The Washington State Hiking Podcast

Dog Friendly Hikes on the Olympic Peninsula

• Episode 111

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 Welcome to the Washington State Hiking Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Thwing Flaming, 

and I'm your co-host Craig Romano.

Craig and I are happy to have you here. We provide practical and timely seasonal hiking advice for hikers, trail runners, and potential hikers and trail runners of all skill and ability levels that is helpful, accurate, fun, and inclusive.



 Our sponsor for the month of April is the Olympic Peninsula Visitors Bureau. Craig and I are really excited to bring you some wonderful episodes about the the Olympic Peninsula this month, and thank you so much, Olympic Peninsula for sponsoring.

 Hiking on the Olympic Peninsula spans rainforest valleys, mountain ridges, rugged coastlines, and more families can find easy wooded interpretive trails while dog-friendly hikes offer shared adventures on select forest paths and beaches. Coastal hikes deliver beach exploration and dramatic views. Two shorter day hikes for fresh air or multi-day backpacking trips through lush river corridors, over mountain passes and along remote shores where nature sets the pace for beginning and seasoned explorers alike.

Start your planning today@olympicpeninsula.org.





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, Craig, today we're talking about dogs and hiking with dogs on the Olympic Peninsula.

Yeah. Jennie and you, you spend a little time, uh, taking your, your furry, your fur furry four-legged hiking companion over there is, is that correct? 

It is, although I'm not sure if I've talked about this on the podcast before or not, but I very rarely hike with my dog. Um, occasionally, but it's very rare.

Like once a year probably. 

No, I think there's gonna be a lot of dog hikers out there are probably gonna wanna know why, but I don't know if that's where we wanna go. 

I'm happy to tell you why 'cause it's, it's relevant to this conversation. 

Okay, there 

we go. So my dog is just not a good leash walker and I will not, and I know this is another topic and people are gonna.

Probably hate me for saying this, but I believe really strongly that leash laws need to be obeyed. I actually have really strong feelings about that and have for a long time, since long before I had my own dog. , We can talk about that another time, but if you're a dog owner and you. Le hike with your dog off leash in places where a leash is required.

Just please stop doing that. It's a big deal. That's all I'm gonna say about it. Now there's a reason it's a trail runner. I agree with that. Yeah. And I, you know, I've, I've been a dog owner for seven and a half years, and one of my big questions for myself was, will I change my mind when I have a dog? And if anything, I feel that way more.

Strongly. And I know people are gonna say things like, well, my dog is different, and what, that's fine, whatever. But I'm just telling you, there's a reason those laws are there. So my dog pulls really hard and again, this could hiking with dogs in general, it could be a whole other episode, but he's stronger than me and we've tried everything to stop him from pulling, like, you have an idea.

Training a certain harness, whatever, it doesn't matter. The bottom line is he's just so excited to be outside, that he, he just pulls really hard and I can't hike with a dog pulling me. It's not safe, so I don't do it. 

What about, what about places where leashes aren't required as your dog? Um. You know, good, good voice command.

So you have no problem. 

He, he does have good voice command. , So I do take him hiking in places where leashes aren't required. Mm-hmm. So when I do hike with my dog, I only do it in very wide, very open, very flat trails. Sure. Um, or places that we wouldn't really talk about on the podcast because you're like, you've driven really far up a Forest service road and you're dispersed camping. And then we'll, or even if we're not camping, we'll go up someplace like that and walk along the road with our dog, with him off leash, and he does lots of leash walks around.

Home, you know, but , we have to make sure there won't be very many other people or dogs. Um, so that's, that's the reason. But there are actually a couple of great places that I've taken him on the What's about's? Yeah. In particular. 

Yeah. So let's, um, so yeah, let's, well first of all, um, we're gonna talk about hiking with your, on Olympic, on the Olympic Peninsula period.

And Yeah, I think there's a lot of, people out there. May, may think automatically. Well, it's all National Park. Why you? It's all closed to dogs. So I don't even think about the Olympics. So what we're gonna do today is we're gonna say one, yeah, half the half the Peninsula is national park. Almost all that is off limits to dogs.

