And hike to the 1,903' summit - 3 miles round trip
A steep but not terribly difficult 2 hour hike
150 mile round trip ride - 9/9/10
With all due respect to the trail guides I've read... take Washington State
Route 14 to Wind Mountain Road. It's recently received a fresh layer of oil and
gravel but no problems on the motorcycle. Turn right onto Girl Scout road which
drops you into a large dirt parking lot at the top of the hill. Park here and
not in the tiny "trailhead" parking area down the hill. There is a Wind
Mountain trailhead sign at the intersection of Wind Mountain Road and Girl
Scout road. Other than that, there really aren't any other signs that I saw.
The hardest part about this hike was finding the actual trailhead. Follow
(walk) down the steep one lane dirt road that's just to the right of this sign.
At the bottom of the hill (not very far) is the "official", unmarked,
tiny "trailhead" parking area.
Directly across from the parking turnout is the unmarked Wind Mountain trailhead.
Wind Mountain is a fairly easy hike although the trail is narrow and somewhat steep.
Barely into the hike I came across a washed out section of the trail
You can't tell from the picture but it had just rained the night before
so this hole was slippery. It would have been a long drop if I had lost my footing.
Lots of poison oak encroaching on the trail....
This is the little spur trail to a "viewpoint" that many of the trail
guides make such a big deal about. Unimpressive to say the least....
This is the view of Dog Mountain from the spur
Another view of Dog Mountain that I will hike later today.
I ran into this young couple and their 8 or so year old kiddo who just moved
out here from Michigan.
Another view of Dog Mountain further up the trail. It was cool and very
overcast. Very high humidity. I was completely soaked by the time I took this picture.
Nearing the summit which took about an hour to reach
A shot of Dog Mountain from the summit of Wind Mountain.
That's the Columbia River and Oregon to the right.
The view East from the summit of Wind Mountain.
Views of Oregon from the summit of Wind Mountain.
Views of the Columbia River looking West. That's the town of
Home Valley, Washington just below.
This is the road from the trailhead back up the hill to the parking area.
And back to Suzy who has found some company.
I took this on the way back from hiking Dog Mountain. Long day!
Returned on 10/17/10. Nice day and more clear than last time.
Pictures follow....
Wind Mountain from Washington route 14 in Home Valley.
Turn North on Wind Mountain Road to get to the trailhead.
The view West towards Vancouver. That's Home Valley, Washington and
the Columbia River down below.
This is a good shot of (left to right) Beacon Rock, Hamilton Mountain
and Table Mountain along the skyline.
Mount Defiance, Oregon, from the summit of Wind Mountain.
Mount Adams and the North half of Dog Mountain taken from Wind
Mountain summit.
Taken before the wipe-out...
Mount Saint Helens from Wind Mountain summit.
Dog Mountain from Wind Mountain summit.
Rocks piled up ostensibly by a Native American Indian boy during his
spirit quest, possibly hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Or....
stacked up by some Boy Scout last week...
Wind Mountain GPS TPX file
Ride to Table Mountain and hike to the top (almost)
Ride to Dog Mountain and hike to the summit
