Mount Pisgah

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Blue Ridge Parkway, NC

The Park

The Cherokee Indians who lived here knew this mountain as Elseetoss and the ridge as Warwasseeta. There are conflicting stories of how the rounded summit became named for the biblical mount from which Moses first saw the “promised land” but by 1808 Mount Pisgah was appearing on North Carolina maps. Thomas Lanier Clingman, a U.S. Senator and Confederate General, owned 300 acres around the mountaintop for most of the 19th century until shortly before his death in 1897, when he sold this land to George W. Vanderbilt as part of the 125,000-acre Biltmore estate. Vanderbilt constructed a hunting lodge in Buck Springs Gap at the base of Mount Pisgah and carved a trail out from Biltmore for his guests. When Edith Vanderbilt sold 80,000 acres, including Mount Pisgah, to the United States Forest Service in 1914 the family retained 471 acres around the lodge. In 1918 the public began arriving at Mount Pisgah when the batten-board Pisgah Inn opened. It was rebuilt in the 1960s, about the same time the Blue Ridge Parkway was opened for travel here.

The Walks

The narrow footpath to the summit of Mount Pisgah that crosses the Parkway is a familiar trek for Asheville visitors, who can easily see the 5,721-foot peak from downtown. The first half of the 1.6-mile hike to tag the summit moves along agreeably, gaining only about 200 feet in elevation. After a couple of 90-degree right turns, however, the fangs come out with a more-or-less straight uphill 500-foot pull for the last half of this classic canine hike. This is a rock-infested trail with plenty of hops for your dog on both steps and small ledges. Northern red oaks have impeded your view most of the way but at the summit an observation deck serves up views of the Parkway, Cold Mountain to the west and the ever-popular look back at your car in the parking lot. You can also hike with your dog two miles to the next peak to the south, Frying Pan Mountain (or you can drive to the Forest Service Road 450 at Milepost 409.6) and just walk the final .7 of a mile up a gravelly dirt road to the 5,340-foot summit. Waiting for you at the top is the tallest lookout tower in Western North Carolina - a 70-foot high, five-flight steel structure. This is not a super dog-friendly tower with open steps and some rail-less stairs but even one flight will get you high enough for panoramic views. Back in the Mount Pisgah parking lot you can lead your dog south on a leg-stretcher to the foundations of the historic Vanderbilt hunting lodge that was razed in the 1960s. You can sit in the quiet clearing today and imagine what it was like to own everything you can see.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Rock steps and stony roads; no side trails to worry about.

Workout For Your Dog - Several hours of healthy climbing on tap.

Swimming - Not this trip.

Restrictions On Dogs - Dogs are allowed to summit Moutn Pisgah and Fryingpan Mountain

Something Extra

The views at Mount Pisgah don’t have to end when the sun goes down. It is estimated that the night sky in the United States is brightening by 5-10 percent every year. The eastern United States suffers from the worst light pollution on the planet and spots off the Blue Ridge Parkway offer a compromise between the best accessible darkness and being able to use telescopes that cannot easily be hauled to the backcountry. The Asheville Astronomy Club, for instance, uses Mount Pisgah as its main meeting spot.

Phone - (828) 298-0358

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Blue Ridge Parkway; Milepost 407.6.

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North Brigantine Natural Area

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Brigantine NJ

The Park

The Brigantine Bay and marsh complex includes the open water and tidal wetlands of, from north to south: Little Bay, Reed Bay, Somers Bay, Absecon Bay and Channel, Lakes Bay, and Scull Bay between the mainland coast of New Jersey and the barrier islands from Little Egg Inlet southwest to Great Egg Harbor Inlet. The complex includes the undeveloped segments of Little Beach and northern and southern Brigantine Island. This portion of the New Jersey backbarrier lagoon estuarine system is very significant for migrating and wintering waterfowl, colonial nesting waterbirds, migratory shorebirds, and fisheries.

The Walks

It may change due to concerns about nesting plovers but this undeveloped area at the northern tip of Brigantine is open to dogs. You can hike north on the shore, ducking out of the way of surf fishermen, and take the hook along the inlet and head back. If the Atlantic waves are too intimidating for your dog, the gentle surf of the bay will be a perfect place to swim. This entire hike up and back - completely on sand - will take about an hour if you keep moving and don’t linger for too many swims.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Sand

Workout For Your Dog - Racing on sand and jumping in the ocean will tire any dog

Swimming - Absolutely

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

This is a rare Jersey shore destination for dogs throughout the year.

Phone - None

Website - None

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Brigantine, Atlantic County; take Route 30 into Atlantic City from Route 9 and head north on Brigantine Boulevard through town and all the way to the end.

