Schenley Park

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

The Park

Mary Elizabeth Croghan did not spend much of her 77 years in Pittsburgh, but few have matched her lasting influence on the city. Born near Louisville in 1826, Mary was the daughter of frontier businessman James O’Hara’s daughter and as her mother’s only heir stood to inherit large tracts of Pittsburgh land. That inheritance was jeopardized when, at the age of 15 in a Staten Island boarding school, she eloped with a 43-year old British sea captain named Edward Schenley. The incident became a highly publicized scandal on both sides of the Atlantic, not helped by the fact that Captain Schenley was AWOL from his post in British Guiana at the time and it was his third elopement. Mary’s enraged father voided her inheritance by an act of the state legislature. Years later after he had calmed down, the two reconciled in England and in 1850 she received her full inheritance. Through the years she donated freely to Pittsburgh churches and public schools and in 1889 she gave the land that would become Schenley Park. 

The Walks

Your dog’s best hiking day in Schenley Park will be in the 456-acre park’s forested interior around Panther Run. The stone stairs and bridges used to reach the floor of the ravine were mostly constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Depression of the 1930s. Hollow Run Trail will be your main conveyance through the valley with a choice of return paths at varying elevations.

Your dog will experience paw-friendly dirt and packed clay trails as he quickly loses any feel that he is in the middle of a major American city. The full trip up and down the Panther Run ravine will cover a bit less than two miles.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: A park map is available to explore the various delights of Schenley Park but don’t expect much help on the ground.

Workout For Your Dog - More than one hour.

Swimming - In 1909 the city excavated in the ravine at Panther Hollow to create a lake for very short boat cruises. Today, if no is fishing your dog can slip into the lake for a swim where it empties into Panther Run.

Restrictions On Dogs - Dogs are allowed throughout Schenley Park.

Something Extra

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in the park was a gift to Pittsburgh from steel and real estate baron Henry Phipps in 1893. Phipps directed the building of a splendid Victorian glasshouse designed by the renowned architectural firm of Lord and Burnham. Today Phipps Conservatory is one of the largest celebrations of botanical diversity in the country.

Phone - (412) 682-7275

Website 

Admission Fee - None for day use

Directions - Pittsburgh; the Visitor Center is at 101 Panther Hollow Road. From I-376 take Exit 3A and

turn right, away from the river. Turn right on the Boulevard of the Allies into the park.

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Money Rocks County Park

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

The Park

If you are looking for long, solitary walks through the woods with your dog in Lancaster County you can head for the Furnace Hills, the largest continuous forest remaining in the county or the Welsh Mountains, with the second most. The latter is home to Money Rocks Park - so-named because it was long believed that Pequa Valley farmers hid cash in the outcroppings - with more than 300 acres of mature woodland.

The Walks

The trail system at Money Rocks travels on a spiderweb of old mining and logging roads. Most are paw-friendly dirt, others are rock-filled, but all are wide and airy under the mature black birch trees that dominate the ridge. There are two named trails: Overlook (white) and Cockscomb (red), named for another line of rock outcroppings further down the ridge from Money Rocks. The Cockscomb penetrates deeper into the woods on a long buttonhook that eventually drops down off the ridge before heading back up the hill. This is the hardiest climb you will encounter at Money Rocks.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Some soft dirt, some stony paths

Workout For Your Dog - Moderate climbs and longish trails

Swimming - None; you will walk a long way before you stumble across a little stream

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

The exposed ridge and rock outcroppings at Money Rocks serve up impressive views of surrounding farmlands and distant towns with not a great deal of purchase on your canine hike.

Phone - (717) 299-8215

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - New Holland, Lancaster County; from Route 23 East pick up Route 322 East. After four miles take a right onto Narvon Road. Climb for about a mile and look for the parking lot at the top of the rise on the right.

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The Pinnacle

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

The Park

The Appalachian Trail through Pennsylvania is not popular with many thru-hikers, derided as “the place where boots go to die” due to the rocky nature of the mountains. But one spot all agree is worth the purchase is the Pinnacle - a jumble of rock ledges offering a true panoramic view of the wooded Blue Mountain and the contrasting cultivated fields of the Cumberland Valley below.

The Walks

This is not a casual canine hike. Expect to devote a solid five hours to completing the 9-mile loop to the Pinnacle and back. The going is rough and rocky and athletic dogs only need apply. Tackling the loop counter-clockwise offers two routes to the Pinnacle: the rocky Valley Rim Trail (the path is not true to its name - there are no views from the trail) and a shortcut on a switch-backing access road to a mountaintop observatory (it is not a major time-saving shortcut). Your anticipation for the views at the Pinnacle will be whetted with a stop at Pulpit Rock across from the observatory. The mountain climbing ends at Pulpit Rock but not the treacherous footing for your dog as the trail to the Pinnacle is particularly rock-studded here. The return down the mountain is best taken down a fire road along the hemlock-draped Furnace Creek. This trail is a completely different experience from the climb up and gives the loop a feel of two canine hikes for the day.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Much trotting on rocky patches with uneven pawfalls and considerable boulder-hopping in spots

Workout For Your Dog - You may not find a better one

Swimming - Furnace Creek is fast and fun but not for swimming

Restrictions On Dogs - No dogs in the reservoir

Something Extra

Rocks are certainly a theme of a hike to the Pinnacle. From Pulpit Rock and the Pinnacle you get a commanding view of a river of boulders 500 feet wide and a half-mile long known as the Blue Rocks. These erosion-resistant quartzite boulders are souvenirs of the last ice age when powerful glaciers left them behind.

