- Jul 11, 2022
- 3 min read

No Dogs on Trails

A Rant:

When we moved from Indiana to California, we were pumped about all of the new and dramatic landscapes that we could explore. The redwoods, the Pacific Ocean, the national parks, the mountains, wine country - all within a couple of hours from our new home. With Neal's 3 day weekend and my ability to work from anywhere as an illustrator, we imagined that we could jump in the car with our 3 small dogs (yes- I now know that this is too many) and do our favorite things - camp and hike. It wasn't until later that we found out that dogs are (for the most part) not allowed on any state or national parks trails in California. Poop.

I know there are reasons for this, but at the time it was shocking. Trails are almost the only place you can take dogs in Indiana. It never even entered my mind that it would not be allowed in California and unfortunately I'm a strict rule follower; if I get caught taking my dogs on a forbidden state park trail, I am for sure getting fined and/or sued by the Environmental Protection Agency and it will be a long drawn out affair that will ruin my life.

I would be happy to just leave the pups at home and go have fun, but....

1) We don't have any family or friends to watch them. We have had moderate success using a pet sitter from Rover.com (which I'll talk about in another blog post) during the rainy winter months, but it can get expensive and there are limited options in our area.

2) We cannot leave them at all (even for a day trip) during fire season in our very rural area of California. If there were a fire, we would not be able to get back to save them. If you live in a fire prone area - you understand the dangers.

3) They are all 13 year old rescue dogs that have issues. Pip is completely deaf. Ollie is completely blind. Ella is mostly deaf and mostly blind. They all have separation anxiety. They are our family and it is our responsibility to take care of them.

At least they are allowed at almost all campgrounds. But, if you go on a weekend camping trip, it sucks if you can't go hiking on the trails.

A Solution:

So....what can you do? Hours of online research to find dog friendly activities. lol. Mostly you find stuff like dog parks...which are great for the dogs but not exactly fun for the humans. When we first moved here, we tried out a "dog friendly beach" we found online. Eh. It was mostly disappointing, in an unattractive semi-industrial area with shattered glass bottles here and there. Though Pip didn't care-she loved rolling in the sand.

Throughout the past few years, we have made it our mission to find cool things in California that we (the humans) would want to experience and would also allow our pups to tag along with us. Our secret discoveries are now a gift to you...Check out my blog posts for Northern California weekend trip ideas with dog friendly hiking trails, campsite suggestions, and tips to make traveling with dogs a little easier. :)