Dog Canyon Trail is 10.3 miles in length, round trip. Out and back, it takes you up the steep side of the Sacramento foothills above Oliver Lee State Park. You then enter Lincoln National Forest land and scale back through the ruggedly scenic Dog Canyon, past the remains of an old stone lineman cabin, and up the back of the canyon toward an old Forest Service road. Its relatively short length traverses an interesting mix of raw desert, meadow, and forest.
Being 22 weeks pregnant and recovering from a weeks-long respiratory illness, I aspired to go to the old cabin and turn back. Unfortunately, this trail really tested my out-of-shape limits. I only made it about a mile, the worst part of the trail I’m told, before I decided to turn back. All in all, I did 2 miles and felt like I had done 16. But one day, I really plan to return and finish this hike. I really recommend this adventure.
First, you have to pay your $5 entry fee for the state park. I parked next to a van with the cutest cat chilling in the dash. What a fantastic travel companion. I guess he felt too lazy to join his humans on the hike.
You can view Frenchy’s cabin at the parking lot. I wrote about this old mystery here. It is amazing that Oliver Lee possibly murdered Frenchy, and also probably murdered Henry Fountain and his eight-year-old son Albert, yet has a state park named after him.
All around the park, you can see the remains of stone fences that Frenchy built to delineate his cattle and orchards. It is impressive how he did that work practically by himself without motor engines or power tools. Sorry to say but we have gotten soft over the years as a species, at least in the first world nations.
The trail is very well-marked and begins right behind the visitor’s center. It is wide and fairly easy, though as rocky as the mountain it is carved into. I couldn’t stop staring at the rugged rock walls of the cliffs above and around and how beautiful they were, cutting against the crisp blue sky. Above the trail, you can see a rocky outcropping with a depression in it that could be a shelter cave. The cliff faces hewn by eons of erosion are fascinating.
The first mile really does knock the breath out of you. It is a steep switchback. But the views of the Tularosa Basin, White Sands National park, and the San Andres and Franklin Mountains are incredible. There are ample lookouts and rocky places to sit and enjoy the view while catching up on oxygen.
You soon cross a fence and there is a sign for the Lincoln National Forest. You are no longer in state park land. The trail appeared to level out here…but I was fooled. There was still a good bit of steep switchbacking after.
Somewhere past this line we found a perfect lookout where we took each other’s portraits. We enjoyed a few bites of cheese and some water before continuing on.
We soon reached a part of the trail that wrapped around the mountain face in the sharpest switchback of all. We were now going south.
We rounded a corner, and the trail appeared to go straight up. It was at this point that I threw in the towel. I was coughing and the spring breeze kicking up dust was not helping. However, I know for fact that I missed out and I fully intend on returning. My companions and I sat on some rocks gazing at the vast valley below and ate dill pickle pistachios and enjoyed great conversation for a while before I turned back.
The hike back down was steep and hurt my toes a little, but it was not bad. It made me wonder if I could have pushed myself to go just a bit further. Oh well, next time.
My companions continued on without me and reported that the trail did get much easier not very long after where we turned around. They continued on to a nice meadow of desert fauna and grass, where cattle were once kept grazing. They didn’t quite make it to the cabin, which is apparently just a crumbled stone foundation at this point. According to AllTrails and various blog posts about Dog Canyon Trail, the trail gets super treacherous and steep after that cabin. I wonder who used to live there and what it was like?