MARYLAND

Hiking with your dog in Maryland is like owning a Golf GTI when Volkswagen introduces the Golf R that cranks up the horsepower to eleven. You’re still going to get great experiences with your legendary hot hatch but you are aware that that you are missing out on something even better. What do we mean? Take Assateague Island National Seashore. For long hikes with your dog on an undeveloped Atlantic Ocean beach, 37 miles, Assateague is in a class by itself. Many days the only other creature your dog encounters here will be feral ponies. But don’t try to take your dog on the nature trails. Or the towpath of the historic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal - a wonderful adventure for any trail dog with unique experiences in the Paw Paw Tunnel and on the Monocacy Aqueduct but the popular star of the 184-mile long park, Section A of the Billy Goat Trail, is a no-go for dogs. See how it works? At Catoctin Mountain dogs can enjoy hiking and guessing where the Presidential dogs are at Camp David but can’t do the popular trails to the rocky overlooks. America’s mightiest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, features thousands of miles of shoreline but canine hiking opportunities along its shores are few and far between. By the end of the 1800s just about every tree in Maryland west of Baltimore had been chopped down but you would be hard pressed to know that today. Garrett County that comprises most of Western Maryland is an arboreal wonderland with 76,000 acres of tail-friendly public lakes and parks. In recent years more than a dozen Maryland state parks have lifted bans on dogs moving from one of the worst state park systems for dogs to near universal acceptance.

The Best Day Hike You Can Take With Your Dog In Maryland

South Ocean Beach
Assateague Island National Seashore • Berlin

Assateague Island - the sands were connected to the mainland until 1933 when an August hurricane tore open an inlet to the Sinepuxent Bay - is best known for its free-roaming Chincoteague ponies. Legend has it that the original herd escaped a shipwrecked Spanish galleon and swam ashore. The ponies rule the island and Seaman can see them on the roads or even meet them in the surf.

A lighthouse was erected in 1833 but ships still ran aground, including the Dispatch, the official yacht of five American presidents. The cruiser was ruined beyond repair when it reached the shore unscheduled on October 10, 1891.

Dogs are not allowed on the three short channel-side nature trails and can not go on lifeguarded beaches but once you and your dog start hiking at South Ocean Beach there are miles of undeveloped beach until the Virginia border is reached and dogs are not allowed further. That is the better part of a dozen miles so Sea- man can get a full day of beach hiking at Assateauge on the undeveloped, windswept beach sands.

Dogs are welcome any time of the year but even in summer you may well have most of this beach to yourself and your dog - especially in the off-season. Your best trail companion is also welcome in the National Seashore campground. Pack your own sticks for fetching in the surf; not much driftwood stays on the beach

HIKING TIME: 2-3 hours

(from the book 300 Day Hikes To Take With Your Dog Before He Tires You Out: Trails where you won’t be able to wipe the wag off your dog’s tail)