Rock Creek Regional Park

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

The Park

In 1965 an earthen dam was built creating Lake Needwood to prevent small stream flooding and control sediment. In 1967 another earthen dam was constructed down the road on the north branch of Rock Creek to create Lake Bernard Frank for the same reasons. Together the two lakes are the centerpieces of the 2,700-acre Rock Creek Regional Park.

The Walks

The two sections of Rock Creek Regional Park each radiate different personalities. Lake Needwood is a bit more rough-and-tumble with picnic shelters on the shore and boaters - including an outboard powered pontoon boat that cruises the lake on weekends - out on the water. The most-favored route for canine hikers here is a trip around the 75-acre lake partly on an old access road and partly on dirt paths. This is a shady, sometimes hilly circuit that hugs the shoreline and gives your dog plenty of opportunity for a swim. Lake Frank is given over to quiet, passive recreation. Aside from fishing on the lake the primary activity to take place here is hiking. Eight miles of well-maintained trails spread out from the Meadowside Nature Center. To stretch your dog’s legs you can tour Lake Frank for over three miles on the Lakeside Trail or for those hounds with short attention spans you can jump from trail to trail on the many short, themed paths. There are many delights to found around the corners here: an old mill site, a restored log cabin, and even a covered bridge built by Rockville High School students.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Mostly natural

Workout For Your Dog - Modest climbs here and there

Swimming - Excellent, don’t disturb the fishermen

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Don’t leave without taking your dog for a stroll through the Raptor Walkway at Meadowside Nature Center, home to permanently injured, non-releasable birds of prey. At one time or another the park has hosted every species of owl native to Montgomery County, hawks, turkey vultures and a bald eagle.

Phone - (410) 592-2897

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Rockville, Montgomery County; from Norbeck Road (MD 28) take Muncaster Mill Road west. Lake Frank and Meadowside Nature Center are on the left; Lake Needwood is down on Needwood Road.

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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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Hampton National Historic Site

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

The Park

When Captain Charles Ridgely, heir to an iron and shipping fortune, began construction on Hampton mansion in 1783 this now highly suburbanized part of Baltimore County was so remote that wolves howled at night and locals ridiculed the project in the wilderness as “Ridgely’s Folly.” In 1948, after housing six generations of Ridgelys, the Georgian mansion became the first site in the National Park Service to be recognized for its architectural merit and not its historical significance. Once a sprawling, self-sufficient empire of 25,000 acres, all that remains of the original Hampton estate is 63 acres.

The Walks

The elegant stuccoed mansion is off limits to your dog but that is no reason he can’t strut around the grounds like royalty. He can trot down the Great Terrace behind the house, once used for bowling on the green, and into the formal English boxwood garden. Where once a 700-tree orchard stood is an open field ideal for a game of fetch. Scattered among the 200 historic specimen trees are original outbuildings - stables that once housed Maryland’s fastest horses, a citrus-growing orangery and slave quarters. On the front lawn is a grass-covered brick dome enclosing a 33-foot deep pit that was

used as an ice house.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Grass and brick and cobble

Workout For Your Dog - No

Swimming - None

Restrictions On Dogs - No dogs in the mansion

Something Extra

One wonders what Charles Ridgely would think of his final resting place were he able to see it today. When placed inside the family’s Greek Revival vault after his death, his land holdings included enough land to make up half of present-day Baltimore. Yet the Ridgely family cemetery now squeezes against an interstate highway with a view of a neighbor’s backyard play set. Still, the brick-walled family cemetery is a unique historical destination open to your dog.

Phone - None

Website

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Towson, Baltimore County; from I-695, take Exit 27-B north (Dulaney Valley Road) and make an immediate right on Hampton Lane to the entrance on the right.

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Elk Neck State Park

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

The Park

At Turkey Point the Northeast and Elk rivers have pinched a finger of land in the Upper Chesapeake Bay so violently that it swells to more than 100 feet above the water. The result is Elk Neck State Park, a vibrant mix of sandy beaches, marshlands and hardwood forests.

The Walks

There are five main trails at Elk Neck State Park. None is longer than two miles and all can be covered in a leisurely afternoon of canine hiking. The White Trail through the Thackery Swamp is a self-guiding nature trail. The Black Trail skirts the shoreline of the Elk River and the waters of the Chesapeake Bay can be reached from the Blue Trail at Turkey Point. You start your explorations on an old access road high above the waters that soon turns towards the Old Turkey Point Lighthouse. The various footpaths radiate off the main trail across the peninsula.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt roads and woods paths

Workout For Your Dog - Gradual climbs to Turkey Point

Swimming - Spirited dog swimming on small sandy beaches on the Chesapeake Bay

Restrictions On Dogs - No dogs on the North East Beach

Something Extra

A lighthouse was authorized by Congress in 1831 and two years later a tower and keeper’s quarters was situated on a 100-foot bluff where the North East and Elk Rivers converge. Originally, the 35-foot tower had a panel of red glass to warn ships they were approaching the shallows. The beacon was visible for 13 miles and was the highest of 74 lighthouses on the Chesapeake Bay. The keeper’s quarters are gone but the tower and spectacular views remain atop the grassy bluffs.

Phone - (410) 287-5333

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Northeast, Cecil County; from I-95 exit onto Route 272 (North East Road)and go south 2.4 miles to Route 7 (East Cecil Avenue). Cross State Route 7, stay on Route 272 and go 11 miles to the end of the road and the park.

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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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