunch where they were telling us they're expecting all the little unknown Washington hiking trails to become waaaay popular in the summertime because all the Oregon trails are closed due to massive bushfires last summer. We saw the carnage on the way home but I didn't get a photo because responsible driving (not really, my camera was in the boot).
We know the Grand Canyon hike will be hard, but we feel as ready as we could get for a last minute-ish thing. Pretty excited though!
So... I didn't want to leave the story at an odd finishing point... so here is a photo I took while I was writing this post earlier... these gals say hi.
| Category | landscapephotography |
|---|---|
| Settings | ISO 320 24mm f/2.8 1/30 |
| Camera | Canon 6D |
| Lens | Sigma 24 mm 1.4 Art |
| Location | Dog Mountain, Washington, USA |
Thanks so much for reading!
All the photos in this post were taken by me with my new camera that I'm getting better at carrying and not tangling myself up in all the straps, jackets and bags.
| @steemitworldmap | Author Link | Post Link |
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nice trip. not an easy job to hike 4 hours elevation @aussieninja It reveals how strong and dedicated you are. excellent photography. keep sharing
Thank you so much kamchore. It was a really tough hike... but we're tackling the Grand Canyon this week so we need all the leg strength we can get!
haha damn dude. The PNW has been pretty weathery in general for the last couple weeks, and you seem to keep running into the thick of it. Better luck next time!
FYI -- super keen to see what this basic income business is all about. Thanks for the foot in the door! Paying it forward.
Hahaha, I mean what better training could there be for an arid desert hike than the PNW? It's good though, it's very much given us a massive respect for the force of nature, which I assume is an important lesson to learn before big hikes... and we're super enthusiastic about tackling these again when it's summer.
Did you like what you saw for the Basic Income? I was doubtful for a long time, but as far I can tell, it pretty much pays itself off in about 15 posts. I think I should be on about 7 or 8 shares by now... so hopefully that helps out a bit. Love the concept though... it's like insurance but helpful.
Yeah man I'm pretty interested in it. Still trying to wrap my head around it and navigate how it operates -- signed a couple people up, so I should be up around 4shares. See if it makes much of a difference and how quickly it updates.
I read in another post somewhere that they try to aim for a repayment period of "a little over 3 months" (for one share, assuming 1 post / week). I think they try to keep track of post frequency and do a little automagic to make it fly -- which is cool.
Amazing pictures I like the 7th one the most! Cute deer too haha! Nice to meet you
The mossy foggy one? That's my favourite too! It's also the one I didn't adjust at all in photoshop... so there might be a lesson in there for me.
@aussieninja WoW.. love your post :) pictures are great too. Thank you for sharing friend!
Thank you my friend... I've got a new post up which is pretty much the exact opposite of this one... it's all sunnnnnn!
Hope you're well, thanks so much for your comment! You're the best!
Oh deer... you are so active!!! It looks like you hike was definitely worth it!
It was an amazing hike! We certainly felt like we had worked out... and we still never made it to the top... next time for sure!
I feel like it should have said "Very Difficult" or "Extremely Difficult" ! Hope you make it next time, love the deer again!
Hahahaha, you are super correct!
I think at the signs at the bottom it said "Most Difficult" and "More Difficult" which doesn't make for good English, so I'm very much a fan of your idea.
We will make it next time! We will!
Hahaha first time I've had someone think my wording is "good English" but I will take it! Yeah I am sure you will, hope its worth it!!
Looks like a sweet hike! That mossy, foggy picture is niiiiice.
It was super cool.
Yeah, that photo is definitely one of my favourites... it all looks so creepy and great.
I think a couple of these photos I went a bit overzealous with the contrast... I thought they looked okay in Photoshop but on here they look a bit overdone. The mossy foggy one is pretty much as is.
Nice shots man! Especially the one with the green arm of doom going out into the midst of the mist!
Thanks dude! I had so many shots like that... I could have easily doubled or tripled the length of this post...
There was so much going on in this hike, it's so weird to me just how much the terrain changes within an hour hike. So good for photos though...
awww glad you made it back, what a hike! watty and kylie would have loved to go with you guys to the doggiest dog mountain - but maybe not on the same rainy day!! I guess watty would probably have been horrified as well with the rain.
I FORGOT TO MENTION HOW MANY AMAZING DOGS WE SAW!!! OMG!
We made so so so many new friends... everyone loves taking their dogs to Dog Mountain... and it always warmed my heart to see a little furry guy carrying his favourite stick around.
Kylie would have loved it so hard... Watty might have loved some bits, but it was maybe a little far for the little guy.
awww :D haha ok, kylie might have caused more than a few fights on the way if there if there were so many pups! unfortunately watty is one of her only dog friends lol
Sounds full on Ninja. Lucky you're a ninja or you might have died in the wilderness.
Thank you young lady! It was close... we were near death... and if we hadn't found that brewery at the end it might have been a sad day for the blockchain. You'll be pleased to know I totally broke my no-carb diet and ate the biggest pizza I could find. It was spectacular.
Awesome. Pizza is so carbolicious!