Traveling with pets just got easier

Midsummer, and the kennel was booked.

All the kennels were booked, in fact. So we called the vacation-property rental company, explained our situation and expected that our long-planned summer trip to Oregon’s Mount Hood area would be canceled.

No hiking among cedars. No splashing in favorite swimming holes. And no family reunion with the redheaded relatives.

Instead, this is what we heard:

“We love dogs,” said Betsy LaBarge, owner of Cascade Property Management. “We can help you with pet-appropriate hiking trails, dog-friendly bistros and even the best river spots for throwing sticks.”

The Welches, Ore., vacation rental business caters to mountain-respite seekers and dog-lovers. Of CPM’s 27 mountain homes and cabins, 70 percent rent to well-behaved beasts and their credit-card-carrying masters.

LaBarge and staff direct customers to their Web site (www.mthoodrentals.com) so that while on the phone, future guests can fetch a visual of the romantic cottages, stream-side log houses and mountain-slope “cabins.”

There’s even a page with pets policies and local ordinances (i.e., pets must be on a leash while in public areas).

We loved the log look of the Bear’s Den, a capacious cabin with two bedrooms, a sleeping loft, airy kitchen-living room and a deck that stretches out over Billie Creek.

It’s about an hour’s drive to downtown Portland to the west, and to Hood River and I-84 at the Columbia River Gorge to the east.

When we arrived at the Welches-area abode, what kids and canines liked the most was the proximity to the Salmon River, about a 60-second dog-trot away.

The Bear’s Den perches on a slice of dense forest between the Billie Creek and Salmon River among trilliums and salmon berries. Douglas fir meets fern, creating a canopy of green that maintains a naturally air-conditioned cool spot on a hot summer afternoon.

At the smooth-rock beach of the Salmon River, July temperatures reach the upper 80s – at least a dozen degrees warmer than the cabin’s shady front porch.

The Mt. Hood National Forest, more than a million acres of mostly mountains, is threaded by hundreds miles of trails. With the exception of Timberline Lodge, on 11,239-foot Mount Hood’s southern hem, dogs are welcome everywhere.

Hiking and mountain biking trail maps are available at the Zigzag Ranger District on U.S. Highway 26, just a few minutes’ drive east of the CPM office. There are 67 trails listed, all within a 10- to 45-minute drive. Maps are available both online and at the kiosk outside the ranger station.

Where to begin, we wondered, noting that the first on the list is the historic Barlow Road, now Barlow Trail, one of the final sections of the Oregon Trail. I know this route because as a kid, my family picnicked here at its beginning in Still Creek campground, about a half-hour’s drive east on Highway 26.

What’s left of the Barlow Road/Trail is a brief but challenging 0.7-mile climb from 3,800 feet to 4,000 feet. The ruts from the wagons and livestock are all that remain from the pioneers’ slog over the Cascades.

The route was named for Sam Barlow, who first scrambled across the rugged mountain range in 1845, then created a toll road. He charged $5 per wagon and 10 cents per livestock – an exorbitant fee in 1846.

This spring, the U.S. Forest Service added a pair of Barlow Tollgate trees to the list of Oregon Heritage Trees. Two big leaf maple trees located at the current site of the Barlow Road Tollgate on the Oregon National Historic Trail were planted in the 1880s by a tollgate keeper.

Trees were an important part of our Oregon experience, as we discovered on our eventual trail choice, Bonanza Trail No. 786. Two-hundred-foot tall Douglas firs, 100-foot hemlocks and Western red cedars, and skinny alders block the sun from reaching much of the trail.

We chose Bonanza because it began very near our lodgings. Since directions were easier from our cabin, we used the Cascade Property Management crew’s map: Walk out your door, up the driveway and turn uphill on the gravel road. At the sharp turn, look for the unmarked trail, a neighborhood shortcut to Bonanza.

Black Lab in the lead, we swiped at spiders’ threads and hiked Bonanza. The five-mile trail becomes a 10-mile out-and-back at road grade. At one time, it was probably a logging road since most of the forest here was logged at least once in the past century.

At the first stream crossing, we saw evidence of a bridge, long washed away. We hopped rocks to cross and continued along the mossy, cedar-lined trail, where we heard – but didn’t glimpse – some of the native birds that reside in the thickly forested foothills of Mount Hood.

It was hot by the time we rounded back to our cabin. The swimming hole lured the dog, then kids.

We are glad that our pet made the trip. According to statistics from the Washington, D.C.-based Travel Industry Association, 14 percent of all U.S. adults travel with a pet, and 79 percent of those pets are dogs.

That equates to 30 million Americans traveling with pets – a trend that CPM’s LaBarge recognizes and greets with a dog treat in hand.

“We find that our vacation homes are more popular, rent more often, if dogs are welcome,” she says. “Guests indicate that a ‘welcome dog’ policy is more important than a hot tub in their choice to rent with us.”

She adds that people who travel with their dogs take very good care of both dog and vacation home.

“We’ve had no problems with pets,” LaBarge says. “Usually, guests bring their pet’s favorite blanket and a dog crate, usually a favorite toy, too, and everyone is happy.”

Indeed, the dog crate came in handy when we shopped and dined. It’s a no-no to leave pets loose in the cabin, and potentially deadly to leave them locked in a hot vehicle.

A few Welches-area outdoor eateries don’t shoo away pooches, such as El Burro Loco, known for margaritas and Mexican food on the patio, and the Mt. Hood Roasters coffeehouse, where dogs are not allowed on the tented deck but lurk just beyond.

Other cafes lack appropriate spots for Spot, such as The Zig Zag Inn, an inexpensive pizza and burger joint, and the Ice Axe Grill, the mountain’s brewpub and a family-friendly restaurant (try the French fries).

The best eating on the mountain is the Rendezvous Grill and Tap Room in Welches. Chef Katherine Bliss suggests such starters as Taleggio cheese fondue with heirloom apples, or the Northwest Dungeness crab and bay shrimp cakes with chipotle aioli and roasted seasonal vegetables.

Main dishes spotlight Oregon fare, such as the Marmot Pork Chop (from a local farm) stuffed with onion jam, dried fruit and port. The center-cut chop is topped with blue cheese and served with chipotle sweet potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

Another specialty is cider-poached wild salmon with chanterelle mushrooms, which grow wild here. The fish is poached in apple cider with roasted garlic and sage, then served with jasmine rice and vegetables.

While they aren’t welcome for dinner, it turns out pooches have their own place next door, called Spot on the Mountain. It features all-natural pet foods, unique pet gifts and even a free publication – of course, called Spot.

The newspaper, published in Portland, offers regional tips for recreating pet owners, suggests training tips and lists Portland kennels.