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National Arboretum

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Washington DC 

The United States Department of Agriculture established the National Arboretum as a research and education facility and living museum in 1927. Dogs are permitted across the grounds, which include a mix of tree collections and formal gardens. The major trail system circles Mount Hamilton, at 240 feet one of the highest points in the nation’s capital. A paved road/path winds to the top where you can peek through the trees to the west and see the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument. On the southern and eastern slopes are over 15,000 hardy azaleas that can still see blooms into November.

Another area with footpaths is the Asian Collection where trees and flowers from China, Japan and Korea mingle above the Anacostia River. But you need not limit your explorations with your dog to formal pathways. You can wander on the grass through the Slow-growing Conifer Collection, the Holly and Magnolia Collection and the National Boxwood Collections.

 

Your dog can stroll through gardens devoted to perennials, to herbs and to energy-producing plants and across a meadow containing twenty-two sandstone Corinthian columns that once stood at the east portico of the U.S. Capitol. 

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Harpers Ferry National Historic Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Harpers Ferry WV 

No place in America packs as much scenic wonder and historical importance into such a small area as Harpers Ferry National Historic Park where the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers join forces. George Washington surveyed here as a young man. Thomas Jefferson hailed the confluence as "one of the most stupendous scenes in Nature" and declared it worth a trip across the Atlantic Ocean just to see. Meriwether Lewis prepared for the Corps of Discovery in 1804 by gathering supplies of arms and military stores at Harpers Ferry. A United States Marine Colonel named Robert E. Lee captured abolitionist John Brown at Harpers Ferry when he attempted to raid the United States Arsenal and arm a slave insurrection. General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson scored one of his greatest military victories here during the Civil War. Congress appropriated funds for a national monument in Harpers Ferry in 1944 and 2,300 acres of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia were interwoven into the National Historic Park in 1963.

Dogs are welcome in Harpers Ferry National Historic Park and hikes are available for every taste and fitness level. On the Maryland side of the Potomac River is the towpath for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, which was completed in 1850 as a 184.5 mile transportation link between Washington D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. The trail is wide, flat and mostly dirt.

Beside the canal, the Maryland Heights rise dramatically 1,448 feet above the rivers. The Stone Fort Trail up the Heights is the area's most strenuous hike and one of the most historic. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the Union Army sought to fortify the strategic Maryland Heights with its commanding views of the waters and busy railroad lines below. The roads leading to the summit were remembered by Union soldiers as "very rocky, steep and crooked and barely wide enough for those wagons." Wayside exhibits help hikers appreciate the effort involved in dragging guns, mortar and cannon up the mountainside. One 9-inch Dahlgren gun capable of lobbing 100-pound shells weighed 9,700 pounds. The trail leads to the remnants of the Stone Fort which straddles the crest of Maryland Heights at its highest elevation. 

A branch off the Stone Fort Trail winds down to the Overlook Cliffs, perched directly above the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers. The best view of Harpers Ferry is from these rock outcroppings where it is easy to understand the town's importance to transportation in Colonial America, its value to the jockeying of battling armies in the Civil War and its susceptability to crippling floods. There are no protective fences and dogs should be watched carefully on the open rocks at the Overlook Cliffs.

Access to Lower Town in Harpers Ferry is by National Park Service shuttle bus from the visitor center. Dog owners can best access this area by driving to the Maryland Heights for parking and walking across the Potomac River. The bridge features open grating that can intimidate skittish dogs not familiar with grates.

On the other side of the town of Harpers Ferry in West Virginia, along the Shenandoah River, is Virginus Island and the ruins of a thriving industrial town that finally succumbed to flooding in 1889. The trails that weave through the ruins are flat and shady and connect to the trails in historic Lower Town, where abolitionist John Brown barricaded himself in the town's fire engine house and battled Federal troops. Climbing up the steep grade out of Lower Town is a short trail to Jefferson Rock, where Thomas Jefferson recorded his impressions in 1783. Also available in the West Virginia section of the park is the Bolivar Heights Trail over wooded terrain on the site of Jackson's triumphal Civil War battle.

On the Virginia side of the Potomac River are the heavily forested Loudon Heights. Mountainside trails here lead to the Appalachian Trail and there is several hours of hiking in this area of the park.

