Doggin’ Northern Virginia

Doggin' Northern Virginia: The 50 Best Places To Hike With Your Dog In NOVA Buy on Amazon

Hike With Your Dog Adventure Log - Northern Virginia: Places in NOVA Where You Won't Be Able to Wipe The Wag Off Your Dog's Tail Buy on Amazon

Have you ever considered how far you walk with your dog? If you walk just 15 minutes a day you will have walked far enough in your dog's lifetime to cross the United States. With all that walking ahead of you, aren't you ready for a new place to take a hike with your dog?

Northern Virginia can be a fantastic place to hike with your dog. After a short drive you can be hiking with your dog on sand trails, climb hills that leave you and your dog panting, walk on some of the most historic grounds in America, explore the estates of America's wealthiest families or circle lakes for seven miles and never lose sight of the water. DOGGIN' NORTHERN VIRGINIA explores the region's top trails with your best friend in mind...

What makes a great place to take your dog hiking? Well, how about a paw-friendly surface to trot on? Grass and sandy soil are a lot more appealing than asphalt and rocks. A variety of hikes is always good - long ones for athletic dogs and short ones for the less adventurous canine. Dogs always enjoy a refreshing place to swim as well. For dog-friendly parks our guides describe the trail options for your dog, evaluate park traffic from other users, tell you whether you will need a guide dog to find your way around and, of course, tell you how to get to the park.

While walking the dog around Northern Virginia, we bring along generous helpings of local history, botany, geology, architecture and more. So what are you waiting for? Your dog will want to get going and look a bald eagle in the eye (page 23), trot across a bridge built by the Army's 11th Engineer Battalion (page 53), hike through the largest stand on bluebells on the East Coast (page 83), hunt for fool’s gold (page 25), hike down a Colonial road dating to 1692 (page 31)...

THE BEST OF THE BEST

BEST PLACE FOR YOUR DOG TO SWIM
G. Richard Thompson Wildlife Refuge
The ten-acre Lake Thompson is the best canine swimming hole in Northern Virginia with access right by the road. But don’t bother the trout fishermen.

BEST ONE-HOUR WORKOUT FOR YOUR DOG
Harpers Ferry National Historic Park
The Stone Fort Trail climbs steadily and relentlessly up the 1,444-foot high Maryland Heights. You’re just walking your dog - imagine pulling five-ton guns up the same route during the Civil War.

PRETTIEST HIKE FOR YOUR DOG
Great Falls Park
The River Trail takes your dog to the edge of the 76-foot falls, picks its way along the stee-walled Mather Gorge and twists through a rocky-alpine environment seldom seen in Northern Virginia.

BEST HALF-HOUR HIKE WITH YOUR DOG
Mount Vernon
The Forest Trail will convince your dog that George Washington wasn’’t telling a lie when he said, “No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this.”

MOST HISTORIC HIKE WITH YOUR DOG
Battlefields of Manassas
Not once, but twice, the Union and Confederate armies clashed in these woods and over farm fields. Long loop trails visit the key battle spots across miles of preserved open space.

BEST OPEN-FIELD HIKING WITH YOUR DOG
Sky Meadows State Park
The park lives up to its name as the meadows climb up the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains. If your dog isn’t used to hiking, there are benches spaced along the trail.

BEST PLACE TO CIRCLE A LAKE WITH YOUR DOG
Burke Lake Park
The 4.5-mile hike around Burke Lake dishes up abundant lake views, plenty of trees, an easy trot for your dog - and even a smattering of tranquility in a heavily developed area.

BEST PLACE TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE WOODS WITH YOUR DOG
Prince William Forest
At over 15,000 acres, this is the largest protected swath of land in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Despite its proximity to millions of people the forest trails are refreshingly uncrowded, always an attraction for canine hikers.