The original plan for today had actually been to hike Dog Mountain in The Gorge, but for whatever reason we weren’t really feeling that one when we woke up this morning.  So after breakfast and perusing some of our hiking books, we opted for Ramona Falls off of Lolo Pass.  It was the right decision if you ask us.

The hike is 99% easy.  The one exception is the crossing of the Sandy River.  The bridge washed out last year during a flash flood and some one actually died!

Total elevation gain is only about 1,00 feet over 4.2 miles.  You start out around 2400′ and top out just around 3450 according to my Garmin.

You can’t really argue with a hike that has a view like this only 1.5 miles into it.  This was taken from just before the crossing of the Sandy River near where the aforementioned bridge washed out.

For the most part, the trail is dusty and very well marked.  There are sections where you’re more in the forest itself and there is more pine needle duff and less dust.  Especially considering how dry this Spring has been, it makes me really nervous for the fire season this year.

We made pretty good time and were at the falls in under 2 hours.

We stopped to chill out and have some lunch.  In the woods and this close to the falls, the temperature was a good 10 degrees cooler than some of the more exposed sections of trail.

Codi spent the whole hike off leash and was really good with all the people we came across.  He startled one woman, who I have to admit, may have startled him a bit too.

This hike is definitely dog friendly, just make sure your dog can handle a log crossing at the Sandy River.  We heard they are putting in the bridge replacement next week, so it may be a moot point after this weekend.  Just keep in mind though that the bridge is seasonal and they take it out in the fall.

The temps were mostly in the low to mid 60’s and there were plenty of streams for Codi to get a drink on top of the water we brought we us.

On the way out, he decided he needed a little more relief though………

He had a little more spunk after cooling off for a bit, and also rolling around in the dirt.

It was nice to get out on a hike again, been a bit focused on the mountain bike racing lately, but I’ve got a break until late June now.  In the next few weeks we’ve got some camping planned too.

All the pictures here

That’s about it for now, thanks for reading

-Pete