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Swallow Falls State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Oakland MD

The Park

By 1900, it was highly unusual to see any big tree in Maryland that had escaped a logger’s saw, unless it was too costly to reach. That was the case with the grove of white pines and hemlocks at Swallow Falls. The giants are the oldest in Maryland - some trees are estimated to be 360 years old. Philanthropist Henry Krug refused to allow the trees to be logged in the gorge and when a World War I plan to dam the Youghiogheny River fell through their survival was assured. America’s most famous car campers of the early 20th century - industrialists Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone camped here at Muddy Creek Falls and during the Depression the Civilian Conservation Corps created the campsite enjoyed by thousands today.

The Walks

This is the best single-trail park in Maryland. The Falls Trail is easy going for your dog through the river canyon under cool, dark hemlocks. Muddy Creek Falls, Maryland’s highest single water plunge at 53 feet, arrives quickly on your canine hike and shortly you arrive at the confluence of Muddy Creek and the Youghiogheny River. Here you’ll travel past several more hydrospectaculars before turning for home. This gorgeous loop covers about one mile. If your dog is hankering for more trail time there is a 5.5-mile out-and-back trail to Herrington Manor State Park (no dogs allowed). You’ll get more water views and more giant hemlocks - be advised that this canine hike involves a stream crossing that may not be doable in times of high water.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Soft pine straw/dirt

Workout For Your Dog - Moderate canine hiking

Swimming - Doggie swimming holes beneath the falls

Restrictions On Dogs - Dogs not allowed in day-use area Memorial Day through Labor Day; yes for campground

Something Extra

At the Upper Falls on the Youghiogheny River you will find the source of the park name: a rock pillar where cliff swallows once nested by the hundreds.

Phone - (301) 387-6938

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Oakland, Garrett County; from I-68 take Exit 14 at Keysers Ridge and go south on Route 219 for 19.5 miles to Mayhew Inn Road (2 miles past Deep Creek). Turn right on Mayhew Inn Road, travel 4.5 miles to end of road. At the stop sign turn left onto Oakland Sang Run Road, travel 0.3 miles to first road on the right which will be Swallow Falls Road. Turn right and travel 1.3 miles to the park.

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Shawangunk Ridge

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - New Paltz NY

The Shawangunk Ridge south of the Catskill Mountains is an ultra-hard gumbo of quartz pebbles and sandstone. It resists weathering while the underlying shale erodes relatively easily. The result is a series of dramatic cliffs and talus slopes, particularly noticeable when approaching from the east, which have been sculpted by retreating glaciers. The “Gunks”, as they are affectionately called, have become one of the prime rock-climbing destinations in North America. Luckily for your dog, going vertically up a rock face is not the only way to explore the Shawangunk Ridge.

Alfred and Albert Smiley opened the Shawangunk Mountains to the vacationing public after the Civil War when they built the Mohonk Mountain House. Later, a disagreement caused Alfred to move on and build the Cliff House nearby. The last guest checked out in 1979 and the state of New York stepped in to prevent any further development on the Ridge. Today the top of the ridge is mostly public land primarily in Minnewaska State Park Preserve, Mohonk Mountain House, Sam’s Point Preserve and Mohonk Preserve. Of this quartet, only the first and last are open to your dog.

Most of your dog’s hiking atop Shawangunk Ridge will take place on wide, carefully graded carriageways. After decades of jostling for tourist dollars the Smiley brothers eventually reconciled and began building a network of these graceful roadways between the two hotels. Expect to share the carriageways with plenty of bicyclists. In Minnewaska State Park Preserve several long parallel carriageways between Lake Awosting and Lake Minnewaska can be combined for loop hikes of several hours duration. For spectacular views of the Hudson Valley use the Castle Point Carriageway to Castle Point, the highest summit in the park. Looks at the Catskill Mountains come quickly on the short, steep Sunset Path near the entrance parking lots.

The narrow hiker-only paths, however, are where the adventure begins for canine hikers on the Ridge. These trails are generally moving up and down, leading to treasures deep in the Shawangunks like Stony Kill Falls. The trek to Gertrude’s Nose bursts from a dark hemlock forest for extended walking on exposed clifftops. This is not the place for a rambunctious dog (no fencing and long drop-offs) and inexperienced canine hikers may have trouble with the rock scrambles but otherwise is worth every step of the two-mile detour off the Millbrook Mountain Carriageway.

The unique environment on the Shawangunk Mountain ridge is extremely sensitive and access to the park is limited to reduce the impact of human - and canine - intrusion. Capacity in the parks on any given day is limited by the number of parking spaces in the lots. it is not unheard of for the park to be closed before it actually opens - so many cars are lined up for the 9:00 a.m. opening. When one car leaves, another is allowed in. Even with the restrictions the park averages more than 1,000 visitors per day. If you arrive early and get in, however, you will find the trails generally uncrowded, especially on the hiker-only footpaths.