Though there are some trails that are open to dogs in the park. We'll talk about that. Mm-hmm. And the other half of the peninsula, or more actually is National forest and other public lands where dogs certainly are allowed. Yes. So there are a lot of places that you can take your dog hiking on the Olympic Peninsula.

So if hadn't thought of that. You know, I mean, obviously you live in Portland, Angeles, you know this, but, but if you're, you know, over on the other side of, of, of Puget Sound, we'll, we'll give you some reasons why you wanna go over there with your dog. 

Yeah. And since this month, we are focusing on the Olympic Peninsula in general.

This seemed like a really great topic to get into because there are so many wonderful, um, trails for dogs, um, on the Peninsula. So how do you wanna do this? Craig, do you wanna talk about the places I've gone with my dog? Or do you wanna go around geographically? How do you wanna do it? 

Why don't you tell us where you've taken your dog, but, and, and, but, um, well, let's just, you go there first and we'll see how this, okay.

How this evolves. Okay. 

So the other thing is, um, that I should say about dog hiking for myself is that, um, normally I hike alone. And, and by the way, when I got a dog, I pictured hiking with my dog for every hike. This has been a tough thing to accept that my dog isn't a a group hiking dog.

He's just not that, that took me like two years to accept. But anyway, it's better now that I have, so my favorite hike, I think that I've ever done with him. Sometimes when Jay, I. The three of us do hikes together. He and I and Stewart, that goes a lot better because Jay is a lot stronger than me and he's much 

stronger than Jay.

If you're not familiar, Jay is your husband, so not the dog. 

Yes. 

So, okay. 

Right. Stewart is my dog. Right? Jay is my husband. We got, we gotta that out dearly new listeners, not for hiking. And you know, he also, he can be with Jay while I'm hiking. You know, he's not just home alone. Um, he is sometimes home alone, but not usually while I'm hiking anyway.

Or, or sometimes they'll go to like a trailhead with me and then I'll hike and they'll just kind of hang out for a while, um, or do a little ways and come back. So anyway, so this hike that we did, in January, probably the best hike we've ever. Done together. And that was the Spruce Railroad Trail, which is in the park.

The, and is in the, is dog friendly, 

the Yes it is. 

And if you have a dog like mine that gets really excited and I should probably say that he's very friendly, but that's part of the problem. He can't just ignore other, he wants to play and greet all the other people and that's not okay. Um, I've met 

your dog.

I know. 

Yeah. So, 'cause you know my dog, you know how very social he is. Okay, so the Spruce Railroad Trail is awesome because it is a rail trail, as the name would imply, so it's very wide and it's not steep, and those are kind of the key things for, again, not all dogs, but for my dog that make a hike really.

Good to do with him. And it also helps if it's not crowded. And we were there in January, but it was a holiday. Um, so if you're not familiar listeners with the trail I'm talking about it is, it goes around kind of the opposite side of Lake Crescent on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula. The north side of Olympic National Park, kind of the opposite side from where highway 1 0 1 is.

So you turn and go on a road that goes around the back of the lake. Um, just before you get to the. Lake and when you get up there, um, it's also a wheelchair friendly trail, but it's also really cool. It's a, it's paved trail. Yeah. So yeah, it's paved, but it's awesome. It's like through a forest and then when you get out to where the cool railroad tunnel is, you can go kind of on the trail around to the side to go to Devil's Punch Bowl and there's a really cute pedestrian bridge and I mean, you can go really far on that trail.

I didn't even know how far. At least 10 miles, I think. 

Um, go longer than that. I've, I've bicycled it. It's been amazing. Um, it goes, currently it goes, uh, almost to the, to the, where the Aya, uh, 

yeah. 

Campground is in the National Force. 

Yeah. And Jay, my husband has, has biked that whole area as well. I have not, 'cause I'm not a cyclist, but it's, um.

