Spring Hikes with Dogs
After a long and restless winter, a hike with your pup can be the best cure for spring fever. With longer days and moderate temperatures less likely to overheat your buddy, the early season is a great time for hiking with dogs.
Get started with one of WTA's suggestions for spring, or find your own using the resources below.
- Search recent or past trip reports, and use the "hiked with a dog" feature. Note: some reports may have been hiked by a dog on lands where dogs are not allowed. Check the regulations before you take your best buddy along.
- While dogs aren't allowed on trails in Washington's three national parks or in some sensitive ecological areas (like the Enchantments Lakes Basin or Mount St. Helens National Monument), they are welcome on leash in most state parks. Try one of these spring Washington State Park hikes.
Lower Gray Wolf River
Location: Olympic Peninsula - East
Length: 8.4 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 800 ft.
The Lower Gray Wolf River. Photo by Aaron Peabody.
A low woodland hike that starts to come alive with flowers in spring, you’ll go through meadows and dip into the Buckhorn Wilderness before meeting the river and walking along the river bottom into a narrow gorge. It’s long enough to turn into an early season overnight.
> Plan your visit to Lower Gray Wolf River using WTA's Hiking Guide
Copper Creek
Location: Olympic Peninsula -- Hood Canal
Length: 5.0 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 400 feet
A sturdy bridge running across the Copper Creek Trail. Photo by trip reporter by Sheri B.
Whatever you like most about hiking, this trail has something for you, whether it’s a peek-a-boo view, a quintessential Olympic Peninsula rain forest or a ridge top. As you hike along, be sure to look out through the moss-covered trees to glimpse small views of Lake Cushman far below. Keeping an eye on the lake gives you a sense of how fast you’re climbing. After this set of switchbacks the trail will even out to gives your legs and lungs a break, and you can soak in the old-growth forest: cedars, sword ferns, salal, and all the other usual forest life.
> Plan your visit to Copper Creek using WTA's Hiking Guide
Sun LAkes-Dry Falls State Park
Location: Central Washington -- Grand Coulee
Length: varies
Elevation Gain: varies
The beautiful waters of Deep Lake. Photo by trip reporter demonstrate.
Dry Falls State Park is a stunning stop on any Central Washington road trip. The viewpoint off Highway 17 at the Visitor Center is a good quick stop to see the evidence of the mighty ice age floods that swept through this area. But drive down to the main road through the park, just a couple miles south, and you'll be able to get inside this incredible vista, and see up close what the land looks like now.
> Plan your visit to Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park using WTA's Hiking Guide
Kamiak Butte
Location: Eastern Washington -- Palouse and Blue Mountains
Length: 3.5 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 900 feet
Kamiak Butte. Photo by trip reporter RLucido.
Just north of Pullman, this short hike in the Palouse climbs through April wildflowers for a summit with sweeping views of rolling hills that seem to go on forever.
> Plan your visit to Kamiak Butte using WTA's Hiking Guide
Emerald Lake Via Deadman Trail
Location: Eastern Washington -- Okanogan Highlands/Kettle River Range
Length: 5.0 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 3100 feet
A view of Emerald Lake from above. Photo by trip reporter HighlandsDan.
This calm, quiet trail through a rugged canyon is the perfect place to see wildflowers bloom in spring or rest lakeside in the heat of the summer. Views along your route will include the Kettle Range and the spectacular Hoodoo Canyon.
> Plan your visit to Emerald Lake using WTA's Hiking Guide
Beaver LAke
Location: North Cascades -- Mountain Loop Highway
Length: 4.2 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 100 feet
A very happy pup at Beaver Lake. Photo by trip reporter WonderSmash.
This quiet ramble along the wild Sauk River follows an old railroad grade, taking hikers over a sturdy bridge across small Beaver Lake. End your hike at a scenic spot by the river and eat lunch with views of surrounding peaks. This is an especially good hike in the winter and early spring when the leaves are off the trees and you have better views.
> Plan your visit to Beaver Lake using WTA's Hiking Guide
Cedar Butte
Location: Snoqualmie Region -- North Bend Area
Length: 3.0 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 900 feet
Cedar Butte. Photo by Nicole Prukop.
You have two options from the Iron Horse trailhead just past Rattlesnake Lake. Stroll or run the wide Iron Horse for miles in either direction or catch this short, steep trail to the south and climb to views that rival the more crowded Mount Si and Mailbox Peak.
> Plan your visit to Cedar Butte using WTA's Hiking Guide
Gillette lake and greenleaf overlook
Location: Southwest Washington -- Columbia Gorge
Length: 8.6 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 650 feet
A quaint foot bridge along the trail. Photo by trip reporter Anna Roth.
Hike a little or a lot — either to a lakeside or an overlook. Wherever you choose, you'll get a taste of the Pacific Crest Trail's famous "Green Tunnel"; the dense tree canopy and overarching foliage that make up the iconic trail's character in southwest Washington.
> Plan your visit to Gillette Lake and Greenleaf Overlook using WTA's Hiking Guide
Friends Landing
Location: Southwest Washington -- Long Beach Area
Length: 1.7 miles, roundtrip
Elevation Gain: 15 feet
A sunny day on the water. Photo by trip reporter eadraper.
Built by a Trout Unlimited board member who wanted to give a newly wheelchair-bound friend a way to enjoy fishing and the outdoors, Friends Landing provides a delightful outing around Quigg Lake, which is stocked with a variety of fish, so it’s good for folks who want to bring a rod and relax, too.
> Plan your visit to Friends Landing using WTA's Hiking Guide
Newberry Hill HEritage PArk
Location: Southwest Washington -- Long Beach Area
Length: 13.0 miles of trails
Elevation Gain: 250 feet
A tunnel of trees at the Newberry Hill Heritage Park. Photo by trip reporter fotomob.
A few miles west of Silverdale is the delightful Newberry Hill Heritage Park. Hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers can all enjoy the nearly 13 miles of trails here — plus they can also enjoy the hard work of many WTA volunteers.
> Plan your visit to Newberry Hill Heritage Park using WTA's Hiking Guide