OREGON

Oregon benefits in comparison to its partner in the Great Northwest, Washington, in that most of the Beaver State’s federally owned destination land has not been anointed national park status. Oregon has only one national park, Crater Lake, and 12 national forests and a national grassland. Washington has three national parks and six national forests. To most people that is a distinction without a difference but to canine hikers it is massive because it means more access to trails. The Oregon coast is 363 miles of photo ops and it is all public and tail-friendly. There are over 80 state parks and recreation areas designated along the coastal highway where your dog can hike out on headlands for miles into the Pacific Ocean, explore pocket beaches or fetch in the waves. Highlights include Cannon Beach where 235-foot high Haystack Rock is one of the largest free-standing monoliths in the world and the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area where mountains of sand extend inland for almost three miles. The Columbia River Gorge was designated America's first National Scenic Area in 1986. The 77 named waterfalls that tumble over sheer basalt rock walls include the 620-foot plunge at Multnomah Falls, executed in two drops. Dogs are welcome on waterfall trails throughout the Gorge. The sheer cliffs of tuff and basalt stone at Smith Rock on the Crooked River in central Oregon gave birth to modern American sport climbing. Dogs don’t need to test the more than 500 climbing routes to appreciate the high desert landscape here - it can be done from the trails. With paw protection your dog can hike in the footsteps of astronauts on the lava flows at Newberry Crater National Volcanic Monument where space explorers were trained to walk on the moon. Desert-like eastern Oregon is best experienced by dogs in the John Day Fossil Beds where the mute passage of time is marked on red and gold claystone hills. The Carroll Rim Trail in the Painted Hills Unit here purchases panoramic doggie views of the entire national monument. By some counts Oregon has the most ghost towns of any state and the vast Bureau of Land Management lands of eastern Oregon is where dogs can sniff them out. If the Beaver State has to take a demerit it is at Silver Falls State Park. The Trail of 10 Falls, one of America’s best hydrospectacular hikes and atop of many “Oregon Best” lists, is not tail-friendly.

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

Eagle Creek Recreation Trail
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area • Cascade Locks

Can moss be the star of a canine hike? The Eagle Creek Recreation Trailis the most popular hike in the Columbia Gorge and most people come for the jaw-dropping waterfalls. The water displays deliver on the hype but it is the rain forest mosses that slowly worktheir magic during this visit. Moss is everywhere from dead tree snags to rocks to wooden bridges.

Between the crowds and the walking paths carved into basaltic cliffs, Eagle Creek is for experienced, easy-to-control trail dogs only. There are sheer drop-offs with no guard rails, although a guide cable is bolted into cliff walls at strategic spots.

The destination for canine day hikers is often Tunnel Falls, where a rock passage is carved behind the thundering 175-foot cataract. It is impossible to oversell the wonder of this moss-covered amphitheater. This journey gains over 1,100 feet in elevation in six miles.

An even taller waterfall lies another half-mile up the trail but only a portion of Twister Falls is visible from the main trail. The potholes in the pock- marked rock surface become even more treacherous and the drop-offs higher for Seaman after Tunnel Falls so use sound judgement in tackling “The Vertigo Mile.”

Less ambitious trail hikers can still get the full wonder from Eagle Creek by making the exhilarating Punch Bowl Falls at two miles in as the destination. A short spur leads Seaman down to the cylindrical grotto for a swim in the pool.

HIKING TIME: 2-6 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)