Yeah, it was awesome. It was a, there were lots of families out there, so there were definitely other people, but there was enough room for us to see people coming, get our dog Stewart, like close to us, paying attention to us, and kind of have that be a really positive situation. And, and honestly, even if I hadn't been with Stewart, I would've really loved that trail.

It was really pretty. 

So I, so I should mention. That's an excellent trail to take. Your dog dogs are, uh, are allowed on, on leash, um mm-hmm. In the, in the national park. Mm-hmm. I should also mention, again, as a cyclist, uh, I, I've been on, I I've been, I was just recently there in September and it's , very popular, , near the Devil's Punch Bowl.

Mm-hmm. 

So in that first mile, um, very, so that's, that's a, a concern. Uh, yeah. And why I'm saying because you wanna have your dog pretty. Pretty close to you because there's a lot of bike traffic and a lot of walkers. 

Yeah, 

that's 

a 

good point. 

You only 

saw a couple bikes, but 

Yeah. And it, it depends on when you go exactly.

The farther you away you get from, from the tunnel and the punch bowl, the crowds are gonna thin out. 

Mm-hmm. 

But definitely, you know, my, you know, be mindful that, except for that area, that first part, that's, that's a popular hiking area. The rest of it is, is more you're gonna see more bicycles. So again, if your dog.

How does your dog act Around a lot of, a lot of bicyclists. That should be a concern. But there'd be areas on that trail. Yeah, that's point. You're good. Be all by your, all by yourself. And there's old growth forest and there's some really remote areas on there, but you still, again, you wanna have your dog.

Pretty close by because Yep. Bikes are gonna be coming up at a pretty good speed in some of those areas. 

Yeah, and that's an important note. You know, we keep him on a pretty short leash in a situation like that, but that's also super important. 'cause if your dog's leash is stretching across the trail and his cyclist comes, that's really dangerous.

So, um, yeah, that's a really good point, Craig. So. That's one place. That's awesome. Another place is not exactly a trail, but um, clay Lock Beach, which is also in the park, is a dog friendly beach. You do have to have your dog on leash and people hate that because it's a beach, but it's also a national park.

There are other beaches you can take your dog to and let them off leash. So. Go to one of those instead. But it's pretty, it's pretty cool. And there are some trails through the forest, kind of around the campground too. Um, and then the final one that I've done that I think is a really good one that's, that's in Olympic National Forest, not the park is, um, the forest trails around Lake Quinalt.

Like, uh, to the spruce tree, the biggest, the, what is it? The oldest, the biggest spruce, spruce tree? Something like that. That Spruce. Spruce, yeah. Yes. Those trails around, sort of near the lodge are, um, in the national forest, you have to have your dog on leash, but um, they are also trails that are pretty flat and where you can kind of see.

Better, what's going on. So those have all been great experiences for me with my, with my dog. 

And you nailed it. 'cause those are, those are the places I was gonna talk. Not all, but those were Yeah. Primary places you nailed for some of the best dog places to bring your dog, uh mm-hmm. On the Olympic in a national park.

So going back to Clay Lock. Mm-hmm. Uh, so that's all in the national park. So, so people, again, you, here's, you may not be aware of that dogs are allowed on the Olympic National Park Beach from. The Quinalt reservation. So it's just south of Clay Lock. Mm-hmm. To the hoe reservation. Mm-hmm. Which is the mouth of the hoe river.

That's a, that's a pretty big stretch. That's, yeah. It's over, over 10 miles. Yeah. Um, it's gonna be very, very popular right around Clay Lock Lodge, but, and around, uh, Ruby Creek. And then there's, but there's areas that are, you're gonna have a lot of space yes. So dogs are allowed on that, on that, uh, stretch of beach.

Yes. The other stretch, they're allowed. Is at Rialto. 

Yep. 

Up until Ellen Creek. So you, when you're hiking there, so you can't go all the way to hole in the wall with your dog, right? But you can hike on Ellen Creek and then south towards the spit on the Qui River in that area. So that's another, so you've got two.

Stretches a beach where you can bring your dog in the national park. 

Yep. 

