Dog hiking in Carkeek Park

We love Carkeek Park for a number of reasons. Not only does it have a great beach, a cool playground, wonderful tidepools when the tide is low and salmon watching in the fall, but it also has miles of trails throughout the park.

The trails vary from tight switchbacks leading to expansive views of Puget Sound to flat trails that meander next to Piper's Creek and alongside a 100+ year old orchard that still contains apple, pear and other fruit trees. And everywhere you look there are salmonberry bushes.

Since we live about 5 minutes from Carkeek, we've already taken Paco a couple times for some short hikes. We like to hike on the trail that begins on the south side of the park and leads you along Piper's Creek and through the orchard.

The trail, called Piper's Creek Trail, starts with a sharp decline and flattens out, crossing over Piper's Creek a number of times on wide bridges. This is a relatively quiet part of the park and on a slow day you'll hear numerous songbirds serenading you through the forest.

This trail opens up at the Lower Meadow and eventually connects up to the Wetland Trail, where you can watch the salmon coming back to spawn.

Dogs are allowed on all the trails, as long as they are on a leash (although we saw several dogs off-leash but under voice command), but not on the beach. There are dog poop bags available at the south trail entrance as well as water fountains. Be forewarned, however, the poop bags are big enough to accommodate elephant scat, so if you have a tiny dog like Paco, they might be overkill and you'll want to bring something a tad more dainty.