Dog-Friendly Hikes Near Arnold, CA

The single most useful thing to understand about walking a dog in this part of the Sierra is the difference between national forest and national park. Stanislaus National Forest land — which is most of what surrounds Arnold — allows dogs on essentially every trail. Yosemite National Park allows them only on paved paths and in developed areas, which rules out almost every hike people drive there for. State parks sit in between: Calaveras Big Trees takes dogs on roads, campgrounds and the North Grove trail but not on its other trails, and that distinction is enforced.

The second thing is water. Between July and October most of the small creeks below 6,000 feet are dry, and a dog that drank at every crossing in May will find nothing in August. Every listing below says whether there is reliable water. Carry your own regardless — the standing rule at the cabins is a litre per dog per two hours of walking, and more on the exposed rim trails.

Third: this is rattlesnake, tick and foxtail country from April to October, and there are bears. Keep the dog on trail, check ears and paws afterwards, and do not leave food out on the cabin deck overnight. A leash is required at Big Trees and at all developed recreation sites, and is simply sensible everywhere else.

The short walk to do on an arrival evening. A mostly flat path runs round the lake in about a mile and a half, there is water the whole way, and dogs are welcome on leash along the shoreline and the connecting Arnold Rim Trail spur. Because it is a developed park with a beach and a picnic area, the leash rule is real and the rangers do ask.

The best last-hour-of-daylight walk within five minutes of the cabins.

Where: White Pines Lake, Arnold · Drive: 5 minutes · Distance: 1.5 miles · Water: reliable, the lake itself · Leash: required

The best dog walk close to the cabins and the reason many guests never drive anywhere. Roughly four and a half miles round trip from the Blue Lake Springs trailhead to the falls overlook, on purpose-built multi-use singletrack with shade for most of it. The falls run hard in spring and shrink to a trickle by August, so time it for April to June if the water is the point.

Dogs off leash under control are normal here, but expect bikes and horses on the same trail.

Where: Arnold Rim Trail, Blue Lake Springs trailhead · Drive: 5 to 10 minutes · Distance: 4.5 miles · Water: seasonal, gone by late summer · Leash: under control; leash where the trail meets town

Four miles and nine hundred feet of climbing to a granite viewpoint over the Stanislaus drainage, and a good dog hike for a specific reason: the trail is dirt and pine needle almost the whole way, so paws take far less punishment than on the exposed granite walks higher up. The last stretch is loose, and dogs handle it considerably better than their owners.

Late afternoon, west-facing rock, and no water at the top — carry it all.

Where: Valley View Drive at Forest Road 5N95Y, Arnold · Drive: 10 minutes · Distance: 4 miles · Water: none · Leash: under control

The one sequoia walk in the region that takes dogs. A mile and a half of level loop through the North Grove, on leash, and worth knowing that this is the only trail inside the park where dogs are allowed — the South Grove and the river trails are closed to them. Rangers check, and the fine is real, so do not improvise.

The only way to show a dog a giant sequoia anywhere near Arnold.

Where: Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Highway 4, Arnold · Drive: 10 minutes · Distance: 1.5 miles · Water: at the visitor centre · Leash: required, six feet

Less romantic than the grove trail and often more practical: dogs are allowed on all the paved roads and campground loops in the park, which adds up to several quiet miles under mixed conifers with almost no traffic outside summer weekends. This is the wet-weather option, because the surface never turns to mud.

The rainy-day fallback that still counts as a proper walk.

Where: Calaveras Big Trees State Park, Arnold · Drive: 10 minutes · Distance: as much as you like · Water: taps in the campgrounds · Leash: required

A short creekside wander off Boards Crossing Road, and the best swimming for a dog within half an hour of the cabins. There is no formal trail — you follow the water — which makes it a thirty-to-ninety-minute outing rather than a hike, and an excellent way to cool a dog down after a hot afternoon. Flows drop sharply after July.

Come for the swimming, not the mileage. Spring and early summer only.

Where: Boards Crossing Road off Highway 4, Dorrington · Drive: 20 to 35 minutes · Distance: as far as the creek stays walkable · Water: abundant into July · Leash: under control

Nine miles round the lake, or any fraction of it, on national forest land where dogs are welcome throughout. Constant water access is the appeal, and the swimming at the Duck Lake end is the best on the Highway 4 corridor. The granite slabs get hot enough in the afternoon to bother paws, so start early and stay near the shade.

Walk it clockwise in the morning and let the dog swim at the far end.