Um, now the other place you mentioned is great too. So people, you know, you think in Valley's a good place to bring your dog. I'd love to bring my dog out in the, in the Olympic rainforest. Well, it's not gonna happen at at the hoe for one thing That's right.

In the National Park. And they're not. Yes. But here's your other options again, and you mentioned it, Jen Quinnell. 

Yeah. Kalt, 

which is the National War. It is a wonderful area. It's, it's great. It's for, for kids, for, for people all ages. It has such a great trail system. Yeah. Uh, it connects to campgrounds, it connects the lodge.

It connects another, uh, lodge and, and, and private campground. You can do, uh, short loops. You can spend all day doing loops there. It is excellent for dogs. Also in that same area, um, over on the north end of the lake, there's a, there's a, a very short trail over there called the July Creek Loop. That's another place you can bring your dog.

It's in our picnic area that's also in the National Park. And then the Bogage Shield. Again, most of the Boga Shield national, most of the Bog Shield rainforest in the national. Park, however, the first couple miles is in forest. Yeah. And there's the iris spring loop, which which also takes, so here again, and this is an area I have been in here multiple times.

I never see more than a handful of people. Yeah. U see, I see nobody. Yeah. In there. Uh, great place to bring your dog. That would be a 

good place for our dog. 

Yeah. 

I 

have to 

keep that one in mind. 

Yeah. And the bo the, the bog and, and the boat shield too is a lot, uh, closer to forks. Yeah. The Theri, the drive is a lot closer.

So if you're spending the night in Forks, that's a great place. So these are, these are good rainforest areas. You can't, you can't bring your dog into the salt dock. You can't bring your dog into the hoe, but you've got the quinalt. And, and the Boga Shield to bring, to bring your dog in. Um, so are there any other places in the National Park?

Yeah, there's a couple Madison Falls, believe it or not, which is a yes. A all nature trail at the, what's currently now the, the trail head to get into the elah because you have to park at Madison Falls short trail, but you can bring your dog there. You don't, you know, lots of times, you always have to go those nature trails and you gotta stay in the parking lot.

You are allowed there. The other one that, um. A lot of out of, if you live in Port Angeles, you know about this place. Um, but a lot of outta town visitors aren't gonna know. That's Peabody Creek. Mm-hmm. Peabody Creek. It, the trail starts right at the visitor's center outside of Port Angeles, and you can Hi.

And, and it's open to dogs. Matter of fact, a lot of locals use it for their dog, and yet it's not crowded. Um, yeah, you can hike down is a nice little loop. And then, and, and then it follows the creek actually for a couple miles parallel to the Hurricane Ridge Road. That stretch doesn't see very many people.

Mm-hmm. So that's another area. That you can go. So those, those are your national park sites. Uh, everything else in the national park is off limits except one other area. Okay. And this is another one. The Doey Wallops Road. The Doi wa road is washed out now, so it's been converted to a trail. 

Yep. 

Um, you start a national forest, you are allowed to hike with your dog on that road as far as the old Dowas campground, so you can't go beyond that until the trail pretty far.

It's, it's very far. It's six. It's what, like 10 miles or six miles? Okay. Yeah, it's almost seven miles. Yeah. Yeah. . So that's another area in the National Park. That you can bring your dog. Uh, and, and same thing. It's very, like you were mentioned, it's very wide. It can be busy, but the use is very dispersed in there because it's a big area.

So, um, 

another place like that, Craig, that came to my mind that I haven't hiked with my dog, but I think would be a good place, um, certainly for lots of people it would, would be the Mount Zion Trail. 

Yeah, that'd be a good choice. 

Because it. Is it's a little more climby. Um, it's a little narrow, but the forest isn't super thick.

It's not super steep. And it doesn't have any. Any big drop offs? 

No. Uh, 

I'll let you go. Mean it sorta of does at the top, but it's easy to stay away from the end. 

You go. Yeah. Yeah. The best part of Zion is after the summit you continue, uh, for a little ways to a big ledge, but it's, I mean, there's a lot of room.

