Cape Hatteras National Seashore

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Outer Banks NC

The Park

Cape Hatteras National Seashore stretches down the Outer Banks for 70 sandy miles across three barrier islands, two connected by a toll-free bridge and two connected by a free ferry. Today the seashore is known for its recreational opportunities on the land; historically it has been known for its dangers offshore. A bank of shifting sands known as the Diamond Shoals have caused more than 600 ships to wreck off Cape Hatteras, leading mariners to call the area the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” Cape Hatteras was designated America’s first National Seashore by Congress on August 17, 1937 and established on January 12, 1953.

The Walks

There is no better place for loooong hikes with your dog on dune-backed beaches than Cape Hatteras National Seashore but there are also a trio of short nature trails - one on each island - to try with your dog. The best of the lot is in Buxton Woods on Hatteras Island, near the Visitor Center and lighthouse. This trail bounds across pine and oak-covered dunes with marshy wetlands tossed into the mix. The gnarled trees and shrub thickets provide a shady respite from a day on the beach with your dog. Another leafy canine hike is on the Hammock Hills Nature Trail on Ocracoke Island which traipses through a maritime forest on the edge of Pamlico Sound for a bit less than a mile. For an easy hike with your dog in the sunshine and salt air stop at Bodie Island Lighthouse. Here you can explore freshwater ponds and marshes that were artificially created by building dams and dikes and artificial dunes to block the intrusion of ocean salt spray.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Soft white sand.

Workout For Your Dog - More than an hour - days if you want.

Swimming - If your dog is intimidated by the crashing Atlantic surf there is also access to Pamlico Sound.

Restrictions On Dogs - Dogs are permitted year-round in the national seashore, save for three small swimming areas.

Something Extra

There are five lighthouses on the Outer Banks your dog can visit - three in the national seashore. The oldest operating lighthouse in North Carolina is the 75-foot tower on Ocracoke Island and the 150-foot Bodie Island Lighthouse dates to 1872. The most famous, and America’s tallest at 208 feet, is the black-and-white swirl-striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Its light can be seen 20 miles out to sea and has been reported to have been seen from 51 miles. Although your dog can’t do it, you can climb the 268 steps to the top.

Phone - (252) 473-2111

Website - www.www.nps.gov/caha

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Outer Banks; along Route 12 from the intersection with Route 64 at Whalebone Junction south through Ocracoke Island.

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Brenton Point State Park

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

The Park

William Brenton was in his early 30s when he sailed for Boston from England in 1633. In 1637 he was part of the founding band of settlers of Newport. He became Deputy Governor of the towns of Portsmouth and Newport and took possession of some 2000 acres here in 1639. He named it “Hammersmith” after his home in England. Two centuries after the governor’s death in 1674 the property was acquired by Theodore M. Davis, a lawyer and famous Egyptologist. He built a large shingled mansion overlooking the sea called “the Reef ” that became one of the most distinctive residences in Newport, characterized by beautiful formal gardens. The Reef fell victim to messy divorces and World War II when the United

States Army took over the estate and used it as a sight for a Coastal Artillery Battery. Following the war the mansion was never re-occupied and after years of vandalism eventually burned and was razed. In 1969 the State of Rhode Island

took over the property and opened Brenton Point State Park in 1976.

The Walks

Your canine hiking day at Brenton Point is left to your imagination. There is a paved one-mile oceanfront walking path or you can explore the ruins of the old estate on access roads and wide grass paths. The debris from the Reef is buried

under the mound overlooking the Atlantic but still standing are the remains of an elaborate L-shaped stable and a stone tower that your dog can climb to a viewing stand. This is an easy go for any dog although the trails through the reeds at the back of the property can be a tight squeeze if attempted. Based on the places dogs are allowed to hike in Rhode Island it should be called the “Forest State” so this open-air outing for your dog is a real treat.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: There is no map and nothing is marked but none is needed.

Workout For Your Dog - An easy hour of trotting.

Swimming - This is not the place to test the roiling waves of the Atlantic.

Restrictions On Dogs - This is the place to come for dogs to get the feel of the grounds of the fabled Newport estates.

Something Extra

The grassy oceanside expanses at Brenton Point are not merely an awesome setting for a game of fetch but a mecca for kite-flying enthusiasts. In July the Newport Kite Festival brings together elaborate kites from all over the world to fly on the former grounds of the Reef.

