Dog-friendly winter day-hiking/snowshoeing in the Olympic Peninsula

January 22, 2017 9:05 PM

Planning a trip to to the Olympic Peninsula in a couple of weeks. I stumbled across this site that outlines dog-friendly destinations there. I was hoping to get some ideas on which of these destinations (or others) to choose from. Looking for dog-friendly day hikes offering great views/scenery that are doable in the wintertime (hiking/snowshoeing).

We're moderately experienced hikers, so elevation or distance are not so much of an issue, provided the hike can be accomplished during winter daylight hours. Our comfort limit is any terrain requiring climbing/avalanche/or other technical gear. We'd like to just stick with crampons and snowshoes.

posted by ageispolis to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (4 answers total)

Best answer: It depends on how you define dog-friendly... a lot of these places that say they're dog-friendly still require you to keep your dog on a 6' leash. I'd like to mention a quick plug for my area, Whidbey Island-- which is a short ferry ride from the Peninsula-- We have a long and wonderful dog off-leash beach, a fully fenced dog park with a maze of wooded trails, an off-leash of rolling hills, forests and with views of the Peninsula AND the Cascades (And Rainier, from one angle)-- and another fully fenced park which is awesome open fields... all these are easily walked without any special gear, although the forest adjoining Greenbank tends to be muddy in winter. Feel free to memail me for more info! :)
posted by The otter lady at 9:45 PM on January 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pretty much what that list is telling you is that dogs are welcome (with restrictions) on pretty much all public lands, and there are a lot of public lands on the peninsula.

The beaches in ONP are great, but winter storms mean higher winds and bigger waves. Low tide is always fun, and dogs love running the beaches. Some trails have boardwalks which can be treacherous in the winter as they get slick and slippery and may not be that awesome for a dog.

Hurricane ridge is the most accessible high country, but if the road is open there will be crowds. That would be the place to go snowshoeing. I've never tried other places in the olympics in winter, but i'd bet no other roads will get you to any kind of elevation. Snowshoeing is more of a cascades thing, as there are more roads over the passes giving access to high country.
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:16 PM on January 22, 2017

Your dog will need to be on a leash at Hurricane Ridge.

Does that even work with snowshoes?
posted by spitbull at 1:03 AM on January 23, 2017

Best answer: Craig Romano's book Day Hiking Olympic Peninsula tags each of the hikes that are dog friendly.

Also, www.wta.org is a great resource.

It's a large diverse area, so it depends what you're after. But I really enjoy Thompson Spit near Gardener. It's pretty much off everyone's radar.

Feel free to PM me.
posted by humboldt32 at 9:13 AM on January 23, 2017