One of the great things about living in Connecticut is the proximity to great hikes for you, your family and your dog. I wouldn’t say I’m a particularly experienced hiker but I do absolutely love it. To me, there is nothing better for the soul than watching your dog have the time of their life while you hike through the woods, fields and the occasional bog (see below!) while chatting with your partner. In the next few posts, I’ll highlight some of our favorite dog-friendly hiking spots within 15-20 mins of West Hartford.

This week, we went to one of my favorite and regular hikes. The Blue Metacomet Trail across from the Reservoir on 44. GPS Location here

A quick note on dog leashes before I dive in. First, our dog Willy has good recall, so we allow him to be off-leash. That said, every hike we continue to do recall training just to be sure he doesn’t forget. Also, as soon as we see or hear another person, we immediately leash him up until we can call out to them about whether or not they are ok with him off-leash. We always put him back on leash when we get to the fire-road, gravel roads or paved roads. Dogs are not technically allowed off-leash - fyi!

We park in the lot on the south side of 44 and follow the blue trail. We have 3 routes - short (50mins), medium (1hr20), long (2hrs). On all of these routes it’s a great combination of woods, water views, big grassy expanses (for zoomies), fun parkour obstacles for Willy (big logs), and a quick stream crossing that requires some jumping from rock to rock (my favorite part!). I usually get to the other side of the stream with a huge smile on my face and exclaim to my husband “I feel like it’s a metaphor for life ‘can I do it? Just go! Oh no! No turning back! You can do it! I did it!”.

On the weekends you’re likely to come across a good amount of mountain bikers and other hikers, but during the week, we rarely see more than one or two people.

We don’t see too much wildlife on a regular basis on this trail, but over the years we have seen bears, coyotes, deer and a blue heron.

Our pictures below take you in chronological order along the medium hike (about 1hr20). I hope you enjoy the views and stay tuned for dog-friendly hikes part 2!

-Sara