Local Tip: Parking at Dog Mountain
- Tiff
- Jun 3, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Apr 1
UPDATED April 1, 2025
Dog Mountain is a not-so-hidden gem on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. Though it’s well known, the sight of all those wildflowers is sure to take your breath away every single time. I went up Dog Mountain twice this wildflower season and let me tell ya, it remains in my top 10 hikes. It’s a little over a 6-mile out and back (with a couple of loops on the trail). It has spectacular views overlooking the Columbia River, the Columbia River Gorge, and a view of Mt. Hood, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Rainier on a clear day. And the fields of wildflowers... breathtaking.
Dog Mountain is a top-notch hike, which means everyone wants to do it. The draw is the wildflowers, so the permit window is during the wildflower season. The 2024 permit dates are April 26 - June 16. Permits are required on weekends and Memorial Day.
If you go before April 26, you won’t need a permit, but you will need a pass.
Here’s the thing I learned: you need not one but TWO forms if you’re going on the weekend, which most people are. So… here’s a breakdown of how to do Dog Mountain:
1. Weekday Hikes
If you can make it work, go on a weekday! Is it more inconvenient? Absolutely. Is it worth it because you don't have to deal with weekend traffic and the permit system? That's up to you to decide. It obviously depends on your schedule. But I highly recommend it if you can make it happen.
Madison and I went to Dog Mountain on a Wednesday, and it was stunning! She's one of my adventure friends and we always have the best time together. For more (mis)adventures with Madison, check out my blog about renting a car in Spain. I still don't know how we made it out alive...
Back to Dog Mountain! If you go on a weekday, you only need the Northwest Forest Pass or the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Pass. You can do this in one of four ways:
National Forest Day pass for $5.00 (single day)
Printable National Forest Day E-pass for $5.00 (single day)
Annual Northwest Forest Pass for $30
Columbia River Gorge Scenic Pass for $5.00 (single day)
I have the Annual Northwest Forest Pass because you can use it for a ton of recreation sites in both Oregon and Washington. Go on a minimum of six trips and you’ll match the daily price point. It’s sooooo worth it!
You need one of these passes regardless of the day you go to Dog Mountain.
I recommend getting the forest pass because you can use it throughout OR and WA whereas the Gorge pass is only for specific spots on the Gorge.
***Important: OR and WA state park passes are not accepted at Dog Mountain Trailhead***
If you go on a weekday (except Memorial Day), you only need a rec pass, not a permit. FYI- you need a rec pass year-round. Weekdays are great because it’s a lot less crowded. However, a lot of people cannot go on weekdays, thus the weekend permit system.
2. Buy a Permit Ahead of Time
You have your Northwest Forest Pass (or Gorge Pass)! Congratulations! Now it’s time to buy your permit. Yes, they are different.
If you go on a weekend, you need the Seasonal Dog Mountain Trail System Vehicle Reservation. Click the link to find it. Since they get booked up fast, you may not get one.
If you do not get one, more permits are released three days before the permit date. For example, if you want to hike Dog Mountain on June 8, more permits will be released on June 5.
Here’s the infuriating catch: just because you have a permit does not mean you’re guaranteed a parking spot.
If there is no parking available, you need to take the Shuttle. If you don't mind taking the shuttle to begin with, maybe just bypass buying the permit altogether and save $2. But if you want to risk it for the biscuit, buy the permit and park at the trailhead if there are spots. Be sure to have both the pass and permit to show the forest service agents stationed at the trailhead.
3. Take the Shuttle
Story Time:
I hiked Dog Mountain a few weeks ago on a Wednesday, which means I only needed the NW Forest Pass. I hiked with no problems. I loved it so much that I decided to hike it again, this time on the weekend so more of my friends could join.
This is when I found out there’s a whole different reservation system on weekends.
I found this out the hard way (which is why this article is coming out so close to the end of permit season, sorry folks). We got to the trailhead and were stopped because we only had the pass, not the permit. We were told we needed to take the shuttle, a fifteen-minute drive in the direction we just came, then a twenty-ish minute wait. We were annoyed, especially since there was a lot of open parking, but that’s why the permits are in place, so I get it.
We found a parking spot at a fishing site just down the road! Yippee, Right? WRONG. We walked six minutes and got to the trailhead only to be told we weren't allowed to do that.
Apparently, one of the points of the permit system is to discourage people from walking on the highway. I feel it necessary to include that Rec.gov states, “Walking along the railroad tracks is both dangerous and illegal. Parking along Washington State Route 14 (SR-14) to access the Dog Mountain Trailhead is discouraged and those parked illegally may be fined and towed.“
By the way, we did not park illegally and there are plenty of legal spots to park. It's the whole walking on a busy road that's the sketch part/highly discouraged by the Forest Service.
Soooo, that was my bad. Definitely thought it didn’t matter, but the Forest Service wants people to take the shuttle. Luckily, the shuttle is free.
Also, I’m just relaying what I did. It was very frowned upon and I was turned away twice. Parking on the side of the road seems convenient but turns out it's really, really, really not. The moral of the story: don’t do what I do. Now that I think about it, that's the whole moral of this website. C'est la vie!
We ended up figuring everything out and went on to hike Dog Mountain. It only took ~1 hour to get everything sorted. This could have been avoided had I known all this before, but that would have required me to look it up and I just didn’t do that. My bad, lesson learned (again???).
You should 100000% do this hike during wildflower season. You may just have to be flexible if there isn’t a parking spot.
Dog Mountain Shuttle Details:
Times: The shuttle runs from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm. The last shuttle from Stevenson is at 1:00 pm. The last shuttle from the trailhead is at 5:00 pm.
Location: park at 518 Rock Creek Drive, Stevenson, WA
The shuttle is free and they will give you a hiking permit when you get on the shuttle
the shuttle runs every 20-30 minutes
YOU DO NOT NEED A PARKING PERMIT IF YOU PLAN ON TAKING THE SHUTTLE
Again, since the shuttle is free and there might not be parking at the trailhead, the shuttle is the way to go. If you did your homework and have the pass and the permit, you can drive to the trailhead to see if there are parking spaces. If you are like me and only have the pass, you will need to take the shuttle or "Tiff your way" into hiking the trail, as my friends like to put it. Don't give up if you get turned away. Just make sure you're back at the base by 5:00 pm if you take the shuttle.
Break Down of How to Park at Dog Mountain (or Not):
Get a Northwest Forest Recreation Pass or a Columbia River Gorge Pass
If you cannot get a parking permit, avoid parking at the trailhead altogether and use the shuttle, located at 518 Rock Creek Drive, Stevenson, WA
Enjoy the sweet sweet pain of uphill hiking and know that you saved time by researching the trail details
I apologize for getting this article out so late. The reason is I just found all this out. I’ll publish these instructions again come next year’s wildflower season. Even though it was frustrating at first, it all worked out in the end. My friends and I thankfully did go on the trail and the whole debacle was soon forgotten as we hiked up and up and up.
Don’t do what I did and assume a single pass is acceptable. Do your research beforehand (ugh, I know). Since you’re reading this before your Dog Mountain hike, good on you because it means you’re doing your due diligence. If you are reading this and can relate, congrats, we are both “spontaneous” people who haven’t learned our lesson about hiking permits. I salute you!! But also, c’mon, we should know this by now. Will we ever learn our lesson? Who knows!
Do the hike. It’s so worth it. Go during wildflower season. Dog Mountain wildflower fields are the most breathtaking, lavish scenery you will ever see in your entire life! Enjoy, take it all in, frolic, cry, laugh, skip, do all the things you need to do in a field of wildflowers! And don’t forget to buy your permit….