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State Game Lands 43

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - St. Peters PA

The Park

Three segments of these public lands, totaling 2,150 acres, lie in northwest Chester County. The most accessible - and scenic - of the three is at Saint Peters. Once known as the Falls of French Creek and a famous local tourist destination, Saint Peters was named for the town church when the post office moved away.

The Walks

The Horse-Shoe Trail cuts through the Saint Peters and Pine Swamp Tracts. The Saint Peters walk is heavily wooded; the Pine Swamp walk leads through a scruffy meadow on old access roads through light woods at the edge of fields. There are many other short interconnecting trails at Saint Peters, crossing over small streams and meandering down an abandoned rail line.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural surface trails with some very rocky stretches

Workout For Your Dog - You’ll find some hills at Saint Peters to set your dog to panting

Swimming - French Creek rushes downhill through the property, pooling into an ideal swimming pond just south of the parking lot

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Forty million years ago an igneous explosion occurred underground here and cooled very quickly leaving behind a particularly fine granite rock. Tourists and students of geology alike made the pilgrimage to the Falls of French Creek to study the rock formations. Granite quarries mined the rock and granite from Saint Peters once received an award at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago as “a fine-grained polished cube, a good building and ornamental stone.” The quarries closed in the 1960s and many pits can still be seen. Today the giant boulders in French Creek are ideal for your dog to scramble on - or just lie in the sun.

Phone - None

Website - None

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Saint Peters, Chester County; on Saint Peters Road, off Route 23 (Ridge Road). It is behind the buildings on the left, at the northern edge of town. In Pine Swamp there is a small, unmarked parking lot on Harmonyville Road, east of Route 345 (Pine Swamp Road).

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Cook Forest State Park

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Cooksburg PA

Pennsylvania’s white pine and Eastern hemlock forests were the nation’s most valuable resource in the mid-1800s. The timber built America and the bark tanned leather. Two of the largest sawmills in the world operated in the Pennsylvania woods. So much pine and hemlock were harvested the mountainsides were stripped bare. When the woods were depleted, towns would disappear and new ones spring up over the next mountain. The pine and hemlock never came back. The forests that cover northern Pennsylvania today are almost exclusively hardwood forests.

John Cook was the first permanent American settler on the Clarion River. He arrrived in 1826 to investigate the feasability of building a Pennsylvania canal to compete with the new Erie Canal in New York. Instead, he bought 765 acres of land, built a cabin and started operating a water-driven sawmill. the Cook family lumber empire prospered for the next century but the forest cathedral of stately hemlock and white pines lying just outside their back door was so impressive it was never cut. The temptation was great - just four of the giants would provide enough lumber to build a six-room house.

By the 1920s this was one of the last areas of surviving old growth timber east of the Mississippi River. The Cook Forest Association raised over $200,000 with the mission that “...this Wood will become a forest monument, like those of the West, known not only in Pennsylvania, but throughout the Country. The East possesses few scenes more impressive than this magnificent area of primeval white pine, surrounded by giant hemlocks and hardwoods.” More than 6,000 acres were purchased as a state park and in 1969 Cook Forest was designated a National Natural Landmark.

Nearly 30 miles of trails climb through the ancient forest. Your dog is welcome throughout, including some six tranquil miles under the 300-year old trees of the Forest Cathedral. The star trail is the easy-going 1.2-mile Longfellow Trail that visits the heart of thetallest eastern white pinelands in the Northeastern United States. One tops out at 183 foot - the tallest in the Northeast, although it is not marked. Canine hiking loops can be crafted with the rolling Rhodedendron Trail and the flat Toms Run Trail that skirts a picturesque stream. If your cautious dog balks at crossing the swinging bridge connecting the trails, it is an easy scamper through the water.

Hearty canine hikers should head to the Clarion River and begin a one-mile uphill climb to the Seneca Point Fire Tower passing through a patch of of old growth forest ripped asunder by a 1976 tornado as you travel. A side path near the trailhead leads to a hemlock-draped sulfur spring known as the old Mineral Spring. One hemlock here has been documented as the talles found in the Northeast. In Victorian days this trail was lighted by natural gas lights. At the top, your dog can climb the open steps of the 80-foot fire tower and scan the treetops along the Clarion River.

A visit to the Swamp Area takes your dog through forests of ancient red and white oaks, red maples and black cherry, some of which surpass 280 years of age. A beloved tradition in Cook Forest are the rental cabins scattered around the hills that are ideals base camps for exploring the big trees. Many will welcome your dog.

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