Phone - (401) 849-4562 (in season)

Website - www.riparks.com/brenton.htm

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Newport; The park is on Ocean Drive. Take Route 114 South (West Main Road) to 138 South to Broadway in downtown Newport. Follow the signs to Ocean Drive.

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Beaverdam Park

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

The Park

Mordecai Cooke was the earliest English settler of this land, patenting this part of Gloucester in 1652. His descendants established several large estates in the area, including Wareham that includes much of the park property today.

The Beaverdam Reservoir is of recent vintage - in 1990 a newly built earthen dam flooded the open fields and woodlands of Beaverdam Swamp to a depth of 25 feet to stabilize the Gloucester water supply. The 665-acre park surrounds the many tentacled lake.

The Walks

Given just a slender band of land along the lakeshore park officials have succeeded in creating one of the Tidewater’s best trail systems. The main multi-use trail stretches 9.5 miles from the main park around the northern edge of the reservoir to Fahy’s Road and is used as a stem for a string of loop trails. If you have a car shuttle that journey through thick hardwoods makes for a solid day’s outing with your dog but otherwise you have a score of options to craft your canine hiking day. The multi-use trail is hard-packed and stony; the various spur trails are reserved for hikers and more paw-friendly. The two bridges on the route are often used as turn-around points by trail-users; Morgan’s Bridge from the main park is a three-mile round-trip and canine adventurers seeking a bigger outing can find a six-mile round trip on the loops at the Route 606 trailhead. Expect rolling terrain throughout. For a relaxing introduction to Beaverdam Park’s splendors pick up an interpretive brochure and follow the Lake’s Edge Trail from the ranger station at the main entrance.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: There are park maps, trail guides, signposts, and blazes.

Workout For Your Dog - Many hours possible through the rolling hills.

Swimming - Sorry, this is Gloucester’s drinking water.

Restrictions On Dogs - Dogs are allowed on Beaverdam trails. 

Something Extra

Film buffs may already recognize Beaverdam Park from the action thriller “Minority Report.” The waterside home of Tom Cruise’s estranged wife is on Ware Point Road, near Beulah, Gloucester. After escaping via a car production line, Cruise drives the red Lexus through Beaverdam Park.

Phone - (804) 693-2107

Website - www.gloucesterva.info/pr/parks/welbvd.htm

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Gloucester; From Route 17 turn onto 17 Business into town (Main Street). Turn onto Roaring Springs Road and follow to the main park at end. For Fahy’s Road (Route 606) trailhead, stay on Route 17, turning onto Fahy’s Road and continuing three miles.

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Assateague National Seashore

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

The Park

The first European settlers - a band of four men - came to Assateague in 1688. At times more than 200 people survived on the shifting sands, fishing or clamming or growing what crops they could. In 1833 the first lighthouse was built but ships still ran aground, including the Dispatch, the official yacht of five American presidents. The cruiser was ruined beyond repair when it reached the shore unscheduled on October 10, 1891. Assateague was connected to the mainland until 1933 when an August hurricane tore open an inlet to the Sinepuxent Bay that now separates Assateague from Ocean City. A bridge to the mainland opened in 1962 and in 1965 Assateague Island became a national seashore.

The Walks

Dogs are not allowed on the three short channel-side nature trails and can not go on lifeguarded beaches but that leaves miles of wide, sandy beaches to hike on with your dog any time of the year. Drive to the furthest parking lot from the entrance gate and head up the boardwalk across the dunes. Make a right and ahead of you will stretch hours of unspoiled canine hiking in the surf and sand. Although the national seashore is within a few hours’ drive of tens of million of Americans don’t be surprised if you have most of this beach to yourself and your dog - especially in the off-season.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Sand

Workout For Your Dog - Yes, hiking in sand is tough

Swimming - Absolutely - but pack your own sticks for the dog; not much driftwood stays on the beach

Restrictions On Dogs - Yes in campground but no on the nature trails, the sand north of the national seashore in the adjoing Assateague State Park is off limits to dogs 

Something Extra

Assateague Island is the famous home of the free-roaming “Chincoteague Ponies,” a present-day reminder of Assateague Island’s past. Although no one is certain when or how the ponies first arrived on the island, a popular legend tells of ponies that escaped a shipwrecked Spanish galleon and swam ashore. However, most historians believe that settlers used the island for grazing livestock (including ponies and other farm animals) in the 17th Century to avoid fencing regulations

and taxation. The ponies rule the island and you can see them on the roads or even meet them in the surf.