It's not like you're just gonna walk off the ledge. Yeah. Um, but yeah, you mentioned that whole part, the whole northeastern part of the Olympics, the Buckhorn wilderness Yep. Area is, um, all in the National Forest. Um, and except Royal, Royal Basin is not so the Royal Basin dogs are, are no go there.

Your Dungeness river Valley. Yep. In there you've got the upper and the lower, the uppers busier. Uh, it's really the lower kind. Talk about an area that doesn't get, you know, it's open to, to, um, to bicycles. Actually, it's even open to motorized. It's one of the very few places that in Gold Creek though again, you're not gonna see a lot of people in there.

I've trail run the loop in there and seen nobody. Yeah. 

Yeah. 

So. That's a great place,, to bring your dog to, especially it's going along the, along the river. There's a lot of side creeks and you're not gonna see a lot of people in there. So I, I would highly suggest that, um, as one of your best places.

And then again, on your periphery, there's, there's places, Miller Peninsula, state Park, another place, uh, this is between swim and, um, discovery Bay and that area. Yep. There's a, a very large trail system in there. Same thing. Great place to take your dog. Uh, there's other county parks like, uh, Robin Hill, which is near between Quim and, and Port Angeles and climb spit.

Another good place. Yeah, another good place. 

Not dunes spit you or doesn't allow dogs, but, but 

no dogs, 

which 

is 

kind inside of It does. 

Yeah. Yeah. Right. . Dungeon SPI is, is off. It's a national wildlife refugee. Yep. And, and note that, I mean, you will be fine there. That's, uh, yeah, that is, that is for, for the birds.

But he's still, you're looking for other, , coastal areas. , Stripe Peak is another great place. Oh, 

yes. 

Which, which is a DNR property. Um, wta, that's a 

wonderful trail. Trail. I love, 

love Striped 

Peak. 

And if, if you haven't been there in a while, WTA in the last couple years, uh. Designed a beautiful loop used to the trail used to kind of end on a logging road.

It was kind of anti-climatic. Now it curves around, goes up to the summit. The views Yep. Across the strai of one to Fuca are just fantastic on that. They 

are, yeah. 

It's all open to dog, you know, to, you can hike with your dog on there. Um, the other person and can you 

just talk about where that is, Craig?

'cause I 

like we 

didn't. 

Right. It's, it's just west of joists, so if you're going on Highway one 12, if that splits, uh, from, from Port Angeles, it's only a few miles out that way. Yeah. It's not very far from pa. 

Mm-hmm. 

The other place close in that same area is the Olympic, you know, talked about the Spruce Railroad trails, part of the Olympic Discovery Trail.

Well just, yes. The Olympic Discovery Adventure Trail, which is a 20 plus mile trail all on DNR. Property. It's much rougher and everything. It's not something you would take a road bike on. Mountain biker shoes, it's great for trail running. It's all open for, for you, for hiking with your dog on there. Yeah.

So, so that's another great place. Mm-hmm. Not too far from, from Port Angeles. Um, now we've been talking about the north, but, but what about the South? Yeah, the, there's some great places. Um, the Yi uh, lake area, so if you're down in the montesano. Area there. The Ucci is, there's a trail that goes around Ucci Lake, that's all open to dogs.

Anything in that Olympic, um, national Forest area on the south is open outside of, uh, staircase is in the National Park. That's a no-go. Yeah, but there's, dry Creek is a great one to take your dog on in that area. Um, the Big Creek Loop, another excellent, that's right off a campground. Another great place to to to bring your dog hiking.

So, um, I, I, you know. I wouldn't take a dog up, uh, up Mount Eleanor. They're allowed, but I wouldn't do it. 

Um, yeah, it's really steep and I agree with you about that. 

Yeah. But on the base, big Creek is a great place to to, and same likewise with Mount Rose. Dogs are theoretically allowed there, but it's, it's, it's very, very steep and there's no water, what you asked Creek Crossing not a good choice, but, but, um, you know, look at some of those valley hikes in that area.

Same thing. Um, lower Lena Lake. Is open. Oh, oh 

yeah. 

O open to dogs. Uppers not. Yeah. It's in the national park. 

