This past Saturday, I decided to take Simba to his first major park walk. (Yay!) We went to Craig Regional Park.
We had such a great time. There were lots of other people there walking and jogging with their dogs. I stopped and had a conversation with a few of them. There was an old man who takes pictures of birds as hobby (his lenses were in camouflage and everything) and he let me look through his lens to see a woodpecker up in a tree! I know it all seems lame, but it was pretty cool to see something happening and that close in person!
Safety wise, I would definitely recommend it. As long as you stay in the path, there's always people around so you're not alone. There's also a couple park rangers (I saw three patrolling) around in a golf cart or pick-up truck who wave and smile at you and make sure you're okay.
Overall, it was a great experience. We'll probably go again because Simba seemed to really enjoy it!
-Gardenia Rose
Like the pet parent that I am, I checked Yelp for dog friendliness, and their website for trail paths, leash limits, etc. just to make sure. (I know. I'm weird. lol.) I don't wanna get into trouble with a park ranger or something.
In my workout backpack, I packed water for me, water for Simba, a face towel, poop bags (cuz you never know), a small ziploc of chewy treats, and my car key remote. I like to travel as light as I can but trying to make sure I have the essentials.
Since I didn't wanna pay for parking, I parked on State College Blvd. and we walked right in. Parking wasn't much, but if there's a free (reasonable) option, I'm gonna take it! We went around 10am so the sun was and it was hot, but not deadly hot, which I kinda liked. I made sure the ground was still cool enough for Simba to walk on so he doesn't burn his tiny paws.
Walking this park was such a beautiful experience! There's a lot of greenery all around. From our usual walk near our building, it's a nice change.
My goal was to do three miles. We've always gone for two or just a little over but I wanted to push us a little harder. So thanks to the RunKeeper app, I can keep track of my miles. Here's our route:
We had such a great time. There were lots of other people there walking and jogging with their dogs. I stopped and had a conversation with a few of them. There was an old man who takes pictures of birds as hobby (his lenses were in camouflage and everything) and he let me look through his lens to see a woodpecker up in a tree! I know it all seems lame, but it was pretty cool to see something happening and that close in person!
Safety wise, I would definitely recommend it. As long as you stay in the path, there's always people around so you're not alone. There's also a couple park rangers (I saw three patrolling) around in a golf cart or pick-up truck who wave and smile at you and make sure you're okay.
Overall, it was a great experience. We'll probably go again because Simba seemed to really enjoy it!
-Gardenia Rose
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