Phone - (301) 874-2024

Website 

Admission Fee - Yes, good for 7 days

Directions - Berlin, Worcester County; north entrance is at the end of MD 611, eight miles south of Ocean City. When coming on to the island turn right and avoid going straight into the state park. No dogs allowed there.

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Allardale

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Remsen Corners OH

The Park

Stanley and Esther Allard donated 125 acres of a three-generation family farm to Medina County in 1992 “so others can enjoy the open spaces, the blue sky, the trees, the flowers, the birds and the hills and valleys that we have loved so much.” In the 1930s Allardale was one of the first farms in Northeast Ohio to practice soil-saving techniques such as contour strip farming and the planting of pines and spruces along steep hillsides. In fact, Stan Allard estimated that he planted over 100,000 trees during his lifetime. Plantings continue apace today and Allardale is considered one of the finest tree farms in Ohio.

The Walks

Taking your dog around Allardale is like touring your own private estate grounds. A paved half-mile loop is tucked inside a mile-long, mostly grass path that climbs across a meadow to the top of Medina County’s hilliest park and drops through a hardy beech-maple forest to a floodplain finish that is a wonder to behold during spring wildflower season. More blooms can be seen on the Wildflower Trail that ducks into an airy woods and travels around a shallow stream on a gravel path. Heck, your dog won’t howl in protest if you decide to go round a second time.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Park maps are available but just jump on the trail at the parking lot and leisurely follow it around.

Workout For Your Dog - Rolling hills for about an hour.

Swimming - The stream gurgles lightly and is an ideal sittin’ and coolin’ off stream but not deep enough for canine aquatics.

Restrictions On Dogs - Dogs are allowed to hike around Allardale and mutt mitts are provided.

Something Extra

A wolf tree is a tree, often very old, in a bush or a thicket which is different in shape from those around it; a tree whose broader trunk and spreading branches indicate that it once grew alone but is now surrounded. One such distinctive tree is a spectacular sugar maple perched ever so slightly on the edge of a ravine. Measured at 162 inches in circumference and 115 feet high, this is the champion sugar maple in all of Ohio.

Phone - (330) 722-9364

Website 

Pages/Allardale.html

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Remsen Corners; take Exit 3 from I-271 and go south on Ridge Road, SR 94, to Remsen Road. Turn left and travel east to the park entrance on the left, past State Road.

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Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge

places where you won't be able to wipe the wag off your dog's tail - Fort Belvoir Military Base VA

The Park

The refuge was established in 1979 to protect sensitive wetlands and wildlife habitats associated with Accotink Bay and to provide opportunities for environmental education and low-intensity recreation. In 1988, Fort Belvoir established a second refuge, the Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, to protect another sensitive wetland area. Abbott was an army engineer whose ornithological illustrations were chosen to appear on a duck stamp. Today, more than one-third of the installation’s acreage has been preserved as a designated wildlife sanctuary encompassing over 1,300 acres.

The Walks

There are some fifteen short, intersecting trail segments on both sides of the Accotink Creek to explore with your dog here. The going can be a bit rough at times, especially along the creek where the narrow bands of pathway can be overgrown or muddy in wet times but overall this is easy going with some mild ups and downs. The highlight ramble in the refuge is the Beaver Pond Trail loop that slips past several small ponds filled with turtles and frogs. For a longer leg stretcher head down the Great Blue Heron Trail to a bird blind on the Accotink Bay. Across the suspension bridge are miles of dirt trails in the hardwood forest that was once used for target ranges. The Abbott Wetland Refuge has a one-mile asphalt trail with an observation deck overlooking the wetland area.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Natural surface and asphalt

Workout For Your Dog - Easy trotting

Swimming - Accotink Creek is a great spot

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

The bridge across the Accotink Creek linking the trail system was built by D Company of the 11th Engineer Battalion.

Phone - (703) 806-4007

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Fort Belvoir Military Base, Fairfax County; from I-95 take the Fort Belvoir/ Newington exit to the southern leg of the Fairfax County Parkway (Route 7100). Follow the parkway east approximately 3 miles until its end at Richmond Highway (Route 1). Turn left onto Route 1 and at the first light make a right into Tulley Gate. Follow to the refuge main entrance ahead on the right. Before that, the first parking lot you see is for the short handicap accessible trail; the second leads to the heart of the trail system. Access to the base can be limited without notice.

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