A place for hikers with dogs to share tips, experiences, favorite hikes, concerns.
Some general guidelines to keep in mind, suggested by a staffer at New Jersey DEP:
The general rule is pets are permitted within the outside day use areas of the parks/forests as long as they are held on a leash (maximum length - 6 feet) and you clean up after your pet. Pets are not permitted in buildings, on swimming beaches or in swimming waters, all overnight facilities (with the exception of the pet friendly campsites), golf courses or botanical gardens.
In the Catskill Forest Preserve, dogs may be unleashed, except for in campgrounds, where they must be leashed.
some sort of warning sign along the trail might help
Thx a lot for the info Michael K7!
Me and my wife have been on overnight trips in the Harrimans a few times now (all when snow was still knee deep on the mountains) and have never come across any signs of bears, nor any signs ABOUT bears! Any inexperience hiker won't even know that they are in bear country and should be practicing bear precautions, or even what kind of precautions they are. Initially I thought maybe that's because there're no bears in Harriman-Bear region, now I realize there are bears. I just can't understand why there isn't a single warning sign about it.
I too have seen half consumed fruits and used tissues (assuming they were used to after food) discarded along the trial and once a half bag of chips in the shelter. You're abusolutely right about it's time to step up the effort to better inform and educate hikers/campers before bears in Harriman get bolder and begin to "enjoy" people's left-over, and god forbid, eventually people.
I'm just really glad to know that bears in the park are still afraid of human and hope that our fellow humans are intelligent enough to know that we should keep it that way...
hiking w dogs
email me off list for further information re hiking w dogs in this area. i do it daily. susan [email protected]
Suggestions for Hiking/Camping with Dogs?
My wife and I have hiked
Re: My wife and I have hiked
Our dog, a 70 pound
I have a 3-year old shepherd
hiking with dogs
Hi, welcome to the Trail Conference. Hopefully we are a good resource for you and dog.
Please check "Go Hiking" then Find a Park, each area below tells you if dogs are permitted. I think you'll find dogs are okay nearly everywhere, as long as they are kept on leash. Some NJ and NY parks allow camping, you can check those individually to be sure the dog is okay. I'm sure others will answer you as to gear, etc. We are finding ticks particularly bad this year, so be sure spray your dog and check after hikes, that goes for the humans too!
Deer ticks
Re: hiking with dogs
I love camping but I'm