15.5 miles of hiking • 5750' elevation gain •
Went back up to Augspurger since such a sunny day requires hiking on the Washington side. Last time I didn't quite make the summit and I wanted to go back because I figured the snow was gone. Not only was it gone, but it has been completely replaced by lots and lots of thick brush! This hike is pretty overgrown now, and may not be any fun until fall. The summit itself (which it turned out I was about 1/4 mile away from last time) is nothing but trees - kind of like Devil's Rest - so we continued on the trail as it turned northwest and went downhill and popped out onto a ridge. We followed the ridge through some really bad scratchy brush to a really excellent lunch point. On the way back, I went over the top of Dog again, though going down the front of Dog kind of hurt my knee this time, so I think if I do this hike again and want to include Dog, I'll go up it first so I can do my final descent down the more gradual Augspurger trail. Still, this hike is excellent bang for your buck - lots of changing scenery, some great viewpoints (think Dog but higher), and a little more adventure than you usually get in the Gorge because no one seems to ever go up there.
Chris
July 3, 2011
I think your mystery point is three corner rock.