Where: Lake Alpine, Highway 4 above Bear Valley · Drive: 45 to 55 minutes · Distance: up to 9 miles · Water: constant · Leash: under control; leash near campgrounds · Season: July to October

Three miles up to a small lake in a granite basin, and the pick of the high-country dog hikes for one reason: the trailhead holds about six cars, so you rarely meet another party and a dog under voice control is no problem at all. Cold water at the top even in August, which most dogs treat as a gift.

The quiet alternative when Lake Alpine's shoreline is full of families.

Where: Highway 4 above Lake Alpine · Drive: 50 to 60 minutes · Distance: 3 miles · Water: at the lake · Leash: under control · Season: July to October

Two small roadside lakes on Highway 4 with a few hundred metres of walkable shoreline, and the ideal leg-stretch on a longer drive up to Ebbetts Pass. Ten minutes of walking, five minutes of swimming, back in the car. The name is accurate in early July, and dogs get bitten too.

The best five-minute stop on Highway 4 with a dog in the back.

Where: Highway 4 above Lake Alpine · Drive: 55 to 70 minutes · Distance: under a mile · Water: the lakes · Leash: under control · Season: July to October

Eight miles into the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, where dogs are allowed but where you are genuinely on your own — no signage past the boundary, no phone signal and a real possibility of meeting cattle on the meadow, which is the one thing to think about before bringing a dog that chases. Creek water most of the season.

Only for a dog with a solid recall. There are cattle and there is nobody to help.

Where: Highway 4 east of Lake Alpine, Carson-Iceberg Wilderness · Drive: 60 to 75 minutes · Distance: 8 miles · Water: creeks, mostly reliable · Leash: carry one and use it near cattle · Season: mid-July to September

Four flat miles round the lake, dogs allowed on the trail on leash, with a very important local rule: they are not permitted on the main swimming beach in summer. The far side of the lake has granite slabs and quiet coves where a dog can get in the water without upsetting anybody, and that is where to head.

Walk anticlockwise, skip the main beach, swim at the far end.

Where: Pinecrest Lake, Highway 108 above Strawberry · Drive: 90 to 100 minutes · Distance: 4 miles · Water: the lake · Leash: required; no dogs on the main beach

High meadow walking on unmarked forest roads and use-trails, with creek water running through it well into September and almost nobody else up there. This is the closest thing in the guide to a private walk: pick a direction, keep the creek in sight, come back. Best combined with the Gargoyles, which is on the same road.

The one on this page where you will probably see no other dogs at all.

Where: Herring Creek Road off Highway 108 near Strawberry · Drive: 105 to 120 minutes · Distance: your choice · Water: the creek, into September · Leash: under control · Season: July to October

A mile and a half of flat rim trail past volcanic formations, dogs welcome, and the one walk on this page where we would insist on a leash regardless of recall: the cliff edges are unfenced, immediate and hundreds of feet deep. On a lead it is a superb short outing with an enormous payoff for the effort.

Leash the whole way. The drop-offs give no second chance to a dog that lunges.

Where: Herring Creek Road off Highway 108 near Strawberry · Drive: 95 to 110 minutes · Distance: 1.5 miles · Water: none · Leash: strongly recommended · Season: June to October

Three and three quarter miles along the South Fork Tuolumne to a year-round waterfall, and the most useful listing here for anybody with Yosemite plans: the trail sits on national forest land just outside the park boundary, so dogs are allowed, there is no entry fee and no reservation. Shaded, nearly flat, water the whole way, and a swimmable pool at the end.

The Yosemite-area waterfall walk a dog is actually allowed to do.

Where: Highway 120 near Carlon Day Use Area, above Groveland · Drive: 115 to 130 minutes · Distance: 3.75 miles · Water: the river throughout · Leash: under control; leash near the day-use area

Worth saying plainly, because it saves a wasted drive. Inside Yosemite National Park dogs are restricted to paved roads, paved paths, developed areas and campgrounds — the Mist Trail, Tuolumne Grove, Merced Grove, Hetch Hetchy and every other trail people drive there for are closed to them, and the rule is enforced. At Calaveras Big Trees, only the North Grove trail, the paved roads and the campgrounds are open to dogs. Bear Valley and Dodge Ridge do not allow dogs on the mountain in winter.

The practical answer, when half the party wants Yosemite Valley and the dog is in the car, is Carlon Falls or the Herring Creek meadows on the way out, and a hired sitter or a day at the cabin rather than a dog left in a hot vehicle at Crane Flat. There is shade and a deck at both cabins, and we would much rather a dog spent the day there than in a car park.