Central Park with a Canine Condition

July 1, 2011 8:29 AM

Going to Central Park with about 10 friends tomorrow with one twist I'm not used to - one of the people is bringing a dog. I normally do Sheep Meadow, but that prohibits dogs. What's the best place in central park for 10 or so people to lay about (ideally in the shade considering the expected weather tomorrow), picnic, and toss a frisbee and/or a football around? If it's not particularly crowded, all the better.
posted by slide to Grab Bag (6 answers total)

Best answer: Just north of Sheep Meadow's northeast corner, across the gravel path (roughly to the east of the cafe), there's a sloped grassy area that's pretty decent for picnics. Not huge, but I'd think big enough for your group if you get there early enough to stake out the footprint with enough blankets. And I'm pretty sure the dog would be OK there.
posted by mark7570 at 8:37 AM on July 1, 2011

Is the dog good with other dogs? If so, how about Dog Hill?
posted by The Bellman at 8:40 AM on July 1, 2011

Best answer: Here's a pdf of the dog friendly areas in Central Park. I always see people in the little areas around the great lawn with their dogs and you'll have shade there too.
posted by jourman2 at 8:41 AM on July 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers - much appreciated. The dog is the most sedate creature I've ever met, so I assume it would be fine with other dogs, but I don't know. In any event, I myself am not great with other dogs - one of the reasons I usually go to Sheep Meadow - so Dog Hill is probably not meant for me. But the place mark7570 suggests sounds perfect - near to a familiar area. The outskirts of the great lawn also sound good to me, jourman2, and that's a great map. I'll mention Dog Hill to my friend the dog owner - maybe they can go on a field trip.
posted by slide at 10:41 AM on July 1, 2011

Yeah, I came to recommend the same place that Mark mentioned. It is really nice and dog friendly.
posted by Shebear at 6:12 PM on July 1, 2011

Response by poster: We went to the spot mark7570 suggested and it was perfect. In some ways better than Sheep Meadow as it was quite a bit less crowded. A decent number of other dogs, too, which pleased pretty much every other member of my party. Thanks again for the suggestions.
posted by slide at 12:07 PM on July 3, 2011