Just follow the dog
People generally stick to a trail, which is why I find “rambling zones” (where free wandering is encouraged), so refreshing. Unlike people, dogs could care less about a trail. They follow their nose wherever it leads them. While on a trail, they’ll peel off at random to go discover something new in the brush. Dogs move about on a whim.
Some of the best rambling zones for people then, are dog parks. An afternoon of following your dog around a dog park will take you on a zig zagging adventure through the terrain. It will take you into mud holes, across large fields, through tree groves, and over sand. I’d love to see the Strava route for one of these outings.
Some people might think of dog parks as just being a lawn with a fence around it. In some cases, this might be true, but there are a quite a few dog parks with large, diverse terrain. Our home park where we take our dog, Toad, to is a prime example.
Grandview
When we first got Toad we didn’t take him to dog parks much since he got to play with neighbors in the yard behind our apartment. However, we moved, and realized that if we wanted to keep him socialized we had to take him to dog parks. This is how we found Grandview Off-leash Dog Park, in SeaTac.
Grandview is set on top of a hill. From the parking lot, one has three options to walk down to the main area. They can take a side trail, walk down a huge flight of stairs, or take a long, gentle walk around the perimeter of the park and down. Once down in the main area, there a few places where the dogs can romp.
There is a big, grassy field with some play structures the dogs can climb, and some tubes they can crawl through. Adjacent is a sand pit that is perfect for playing fetch, or just letting groups of dogs chase each other. On the east side is a small pond, which dries up near the end of the summer.
In addition, there are two other grassy areas for the dogs to explore. Really curious dogs can find their way into bushes and tall grasses, and even a bog or two. The park is just as much fun for people. Just by following Toad from a watchful distance, I get a nice ramble up and down hills and across fields. To top it off, on a clear day the view of snowy Mt. Rainier looms in the distance. It’s great fun, but make sure to bring the poop bags.