Phone - None

Website - None

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Hamburg, Berks County; northeast of town. Take I-78 east into town or Route 61 north. Take Fourth Street east out of Hamburg for two miles and make a left on Reservoir Road. Cross Mountain Road to the end of the road and parking at the Hamburg Reservoir.

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Kellys Run Natural Area

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

The Park

The Pennsylvania Power and Light Company manages 5,000 acres of recreational land surrounding the Holtwood hydroelectric plant. You can camp, enjoy a picnic, play some ball, do a little fishing - or hike. There are 39 miles of marked trails along the lower Susquehanna, most on the long distance Mason-Dixon and Conestoga trails. Canine hikers will want to head for Kellys Run where the 6-mile trail system has been designated a National Recreation Trail.

The Walks

Starting out on the blue-blazed Kellys Run Trail you begin routinely enough at a picnic pavilion and drop quickly into airy woods of mature maples and poplar. Nothing special as you roll along. Then the trail drops abruptly and you are introduced to Kellys Run. Soon you are squeezing through thin avenues in a Wissahickon schist canyon as you follow the roiling stream down to the Susquehanna. In places where the rocks pinch the stream tightly enough, deep pools form to lure your dog in for a swim. After you reach the end of the run the character of this outing changes again. Old access roads are used

to climb relentlessly back to your car. Benches appear in the woods as if by magic in this leg of the hike. Your final steps will be through rolling farm fields and, finally, ballfields. Near the parking area, circling around Kellys Run Trail, is the 3/4-mile Oliver Patton Trail that was also named a National Recreation Trail in 1992. This lively little track, named for the original farmer on these hills, traverses a stand of Norway spruce and white pine planted by the power company.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt woods and grass fields

Workout For Your Dog - Some major climbs lurking on these trails

Swimming - Kellys Run is mostly for splashing

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

Several routes will take you out of the Kellys Run gorge up to the Pinnacle, a grassy picnic spot on a bluff more than 507 feet above Lake Aldred. The best route is the Conestoga Trail, carved by the Lancaster Hiking Club along the river. At the Pinnacle you can fill your dog bowl with water in season.

Phone - (800) 354-8383

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Holtwood, Lancaster County; the Holtwood Environmental Preserve stretches across both sides of the lower Susquehanna River. To reach Kellys Run turn on River Road (the first or last turn in Lancaster County) and make your first left onto Old Holtwood Road. The parking area for the preserve is on the right.

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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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Ricketts Glen State Park

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

The Park

One of the most uniquely scenic areas in the Northeast, Ricketts Glen was slated to become a national park in the 1930s but World War II shelved plans for this development. Instead, Ricketts Glen opened as a state park in 1944. Gradually the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continued purchasing blocks of land from the descendants of Robert Bruce Ricketts until the park spread across more than 13,000 acres. Ricketts enlisted as a private in the United States Army in 1861 and after commanding a battery during the Civil War was discharged with the rank of Colonel. When the war ended, Colonel Ricketts began acquiring inaccessible virgin timber and he would eventually control over 80,000 acres of land. His Central Penn Lumber Company began harvesting the old growth forest, with some trees 900 years old, when the railroads arrived in 1890. By 1913 the timber was exhausted and the lumber town of Ricketts deserted.

The Walks

More than 20 miles of trails meander through the deep woods and mountain lakes at Ricketts Glen. The rocky Cherry Run Trail takes you away from the crowded Glens Natural Area into the eastern section of the park and the Grand View Trail is a 1.9-mile loop that reaches a fire tower with an almost complete 360-degree vista. Other less demanding trails mosey along near 245-acre Lake Jean.

Where The Paw Meets The Earth: Dirt, mud, rocks, bridges - you name it along the Falls Trail - be careful

Workout For Your Dog - One of the best

Swimming - Plenty of pools and streams and ponds

Restrictions On Dogs - None

Something Extra

The spectacular attraction of Ricketts Glen is the magical Falls Trail, a Y-shaped exploration of 23-named waterfalls. Two branches of the Kitchen Creek slice through the Ganoga Glen to the west and Glen Leigh to the east before uniting at Waters Meet. The stem of the trail flows through Ricketts Glen, among towering hemlocks and oaks, before tumbling over three cascades at Adams Falls at the trailhead. The two prongs of the trail connect via the 1.2-mile Highland Trail. The complete falls experience encompasses almost seven miles. If you take your dog on only one hike in the Mid-Atlantic region, this is it.

Phone - (570) 477-5675

Website 

Admission Fee - None

Directions - Benton, Luzerne County; on PA 487. Also access to the Falls Trail on Route 118.

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