Yep. 

So, so that's another, another place you can 

lower Lena is another great almost year round. 

Yeah. Matter 

of fact or backpack. It's really wonderful. 

And this mild winter, uh, that we've been having that, that we've just had here, um, yes.

Uh, people were hiking in there in January. Uh, it's, it's a place that, that on a mile winter you can get into year round. Yeah. 

Yeah. For sure. Yeah. One other thing I wanted to mention about hiking with dogs. And like I said, despite being a dog owner, I don't, I do more hiking with other people's dogs. There are two dogs that I hike with frequently, if you're a dog owner and listening to this, you probably know this already, but there are definitely trails that have like a lot of rocks. That, that is not a great choice for a dog. I mean, there are dogs who do that no problem. But you kind of have to like know your dog and know if that's gonna work for them.

Same with like big drop offs, um, you know, can be a little bit, a little bit scary. I also wanted to mention that, we talk about WTI trip reports all the time, but one of the things that people can note is if they hiked with a dog. On their hike. And so that's something that you can look for if you're like, oh, what is it like to hike Mount Zion with a dog?

You can look for that and then look for trip reports where people hiked with a dog and see if they said anything about that. When, when I either hike with my dog or hike with my cousin's dog or my friend's dog, I always try to note things. Really, you know, I'll check hiked with a dog even though it wasn't my dog.

And then I'll say like, oh, you know, our dog really loved. You know, was really excited about like this, I don't know, water pool or like, we had to really watch her when we were close to the, you know, this drop off was a little scary. We really had to like. Pay attention to her 

and, and I'll mention that in all my books if you're picking up my books.

Yep., I have, they're all listed, uh, in the icons for quick easy access if the hike is dog friendly. And, , I have an brand new third edition of, uh, day hiking Olympic peninsulas coming out later this year. So again, you can see Woohoo. Yeah. 136 hikes. You can see how many of them are open to dogs. Yeah., My book also includes, hikes down by Long Beach and in that area, so a lot more coastal areas if you're looking for places to take your dog on a coast.

So, and same thing, even though, in many cases, uh, some of these trails might be legally open to dogs, I, I would still, I still make the, the. The distinction, whether it's dog friendly or not, just because it's open to dogs doesn't mean I would take a dog on a certain trail. Yes. , Like you're saying, Jen, I'm looking at for the same criteria you are.

I'm also looking at things like access to water, particularly in warm area. I mean, dogs love to play. I mean, I hike with my brother's lab all the time. You can't get 'em out of the creek, you know? Yeah. He, you know, so it's, it is gotta be water nearby. So, um, really important stuff. And also looking at certain areas too, like.

If you're going by old fire lookouts, it's a broken glass on on the summit. That's an area I'd be concerned about bringing your dogs as well. So 

yeah, and that's one thing that's great about your books, Craig, is that you include those kind of things because to me in some ways, whether or not a trail is dog friendly is similar to me.

To whether or not a hike is, uh, wheelchair friendly or kid friendly. Right. So I mean, with dogs there's like, are dogs allowed or not? That's kind of black and white. All trails as that I know of allow kids, right. Or allow people in wheelchairs. Right, but who'd 

you bring them on? Some of these? Yeah. 

Yes. Yeah.

But, but I mean, I've never heard of that, but it's helpful to know. So setting that to the side, if you're just making a decision about. Is this a hike that I wanna do with my dog? Is this a hike I wanna do with my child? Is this a hike I wanna do with, um, someone with a disability? Or if you have a disability and you're trying to evaluate for yourself whether or not it's a good option, that's why book like books like yours and really thorough trip reports help people make that decision for themselves.

Right. So like if I know that my dog is super strong and tends to just like bolt over an edge, I'm gonna avoid a hike with my dog with a steep cliff. Right. Even 

avoid taking my kids there too, 

right? Right. Now if you're taking like a teenager that's a little bit different from a 2-year-old.

