Find California dog-friendly beaches, rivers and lakes blog stories.

DogTrekker dogs LOVE going to the beach! Check out our stories about dog-friendly beaches, rivers and lakes in California. We also have tips and tricks for staying safe while enjoying the salty air and surf! So go ahead, plan that trip – your pup will thank you! Happy trekking! 🐾🐕

Pick A Peck o’ Pumpkins

What’s Halloween without a visit to a pumpkin patch, especially if the pumpkin patch doubles as a seasonal family theme park? Largest in Northern California is Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, offering enough activities to keep tails wagging all day. Read more.

Make it a Meal Deal

Be sure to stash a few treats in your pocket so Spike won’t get jealous while the rest of you take your pick of food-truck fare and enjoy live music, kid zones and more at Off the Grid events in San Francisco and Sacramento. Read more.

Finding Gold in El Dorado County

Dog in front of historic cabin in El Dorado County

Talk about diverse: El Dorado County stretches from the city of Folsom, at the beginning of the Sierra Nevada foothills, all the way up to Lake Tahoe and the High Sierra. It’s what’s in between that’s of greatest interest to DogTrekkers in fall, when the harvest is on and the Apple Hill growing region off Highway 50 near Camino, just east of Placerville, rolls out the welcome mat Read more.

What’s Cookin’ In Calaveras County

Dog looking for dinner in Calaveras County

Any time’s a good time to head up Highway 4 to the hip and happening town of Murphys, but if you can be there in October, so much the better. That’s when the annual Grape Stomp Competition and Gold Rush Street Fair fills downtown streets with vendor booths and lots of people with bewildered dogs on the other end of the leash. It’s probably the first time Duke and Daisy (and Read more.

Woofin’ It Up in Tuolumne County

Dog looking for its dinner in Tuolumne County

Like other parts of Gold Country, Tuolumne County is rich in history, rugged scenery and recreational opportunities. You can get some of both and soak up some local color too at First Friday Jamestown Art Walk-Wine-Dine & Music events, continuing through October, or 2nd Saturday Art Nights held year-round in historic downtown Sonora. Either town makes a great base for jumping off int Read more.

Breed Restrictions are the Pits

It can be a challenge to find dog-friendly accommodations when traveling with large dogs. It is common to discover that so-called dog-friendly hotels have pet policies with size restrictions, allowing … Continued Read more.

Ocean Day For Riggs

DogTrekker.com reader Michelle M. wrote in to tell us about her dog-friendly adventures along the Mendocino Coast: Read more.

Monterey County Parks

Dogs and people stand on the shore in Carmel

Carmel Beach. Photo by Jaime Perez (CC).

Dog-lovers from around the world know leash-free Carmel Beach as a primo place to visit with dogs. But that’s hardly the only place in Monterey County where your untethered dog can have as much fun and freedom as you do. A number of county parks, as well as several within the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, allow dogs to accompany you off-leash away from developed areas so long as Read more.

Urban rambles in San Francisco

mixed breed dog sits on hill overlooking San Francisco cityscape

Photo by jefffielding (CC).

An abundance of open space available to canines makes the City by the Bay especially enticing to four-legged visitors with humans on the other end of the leash. Read more.

The New CA Coastal Region Debuts

There’s nothing like the sight and sound of the sea to perk up a dog’s ears and set her tail to wagging—and California’s 840 miles of coastline offer plenty of fun for pups and their people. Don’t know where to go? DogTrekker.com has identified almost 200 dog-friendly beaches between Del Norte County in the north and San Diego County in the south. Read more.

If Everybody Had a Surf Dog…

Dog on beach in front of lifeguard stand

You’re sure to have a Beach Boys sound track playing in your head as you and your pup cavort on aptly named Dog Beach, the leash-free segment of 3.5-mile-long Huntington Beach, centerpiece of the city of the same name (also known as Surf City USA). Surf culture rules in this SoCal mecca for more than 8 million annual visitors—and sometimes, especially during the annual Surf City Surf D Read more.

Sensory Overload in Sonoma County

You’ll forget all about work, worries and traffic woes once you get within sight and sound of the sea. And in Sonoma County, there are dozens of places where you and your pup can splash to your hearts’ content and then bed down to the ceaseless whooshing of the restless Pacific. Read more.

Hugging the Coast in Santa Cruz County

Dog running on the beach in Santa Cruz County

You’re never far from the water when following the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) through Santa Cruz County. The curvy coastline is studded with 29 miles of beaches providing lots of options for DogTrekkers. Fifteen strands are dog-friendly, and one, Mitchell’s Cove, is legally leash-free during daylight hours before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Read more.

Beach It In Mendocino County

Whether you drive all or just some of the 102 intoxicating miles of Highway 1 hugging the Mendocino County shore, you’re sure to find many places to pull over and get some sand between Bella’s toes. Take it at a snail’s pace, but be sure to check out these highlights. Read more.

Fourth stop: Truckee to Mammoth Lakes

Bodie State Historic Park. Photo by Pawan Thapa.

You have a couple of options here, but the most direct route sends you back to Lake Tahoe and around the North Shore via Highway 267 to its intersection with Highway 50. Read more.

Second stop: Hwy 50, Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe

Of the two primary ways to get to Lake Tahoe from Sacramento (Interstate 80 or Highway 50), 50 is by far the more scenic. Read more.

Surf City USA with your dog

Two long haired dachshunds running on the beach.

Photo by Kojirou Sasaki.

Voted one of California's dog-friendliest cities, Huntington Beach welcomes four-legged children with open arms at restaurants, parks, and hotels; along its paved beach path; and even dedicates a stretch of beach to salty pups. Read more.

Catch a Wave

Whatever your motivation for coming to Santa Cruz County, sooner or later you and your pup will want to chase some waves and get some sand between your toes. With 29 miles of coastline, there are lots of places to go, including 15 strands that welcome leashed dogs and one, Mitchell’s Cove, that is legally leash-free before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Read more.

Sniff out some new places

person stands in road with redwood trees towering above

Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Photo by Jeremy Bishop.

Every time we visit, Santa Cruz County gets more and more dog-friendly. And this year there are several new opportunities to bark about. Read more.

Sniffing out exceptions to state park rules

coastal view of ocean and boulders at MacKerricher State Park

MacKerricher State Park. Photo by Don Kawahigashi.

Most California State Parks restrict canine companions to campgrounds, day-use picnic areas and paved roads, but we’ve found a trio that allow four-paw venturing on dirt trails. Read more.