Hiking with your dog: Day Hike Adventures

Hey everyone! This month we are featuring a wonderful series about hiking with your dog in all of the different ways you can hike with your dog. So far this month we’ve discussed Road Trip Hiking; which is when you are road tripping, but taking multiple fun hiking adventures within those road trips, and a hike for all 50 states. Today we are diving into everything you want to know about Day Hikes. Day hiking is when you take just about a full day to do an entire hike. I usually plan 6-12 mile hikes to take an entire day.

Some Examples of Day Hikes…

Mary’s Peak North Trail outside of Corvallis, Oregon
Watkins Glen State Park in New York
Harney’s Peak of Black Hills, South Dakota
Cape Flattery Trail near Neah Bay, Washington
Quoddy Head Coastal Trail near Lubec, Maine

Preparing your Pup

When it comes to getting your dog ready for day hike adventures, consider a few important things: How does your dog do off leash? Is your dog active and able to walk for miles, and do they exercise for miles daily? What will your dog do when you meet an animal on the trail? What does your dog need to eat food or drink water successfully?

When you are preparing your pup for a long day hike, make sure you are not changing elevation darastically, as this affects them just as much as it affects us! Also keep in mind that a 3 mile walk on level ground is far different from a 3 mile hike with 3,000 feet of elevation gain. You can train your dog for long distance hikes the same way as you train yourself! Start with a one mile hike and slowly increase in difficulty and complexity, until your pup is happy, with a high raised tail and hopping around for the entire hike. You can also train daily using action packed games like fetch. Many of the longer day hikes have less people, and you will often find people and dogs off leash.

You should make sure your dog will 1. Come back to you immediately when meeting people and 2. Will be appropriate when meeting a dog off leash on the trail. This is a controversial topic, as many people believe dogs should never be off leash on a trail. My theory is that if your dog will come back to you despite deer, bear, dogs, elk, or anything else it might find; then you are safe to keep your dog off leash. If that is not the case; the leash must stay on!

What to bring on a Day Hike

8-12 Mile Hiking Bag Supplies:

Emergency Kit: this includes emergency blanket, betadine, rubber gloves, honey, benedryl, vetwrap/gauze, antibiotic ointment, scissors/tape, rescue harness.

Food and Methods to make the food: I typically pack an ‘adventure meal’ with our Jet Boil, cliff bars and other snacks

Dog Food high in protein: I usually give Chloe an extra lunch on our hiking days, and lots of treats

Water: in a bladder for myself, in an external waterbottle for Chloe. I also have a lifestraw, just in case

Essentials: Rope, Multi-use knife, extra socks, microfiber towel, sunscreen/handwarmers, external battery pack, flashlight, downloaded map, cell phone

Chloe wears her halter with her food/treats attached, I usually wear leggings with pockets and a thin t-shirt/long sleeved t-shirt, depending on weather.

Day Hiking at its Finest: A Chloe Rue Adventure

Sometimes the best way to stretch your legs after a long drive (from Oregon to South Dakota, for example) is to spend an entire day hiking up a mountain. Chloe and I had a blast chasing the sunrise while ascending Harney’s Peak in South Dakota. It was just the two of us, waking up before sunrise and heading toward Sylvan Lake.

The trail is easy to follow, and though it is normally heavily trafficked, our early hour and weekday adventure made it so we saw no other people on the trail the entire time! Once we reached the peak, Chloe was pretty nervous about climbing up these steep stairs that have a grate, so you can see all the way through them. I actually had to carry Chloe up these stairs, but she went down them no problem! The tower at the top of the peak leads to an incredible view, with rolling blue mountains and plains that seem to stretch forever. We circled toward the ‘cathedral rocks’ on the descent, and loved their sharp spires! Overall the 6 mile trail took us under 5 hours, spending about 30-45 minutes at the peak for a snack and taking plenty of time for photos.

Just Some Day Hiking Advice

In the end, go outside on a hike and enjoy every minute of it. Take the time to sit by a flowing river, to stand under the waterfall, to sled down the snow on the mountain because life is naught but a series of doors; and our biggest choice in life is how we are going to live it. As for me, and my adventure dog; we are going to chase adventure.

Thank you so much for reading! Share one of your favorite day hikes in the comments on social media or below, and remember to subscribe! Until next time, happy tails and happy trails to you all!

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