They, you know, if you're not watching them every second, they could just fly over the edge. So. I think yes, it's, it's good to know, especially with dogs where dogs are and aren't allowed, but also it's helpful to know like your own pets, your own. By the way, I did see a cat hiking on the Spruce Railroad trail.

It was 

awesome. It was on leaves. I've seen, I've seen, I've seen them in packs before. Well, no matter of fact, there, there's a very famous, maybe I've, I've met this cat twice. It's a blind cat up in Bellingham area. 

Cool. 

I, I, I, and I, I remember seeing this cat. Two hikes because you don't, you, you, you, you're gonna remember this, a blind cat on a leash out on the Lake Waka area, so that's 

awesome.

So look for this cat. But yes, cat, very difficult. I've gotten my cat out in a harness. Um, doesn't, you don't get very far, just kind of rolling around and stuff, but yeah. But, uh, there are hiking cats. Uh, a lot of them though I've seen, um, more so. Kind of, uh, perched on somebody's shoulder on the top of a backpack.

So, and 

you sometimes see people with smaller dogs that have them. 

Same like a backpack or something in back. Yes, yes. I've lots of pictures of, uh, of little dogs in backpacks. Yeah. 

Yeah, I know. It's so fun. 

But, but you know, with that said, it's important, uh, to know that even just because your dog or cat is in a backpack, if it's in a national park trail, it's a no-go.

If the trail has no pets, that's not like one of those get arounds. It's not walking. So I, I've right. I am aware of situations where people tried to use that as an excuse. If it says, no pets, no pets, it doesn't 

matter 

if 

they're, if they're on your body 

or not, 

that's good because it's, yes. That's a really good point.

And I think the other thing too about knowing your pet and your terrain is like, you know, now that I've been a dog, that I've known my dog for a long time, I'm, even though I don't do a ton of hiking with him, if I go to a trail and I'm like, oh, this would be a great hike to do with Stewart. What I'm looking for.

Is it wide? Is it flat? And is it not too busy? Right? But for someone else, they might be like, it doesn't matter how busy it is, we just need to be careful that there aren't like big, steep rocks to climb on or cliffs or, you know. My brother's a dog. She's a lab. She's afraid of water. That doesn't make any sense, you know, take, take away it's lab 

credentials.

Yeah. 

Right. So some people might say, oh, this trail is amazing for dogs because of, you know, it has this great creek to play in or whatever. But for a dog that doesn't like that, you know, so it's really nice. No matter who you're hiking with, and even just for yourself to be like, okay, what do I like? What do I need and where can I get?

As we've talked about in the past, Craig, this is kind of the value of something like this podcast or a guidebook or a trip report where there's more detail than just like a quick, here's a photo of mailbox peak, um, to kind of help you really evaluate and decide if this hike is right for you on this particular day or not.

Yeah. And certainly, uh, listeners out there, if you, you, you know, please weigh in, tell us, uh, send, send us a message. Yeah. 

If you have a favorite dog hike on the Olympic Peninsula or anywhere else 

or just, you know, any, yeah, tell us 

because we might do another dog episode in the future. 

I, I'm sure. I'm sure a few.

There's a few of you out there that hike with dogs, so I think, I'm sure that's a, a topic that, that we can visit again 

and you can sound off if you think I'm full of it when it comes to the leash. I've heard it all, so I'm happy to hear it from you too. 

Very good. 

Alright, anything else we wanna say to wrap up about dogs on the Olympic Peninsula?

No, I, but with that, I just wanted to mention the whole idea with the national Park. Um, you know, the, generally a lot of people think that, you know, I just. You mentioned today that there are several trails in Olympic N that you can bring your dog, but still most of the park. Um, but there are national parks in, in, in the US that, that dogs are allowed.

And I don't, I, I'm not sure if people are aware of that. There are actually national parks, uh, Acadia and Maine Shenandoah. In, in Virginia. Uh, so, so if you're one of these people who travels and I can't go to national parks, I have to have my dog checked. There's about, I think there's at least 10 of the national parks that do allow dogs.

Thanks Craig. 

Yeah, you betcha.

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Jennie Thwing Flaming

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Craig Romano

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