Two Short, Dog-Friendly Hikes in Shenandoah National Park.

ericamargaret5
1 day ago
3 min read

This past May, the sun was out and I really needed some fresh air. Gussie (my cattle dog mix) and I threw all the camping stuff in the 4Runner and hit the road.

Gussie is a great little hiking buddy; she loves to be outside sniffing and DAMN the stranger who dares pop around a bend on a hike: Gussie sees you and she's going to let the whole world know. I find this annoying when we are walking around the burbs, but when I am hiking and camping by myself-I do not care.

Gussie is not my endurance dog. Even though that was the main reason I was looking for a cattle dog (I wanted a long distance running buddy), she's just got a little too much Corgi in there. She likes snackies, short hikes, and sprints (in that order.)

Since I wanted to check off two of the shorter hikes in my Shenandoah hiking book, Mary's Rock South (2.6 miles) and Blackrock (.4 miles), I knew she was my girl for the trip.

We started put pretty early in the morning, getting to the Meadow Spring (mile marker 33.5) parking lot around 8:30, but not early enough to get a spot in the lot. Sigh. We parked across the street on the shoulder. I was pretty sure I was allowed to park here according to the signage, but not totally sure, so I parked and hoped I wouldn't get a ticket.

It was a cloudy morning, but Gussie and I grabbed our gear and headed on up. The trail was in good shape and it's a perfect burn, in my opinion: not too steep-just the right amount of incline to feel good about your morning hike. We did not see a lot of people on the way up because BASICALLY EVERYONE WAS ALREADY AT THE SUMMIT. We peeked our heads over the rocks that make up the summit and that's where the party was: kids, dogs, parents, friends, groups... you name it, they were already up there. On cue, Gussie fired up the bark alarm and I almost turned around, but I really wanted to check out the view... so we just squeezed on in and I made sure no one got to close to my girl.

As you can see, we managed to get a good view and get a little photoshoot in.

The trail on the way up was fairly empty, but on the way back it was starting to get busy with dog and people, all of whom Gussie barked at. Once we made it back to the parking lot, we loaded up and headed to the Big Meadows campground to get lunch, set up, and take a nap.

It had been a while since Gussie was in a tent, so I was also hoping to reacclimate her. A little thunderstorm came through, though, which made her nervous and did not help my task at hand. She eventually settled down (*phew*) and we took a little nap.

Once the storm blew over, we headed out to find the trailhead for Blackrock. According to the description, the trail was behind the Big Meadows Lodge. "Easy enough," I thought. But there was a lot of construction and confusion by the lodge, so after a lot of wrong turns, we finally located the trailhead at the end of the parking lot, past all of the construction equipment and a soaking went hiker who had just popped off the Appalachian Trail.

The views out here WERE worth the bumbling to find the trail, but another storm started rolling and I didn't want to be hanging out on open rock in a lightening storm. I tried to get a few photos of Gus but after a few failed attempts, it was more important just to get back to the tent.

Once at the tent, I could tell the storm was going to be pretty strong and I Gussie had already been brave all day. I didn't want her to be stuck in the tent through another loud thunderstorm, so I ended taking apart the whole tent, shoving it into the back of the 4Runner, and slamming the trunk shut just as the skies opened up. We headed back home to Falls Church.

I was bummed because we wouldn't be able to fit a third hike in in the morning, but we had already had a great day and I felt it would be better for Gussie to go home. We could always come back and try again!

Let us know if you check out these hikes!!

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