Dog Friendly Trails in the Seattle Area and Beyond

Viewing the golden larch trees in fall is a favorite Washington State pastime.  The race, or competition, to catch them at exactly the right time, and see as many as you can, has even been dubbed “Larch Madness” by locals. Unfortunately, not all of the hikes that have larch trees are dog friendly.  Don’t let that deter you though! There are still plenty of larch hikes in … [Read more...]

I read a lot of trip reports about the Dog Mountain hike north of Portland, Or (east of Vancouver, WA). I read about it being dog friendly, the amazing yellow wildflowers in spring, and the spectacular views of the Columbia River. I also read about how steep the trail was, about the potential for rattlesnakes, about the ticks, the flies, and about the poison oak. Since we aren't used to hiking … [Read more...]

It's usually not until mid-December that we have a reliable amount of snow on the trails near Seattle. But when we do, the mountains outside of Seattle turn into a beautiful winter wonderland. Most of the popular summer trails can also be hiked in the winter with your dog by merely strapping on a set of snowshoes (you, not your dog of course. Ha, ha.). Here are 4 spectacular dog friendly … [Read more...]

A friend of mine is visiting Western Washington with her dog this summer for 3 weeks. She sent me her extensive list of dog friendly hikes on her agenda and there were a few that I haven't done. While I'm saving most of them for her visit, I decided to knock one off our bucket list now - the Diablo Lake Trail. It's one of the few hiking trails that allows dogs in North Cascades National Park … [Read more...]

If you were to ask me what my favorite aspect of Washington’s landscape is, my answer would be unbending: waterfalls. Rushing rivers and mountainous terrain makes for some of the most magnificent views—views that NEVER fail to take my breath away and make me feel in awe. Not every state in the country has the pleasure of having so many breathtaking waterfalls in their backyard, and it’s a … [Read more...]

A moment of honesty: sometimes I yearn for an outdoor adventure with Moo, but just don’t feel up for driving to the nearest mountain range to find the perfect place. I really can’t complain, as Snoqualmie Pass is only about forty-five minutes away from my house. Still, some days even that amount of time can keep me and Moo inside waiting for a day when I have more availability, when the weather is … [Read more...]

Japanese gardens can be pretty amazing, especially in the fall when all of the maple leaves turn gold, orange, and yellow. Unfortunately, most Japanese gardens in the Seattle area don't allow dogs. I have discovered one dog-friendly Japanese garden though - the Kubota Gardens. As it turns out, it's a place that one of our favorite blogs - Dog Jaunt - wrote about several years ago. The garden is … [Read more...]

There is still a lot of snow in the mountain in the Northwest but I am already thinking ahead to spring. Gretel and I plan to hike a lot this summer in preparation for our 10-day backpacking trip. I don't like to hike the same trails all of the time so I've been looking around Oregon for some fun options. I definitely added these trails to our bucket list and I thought I would share in case you … [Read more...]

While Gretel needed zero recovery time after our 3-day backpacking trip, I am still sore and ouchie. None the less, the show must hike on. A friend from California was in town last weekend and I thought I would show her some of the best fall-color hikes near Seattle. We have a lot of deciduous trees here in Washington that stay green all year long but there are a few trees that pop gold, red, … [Read more...]

Originally, I planned to backpack all of Section J of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) with my dog but had to cut our trip short due to weather and time constraints. Instead, I set my sights on Spectacle Lake, nestled at the base of Chikamin Ridge, and 16.9 miles along the PCT from Snoqualmie Pass (one way). We planned this backpacking trip as an out and back, for a total of almost 34 miles … [Read more...]

Our first backpacking trip with the dogs this year was up to Gem Lake. The most common way to get up to Gem Lake is via the Snow Lake trail so that's what we did. Snow Lake is one of my favorite dog friendly trails near Seattle because it's not too hard but the destination is absolutely amazing. It's a 5 mile hike up to Gem Lake (about 1.5 miles past Snow Lake) so we got started in the … [Read more...]

I got the "ok to hike" from the doctor. I was itching to hit the trail after being sidelined on the couch with pneumonia for almost three weeks. I decided to check Lake Twentytwo off of my bucket list so my hubby and I packed up the dogs and headed out. The Lake Twentytwo trailhead is only about a mile away from the Heather Lake trail, which was Gretel's very first hike. That was the hike that … [Read more...]

Our Adventure Finishing up my final quarter in graduate school has been stressful so I decided to take a whole day off to hike and clear my head. A couple of my local hiking friends were heading to Lake Serene, and I had never been, so I decided to go. It was rare to be able to go this time of year. Normally, the trail and lake are under feet of snow in late February. We have had an incredibly … [Read more...]

Last week we went one of the most beautiful, and tough, hikes of the summer - Rampart Ridge on Snoqualmie Pass. There are two ways to hike to Rampart Ridge. One way is called the Rocky Run trail via Lake Lillian. We heard it was the shorter, but steeper of the two options. The other way is via Rachael Lake. This route is longer but we heard it was pretty flat for about 2/3 of the hike. … [Read more...]

Dogs are not allowed on trails inside Olympic National Park. The Upper Big Quilcene trail is located just outside of the National Park,  in the Buckhorn Wilderness, so you can hike it with your dog. The trail leads up to Marmot Pass, which affords one of the best views of the Olympic Mountain range. Our Adventure S and I hiked this trail with Chester before we were married and brought Gretel … [Read more...]

The Mailbox Peak trail is one of the hardest dog friendly Northwest trails.  We returned a mere three weeks after our first, failed attempt - a terrible, I'm-never-doing-that-again experience. I totally wasn't planning on hiking it again - maybe never but at least not until the end of the summer - but I got caught up in the hype. After I complained about how horrible the hike was shared my … [Read more...]

Beacon Rock is a 848 foot basalt column on the Washington State side of the Columbia River. A dog friendly trail winds it's way up to the top of the rock. Quick geology lesson: Beacon Rock once formed the center of a volcano. During the last ice age, when the softer rock around it was scraped away by water and ice, this harder inner core was left sticking out of the landscape. This was our … [Read more...]

I recently drove to a pet blogger conference in Las Vegas with Chester and Gretel. To make driving more pleasant for all of us, we played the 100 mile road trip game. One of our stops along the way was the dog friendly Smith Rock State Park in Oregon where we hiked the Misery Ridge trail. We arrived at Smith Rock the first night of our road trip adventure and stayed at the same camp spot that … [Read more...]

A friend took Chester and I to the Barclay Lake trail years ago. We hiked up there when the trail was covered in a couple of feet of snow. The trail has been on my hiking bucket list since them because I wanted to go back when I could see the actual trail. We hiked one of the toughest dog friendly trails in Western Washington last week so it was SO nice to hike this easy trail. If you've never … [Read more...]

For our first hike of the year, that counts toward our 250 miles, we hiked up Oyster Dome. This dog friendly hike is in the town of Bellingham, about 1.5 hours north of Seattle. It may be "in" a town but it's certainly not an urban hike. It's a strenuous wilderness hiking experience. The trail climbs Blanchard Mountain, which is part of the Chuckanut Mountains. The Chuckanut Mountains look more … [Read more...]