A Continuing Frustration

For me, the single hardest part of backpacking with my dog is finding a place to do it.

Resources like AllTrails are a great place to start, but they’re often spotty. Furthermore, trails and areas listed as dog friendly may have other stipulations.

What I’ve been running into with the Bay area is that dogs aren’t allowed at backpacking camps or overnight on any trails. At all. In the entire area. South Bay, East Bay, North Bay.

This is often the case with state and regional parks, as I mentioned in Hike Your Dog’s Hike.

What makes this especially frustrating is a regional park will usually list “dogs allowed on trail but must be leashed”, yet they won’t tell the hours they allow dogs on trail.

New Location

BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land tends to be really democratic, in that it’s open for multiple uses. It also tends to be surprisingly well kept. That said, BLM trails are often not shown in many areas, so it can be harder to track down a reliable trail map.

I’m currently exploring a few BLM options 2 hours outside of San Francisco. I expect to have the perfect trail outlined in two or three weeks.