Barking Embarkers

I have missed you all! I hope the COVID-19 pandemic is calming down in all of your states, so you can enjoy some summertime dogventures. I am working a home health contract and we were SWAMPED during the crisis! So I apologize to all my readers, and thank you endlessly for hanging with me.

This month I had a wild and wonderful idea to post a traveling with dogs series about hiking with your dog! Today it is all about hiking while road tripping. Do you guys ever do this? I think it should have a name. Like DogTripping. Or RoadHiking instead of road tripping? Or maybe trip hiking? Okay let me give you some examples of a Road Hike adventure:

Road Trip Hiking at it’s Finest: A Chloe Rue Adventure

So you can imagine, all of these adventures entail time in the car, and time hiking. Hence, RoadHiking. Let’s start with a story of Chloe Rue taking a Road Hike Trip through the Blue Ridge Parkway during a long weekend in South Carolina.

Chloe has gotten pretty used to the truck, as she spends a lot of time with me while I’m working. But somehow, this crazy girl knows when it is time for a weekend adventure. So we started off driving up from South Carolina to Virginia, with a very happy Chloe Rue as my co pilot. We entered the blue ridge parkway near Fancy Gap. It was fall and the leaves were BEAUTIFUL. We looked into the best place to watch a sunrise and found lump overlook, so this is where we car-camped. I usually use freecampsites.net to find free camping. There are multiple pay campgrounds along the parkway as well… but there were other cars parked at the overlooks to sleep, so I figured eh, time to try some stealth camping! It went very well, but the parkway does have a rule against overnight camping in the overlooks, so I probably shouldn’t recommend anyone to do that.

We caught the sunrise at Lump overlook to a beautiful, fog covered morning! Chloe loved romping through the grass and I enjoyed a morning hike chasing waterfalls. We stopped at multiple overlooks and finally found the iconic bridge- and would you believe there is a hike that is directly underneath that bridge? So Chloe and I grabbed our day bags and found ourselves enjoying the bridge and waterfall on a spontaneous, short hike to an insanely stunning view.

After 3 short hikes, two gorgeous waterfalls, one amazing bridge and millions of gorgeous yellow and orange trees, Chloe and I realized we barely covered the beginning of the Blue Ridge Parkway. A motorcycle would be AMAZING with the mountains, curves, and crowds. An RV would be absolutely dreadful to tow along, unless it was a small one. But the Blue Ridge Parkway was a great time, and an awesome example of a road hike! We definitely want to go back for more hikeventures someday ♡

Preparing your Pup

When having wonderful roadtrip trecking adventures it is important to have your pup prepared! Taking a new puppy in a 3 hour car drive then surrounded by people and dogs without any skills or training… it’s a bad idea. So if you’re wanting to help prepare your pup for this type of hiking adventure, remember the three Ls. Leash, Look and Listen. It’s also important to make sure your dog is fit for having a number of small hikes in a day. Be sure to check with your vet for reliable info about length of hiking trips that are safe for your individual dog.

A lot of national parks and scenic areas like the Columbia River Gorge require that your dog remain on a leash. Even if you were doing small hikes (which most national parks don’t allow dogs on the trails, but will allow them on overlooks or pavement) it is really important to take as much time as you can with leash training. Every dog has a lot of different behaviors with walking on leash but I find training in a halter is hugely beneficial to let a dog know when they’re going to be walking for a long distance on a leash and to help them prepare for longer hiking trips where they might need to be wearing a backpack for an extended period of time. Chloe always trains well in her halter, but that usually means she is less well behaved when she’s just wearing a collar.

The other skill that’s important to work toward for road hikes is the cue, “look at me”. This is a nice trick to have well established when there are a lot of people and a lot of activity going on. Many dogs can find it overly stimulating. Sometimes they can be overwhelmed and reminding them to look to you makes them feel more confident and comfortable. Using the cue “look at me” also helps with posing for pictures so your dog looks at the camera every time. For Chloe, “look at me” reminds her she is in a “work” mode. Every time she is put onto her halter I make sure to have treats in my pocket and of course… she stares at the treats. That is, until I touch my nose and say “look at me.” Then she will change the course of her eyes and look right at my eyes and that’s how she gets the treat.

Last it is important to practice listening to your dog. If your dog is feeling overwhelmed with too much activity around them, find those tiny nonverbal cues and do everything you can to make your adventure pup have the funnest time on road hikes.

Once you have a sturdy foundation of training, get out there and practice the actual thing. Have a blast doing it too!

What to Bring on a Road Hike

Things for short hikes: water/waterbowl, emergency kit, small snacky foods, poop bags, camera or phone, and treats high in protein. This is easy to carry in a day bag, or I call mine an “under 3 mile hike” bag.

Things for the car: cooler to keep food and treats in, leash, collar (make sure you have a dog tag on that collar), halter, covered garbage bin, dog seat belt and/or crate, towel, phone charger, vehicle emergency equipment. Make sure all important items are out of sight! People take advantage of adventurers in places like the Columbia River Gorge and noone wants to come back to their car that’s been vandalized.

Just some RoadHike Advice

I think the best advice I can give is to be prepared for lots of people and dogs on the short trails. Take a ton of photos; and cherish every moment. Take your time on the hikes, stretch your legs and drive slow. Just enjoy it. I would advice against planning, and when there is something awesome you want to see, stop and enjoy it. When there is something that you are less inclined to enjoy; keep driving. Use freecampsites.net to find a place to sleep or try out stealth camping in your vehicle. It is all part of the adventure. ♡

Thanks for reading about road trip hiking with your dog! You all are awesome, stay golden and as always, happy tails ♡

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