A Bark In The Park: The 10 Best Places To Hike With Your Dog Around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1. French Creek State Park.

Approximately 40 miles of trails visit every corner of French Creek’s 7,339 acres. There are nine featured hikes on wide dirt paths of between one and four hours’ duration. The marquee walk is the Boone Trail, a six-mile loop connecting all the major attractions of the park. Two large lakes make first rate canine swimming holes.

2. Andorra Natural Area/Fairmount Park

America’s first public park is the largest contiguous landscaped municipal park in the world, sprawling across nearly 9,000 acres. It is the bucolic home to an estimated 2,500,000 trees and on weekend mornings it can seem as if there is a dog for every one. If the communal dog walking on Forbidden Drive isn’t for you, take to the hills and try the extensive trail system up the slopes of Wissahickon Gorge.

3. Valley Forge NHP

These are some of the most historic walks in America and some of the most beautiful in greater Philadelphia – panoramic vistas from rolling hills, long waterside hikes and climbs up wooded mountainsides. If you’re not up to mingling with the tourists, cross the Schuylkill River and try the 3-mile linear Schuylkill River Trail that connects the Pawling’s Parking Area and the Betzwood Picnic Area. The flat dirt trail hugs the river the entire way. Dogs are welcome throughout the historic park.

4. White Clay Creek State Park/Preserve

The Lenni Lenape recognized the great beauty of the White Clay Creek and made their most important “Indian Town” along its banks. There are eight marked trails at White Clay Creek, a state park in Delaware and a state preserve in Pennsylvania. State Park; the Penndel Trail, connects the two as it traces the meanderings of the stream. If you can’t get enough of the great hiking with your dog here, two new tracts of land have recently opened nearby under the administration of White Clay Creek State Park.

5. Scott Arboretum

Several area colleges welcome responsible dog owners – Swarthmore’s Scott Arboretum is the best walk. The collections are integrated with the stone buildings of the college which dates to 1864. Leaving the cultivated plantings of the campus, a variety of hillside trails lead through the 200-acre Crum Woods down to Crum Creek. Dogs are not only welcomed at Swarthmore, but there are water bowls chained to some of the drinking fountains. In the Crum Woods your dog need only be under voice control, not leashed.

6. Woodlawn Trustees

Adjacent to the popular Brandywine Creek State Park (with 8 trails and 14 miles of hiking of its own) are more than 2,000 acres open to the public for hiking and riding. Miles of informal trails can be combined to create any kind of day out with your dog. Athletic dogs will enjoy romping across the grassy hills above the Brandywine Creek. Walking back and forth on the Fire Trail along the water provides an easy 45-minute stroll. The Woodlawn trails serve up as fine a mix of open meadow and mature woodlands hiking as you’re likely to find in greater Philadelphia.

7. Green Lane Park

Dogs are not allowed on the Hemlock Point Trail but there is plenty of rich canine hiking on the park’s other four trails to set tails to wagging. The Red Trail, designed as an equestrian trail but not chewed up like so many other such surfaces, winds through open fields and stands of trees for 10 miles, although the entire length can be aborted in several places. The premier trail at Green Lane Park is the heavily wooded Blue Trail on the western edge of the reservoir where you pick your way across steep ravines and narrow ridges for 6 miles.

8. Ridley Creek State Park

The park chains water bowls around its benches along the Multi-Use Trail and your dog will welcome the cool drink after tackling the 12 miles of hilly Ridley Creek State Park trails. features 12 miles of hiking on four main trails. If the park’s four main blazed trails don’t tire her out try an unmarked trailhead just east of Ridley Creek on Gradyville Road offers one of the longest creekside walks in Delaware County.

9. Fair Hill Natural Area

Located just across the Delaware state line in Maryland, this is the Godzilla of area hiking. Traversing its 5,613 acres are over 75 miles of multi-use trails. Fair Hill was formerly owned by sportsman William du Pont, Jr. and was one of the largest private land holdings on the East Coast. The trails through the fields are typically double-track (old dirt vehicle roads), although singletrack trails dominate in the forested areas. Many roll through golden hayfields as befits Fair Hill’s stature as a leading equine training center.

10. Wharton State Forest

The Wharton State Forest lies at the heart of New Jersey’s mysterious Pine Barrens, a tapestry of impenetrable scrub pine, swamps and bogs. The main pathway is the Batona Trail, a 49-mile pink-blazed wilderness trail that begins at Ongs Hat in the north and ends at Lake Absegami in Bass River State Forest to the south. The hard-packed sand trail, which sports some gentle undulations to break up a mostly flat walk, is a joy under paw and boot. The Batsto River through the forest is stained the color of tea by cedar sap, adding to the region’s mystique. It makes an excellent canine swimming pool.

I am the author of over 20 books, including 8 on hiking with your dog, including the
widely praised The Canine Hiker’s Bible. As publisher of Cruden Bay Books, we
produce the innovative A Bark In The Park series of canine hiking books found at
http://www.hikewithyourdog.com During the warm months I lead canine hikes as
tour leader for hikewithyourdog.com tours, leading packs of dogs and humans on
day and overnight trips. My lead dog is Katie, a German Shepherd-Border Collie mix,
who has hiked in all of the Lower 48 states and is on a quest to swim in all the great
waters of North America – http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Katies%20Blog/Katies%20Quest.html I am currently building a hikewithyourdog.com tours trailer to use on our expeditions and its progress can be viewed at http://web.mac.com/crudbay/iWeb/Teardrop%20Trailer/Building%20A%20Tour%20Trailer.html