Hike - Augsburger Mountain, Washington

Trailhead

According to multiple websites, the Augsburger Mountain trail is a difficult 12.5-mile hike with a 4,400-foot elevation gain. That being said, we opted for a shorter 3.7 mile hike that starts from the Augsburger Mountain trailhead and loops back on the Dog Mountain trail.

 Buddy Boy

The lower section of the trail was moderately steep hiking through Douglas-fir / White Oak forest with hardly any understory. The only wildflowers we saw were a few Nuttall's Toothwort (Cardamine nuttallii).

Nuttall's Toothwort

Not too far up the trail we came to a sign saying, “Old Loggers Trail” that we assumed was the trail that connected to the Dog Mountain trail. We followed the “Old Loggers Trail” to the east hoping it was the correct trail.

Old Loggers Trail

This section of the trail was fairly level and offered a few glimpses of the Columbia River Gorge to the south. Thankfully the trail did connect to the Dog Mountain trail where there was a sign showing two options to reach Dog Mountain, “Difficult” and “More Difficult”. 

Dog Mountain trail

Having hiked to Dog Mountain before, I knew the sign wasn’t kidding. All in all, it was an OK day hike but I don’t think it will make my top 10 list. 

Looking south towards Columbia River from Old Loggers Trail