Best Canine Hike to a Doggie Swimming Hole
There is no point in having a favorite doggie swimming hole if every dog knows about it so the Waggie Award for Best Doggie Swimming Hole will remain a secret. But there are five nominees waiting for your dog to dive into that are up for the “almost best” doggie swimming hole...
Gunpowder Falls State Park (Maryland)
Sweathouse Trail
In the Belair section of this sprawling park in northeast Maryland the trail spends hours along the Gunpowder River until the last rapids are exhausted. But it is a feeder stream, Long Green Run, that hides the best doggie swimming hole in the Free State. Racing water is funneled into a deep pool by a whale-shaped rock that works as a natural diving board for playful dogs.
Jefferson National Forest (Virginia)
Devil’s Fork Loop Trail
The full loop covers seven miles but this is one canine hike that plays better as an out-and-back. The star attraction is the Devil’s Bathtub 1.6 miles from the trailhead. Getting there will take your dog into the cold Devil’s Fork waters 12 times - and that won’t even be their favorite part of the hike. And it is not even the Devil’s Bathtub. It is the remarkably blue-green swimming hole that many people mistake for the tub (that is actually about 500 feet further on and up) that your dog will find irresistible.
Mark Twain National Forest (Missouri)
Blue Spring Trail
The Blue Spring Trail passes by easily under ledges of cherty Gasconite dolomite that spice up the canine hike. At this point you are hard by the North Fork River which is muddy and brown and giving up no hints of the wonders it holds up ahead. In less than one mile the star of the hike emerges, the natural spring nestled in a dramatic rock amphitheater, disgorging seven million gallons of water per day. If you didn’t know better you would think this large grotto with turquoise blue water was designed specifically as a doggie swimming hole. Rock blocks line the edges for dogs to plunge into the pool and there is also a level bank for walking easily into the constant 57-degree water.
Nantahala National Forest (North Carolina)
Little Green Trail #485
There are eight significant waterfalls in the Panthertown Valley, a unique flat-bottomed valley in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the grand tour takes in five in a roughly nine-mile loop. The bottomlands are lubricated by clear bronze streams with many opportunities for dog paddling. The first big chance comes at Schooltown Falls where it will take some considerable coaxing to get your water-loving dog away from the plunge pool and large fluffy sand beach to continue the hike.
Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest (Utah)
Dog Lake Trail
Dog Lake is certainly no secret swimming hole. In fact, if there are no dogs paddling and fetching in the small mountain cirque when you arrive look around suspiciously. Shaded by trees, the dirt path switchbacks languidly to tame the 1,200 feet in elevation gain through Millcreek Canyon over three miles. Your dog can walk straight into the puddle-like lake from anywhere around its entire circumference and, if your arm is strong enough, swim for a stick from one shore to the other. Dogs are welcome at Dog Lake any day of the week but on odd number dates can romp on this trail off-lead.
And the Waggie Award for Best Canine Hike to a Swimming Hole goes to...Nantahala National Forest!
The Forest Service tried to keep the Panthertown Valley a secret as long as possible, only recently creating an “official” trail system blazed by volunteers enamored by the magic this place works on the hiking soul. A Panthertown tour of doggie swimming holes spends long level stretches on sandy dirt that is easy on the paw. A particularly delightful patch is along the Great Wall Trail through light woods paralleling a 300-foot high granite rock dome that has caused some to call this - unironically - the “Yosemite of the East.” The canine hiking becomes more challenging at this point and a side trip to the top of the 4,206-foot Big Green Mountain is possible for views across Panthertown. Oh, the big cats are gone from Panthertown but this is a protected sanctuary for American black bears.