Doggin’ The Finger Lakes

Doggin' The Finger Lakes: The 50 Best Places To Hike With our Dog Buy on Amazon

Hike With Your Dog Adventure Log - Finger Lakes: Places in Central New York 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?

The Finger Lakes can be a great place to hike with your dog. Within a short drive you can be scaling mountains that leave your dog panting, exploring impossibly scenic gorges that will set tails to wagging or trotting along glacial lakes for hours. DOGGIN' THE FINGER LAKES explores the region's top trails with your best friend in mind...

Where can your dog hike to the base of the second highest waterfall east of the Rockies? (page 55)
Where can your dog hike past a replica home of the only U.S. President to serve without a Vice-President? (page 21)
Where can you hike through one of the rarest habitats in the country and the only such place in New York? (page 103)

No Dogs!
Is there any more dispiriting day for a dog owner than driving to a new park and encountering the dreaded "NO DOGS" sign? DOGGIN' THE FINGER LAKES tells you the parks that don't welcome dogs. Also packed inside these 128 pages are...
...dog-friendly campgrounds
...tips on outfitting your dog for a hike
...tips on practicing low impact hiking with your dog
...and much more

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 the Finger Lakes, we bring along generous helpings of local history, botany, geology, architecture and more. So what are you waiting for? Your dog will want to visit a glacial kettle (page 19), hike through the darkest place in Cayuga County (page 77), explore a Seneca bark longhouse (page 31), hike to Todd Ewer s favorite place (page 59)...

THE BEST OF THE BEST

BEST PLACE FOR YOUR DOG TO SWIM
Havana Glen Park (Montour Falls)
There aren’t many great spots for your dog to swim in any of the Finger Lakes but he will delight in frolicing in the plunge pool beneath Eagle Cliff Falls here.

BEST ONE-HOUR WORKOUT FOR YOUR DOG
Sweedler Preserve at Lick Brook (Ithaca)
You have your choice of how to attack the 500-foot drop through this gorge and its three major waterfalls - if your dog prefers a more gradual ascent and doesn’t mind a straight-down descent, take the blue-blazed trail. If you favor a safer climb down with a harder hike up, stay on the white-blazed Finger Lakes Trail.

PRETTIEST HIKE FOR YOUR DOG
Cornell Plantations (Ithaca)
The Plantations are a beguiling mix of landscaped grounds and natural areas right on campus.

BEST HIKE TO VIEWS WITH YOUR DOG
Ted Markham Nature Center (Bath)
Situated atop Sharps Hill, the park is best known for the panoramic views from its Overlook. Spread before you are the Village of Bath, the Cohocton River and the valley beyond. Coem for the views and stay for the hiking.

BEST HALF-HOUR HIKE WITH YOUR DOG
Taughannock Falls State Park (Ulysses)
Unlike its gorge kin in the Finger Lake, the easy canine hike here is the Gorge Trail that travels up to the falls on a wide, flat path. The grade is so gentle that the .75-mile Gorge Trail remains open even through the winter.

MOST HISTORIC HIKE WITH YOUR DOG
Ganondagan State Historic Site (Victor)
Traveling across these peaceful trails will transport you back more than 300 years ago when this was the main trading town of the Seneca nation before it was destroyed by the French.

BEST OPEN-FIELD HIKING WITH YOUR DOG
Lindsay-Parsons Biodiversity Preserve (West Danby)
The star walk here is the Blue Trail that mixes open meadows with long views of the surounding hills with a woodside loop.

BEST PLACE TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE WOODS WITH YOUR DOG
Hammond Hill State Forest (Dryden)
There are no great destinations here. No great views,no sparkling waterfalls, no deep lakes. Just a great place to get out and hike with your dog. If you can’t find a suitable trail here, you aren’t trying.