Great Outdoor Spots for Dogs and Their Owners in Oakland
If you love your furry friends, Oakland is one of the best spots in California to live. Just walking around the city, you’ll probably run into people walking their dogs, relaxing in dog parks, or even eating in outdoor restaurants with their leashed companion by their side. Nerdwallet voted Oakland one of the ten best cities in the country for dog owners, with 6 major off-leash dog parks and an average vet visit price of just $48. Whether your dog is big, little, young, or old, he’ll have a great time enjoying the city’s 260 sunny days per year in one of these awesome locations.
Redwood Regional Park
Just a few miles from downtown, this 1,830 acre park is one of the most breathtaking features of the region, with towering second and third-generation redwoods, grasslands, and amazing wildlife. You’ll find that Redwood Park is possibly the most recommended sights in Oakland and very popular with tourists and locals. Relax in the picnic spots or the beautiful groves or take your dog with you on one of the winding hiking trails such as Stream Trail or West Ridge Trail. Almost the entire park is off-leash except for the designated protected wilderness areas, and you’ll probably spot horseback riders or even eagles. Just don’t let them get carried away chasing rabbits.
Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve
Known to locals as Sibley, this relatively small natural park is beneath a 1,763 foot extinct volcano called Round Top, which you can hike to the very top of. Dogs are welcome everywhere in the area, and there are several other notable hiking trails, including some that connect it to other nearby parks. One of the most interesting features is the myriad of stone labyrinths that you’ll stumble upon as you explore. There’s also a visitor center, which will let you in on some of the history of both the park and Round Top itself, which once helped shape the Oakland landscape. Don’t worry about eruptions, though. Table Top’s been extinct for millions of years.
Lake Merritt
Though it’s not off-leash, dog owners still love walking and playing with their pets at Oakland’s famous and beloved downtown lake, which underwent a $122 million renovation that finished in 2013. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful area that everyone from the local business owners to Mayor Jerry Brown loves to brag about. If you like boating, golfing, or bird watching, you can find those sorts of activities. But if you simply want to stroll with your dog down the paths at sunset, it can easily become your favorite spot in the city. Plans for an off-leash dog park called Astro Park have been in the works since 1998, though the plan is still advocated by the Oakland Dog Owners Group, who want less than 1 percent of the lake’s green space to go to a dog play area.
Oakland is one of the most beautiful places in California and consistently rated number one in weather. Though there are a plethora of great outdoor spots your dogs will love, you’ll also find plenty of outdoor restaurants with spacious patios, outdoor kennels, and affordable places for grooming, accessories, and vitamin care. The city knows how to make dog owners and their dogs happy. While you may hear that Oakland is a great place to raise your kids, you’ll hear it’s a great place to raise the four-legged ones too.
Robin Knight writes for the Movoto Blog concerning site seeing in Oakland and other surrounding areas.
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Category: Travel
