This Winter we went on another wonderful vacation to New Hampshire, with our dogs in tow. If you follow the blog regularly, you know that Waterville Valley New Hampshire is one of our favorite New Hampshire towns, and the Waterville Valley ski area resort is one of our favorite New Hampshire resorts, especially since it's dog friendly! I'm always up for a New Hampshire vacation with my dog, pretty much all year round, it's great in any season.
DOG FRIENDLY VACATION IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
We love it up there, and we love the New Hampshire weather in Winter, Fall, and Summer. We think it's the perfect dog friendly vacation! It's weird because lately, we always end up traveling to NH in Winter. Last Summer we were determined to get there for a Summer vacation filled with cool mountain air and hikes with our dogs, but between the Canada wildfires and the bizarre flooding we just didn't feel confident making that long road trip from Florida.
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| Me with Icy and little Jessie at the Waterville Valley New Hampshire resort |
Whether you want to spend time hiking in the mountains, or getting out on the water, they have it all. New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesauke and Lake Sunapee are just two of the many beautiful lakes in New Hampshire. You can rent a boat and head out on to one of these lakes, and bring the dog along! Just remember to practice good dog boating safety guidelines and put a dog life jacket on your pooch.
The hiking In New Hampshire is pretty incredible. There is a wide variety of hiking there, and it's home to quite a few "4,000 footers", or mountains that are 4,000 feet high and above. Mount Washington is New Hampshire's tallest mountain at 6,288 feet high.
There are plenty of hiking trails that allow dogs. You won't have a problem finding dog friendly hiking in New Hampshire! Learn more on the NH State Parks Pet Friendly website. New Hampshire Magazine also has some recommendations on The Best NH Dog Friendly Hikes.
I urge you to seriously consider the difficulty of recommended hikes, and your dog's hiking ability as well as endurance. Most adult dogs can safely hike about 2 to 7 miles, but it varies widely depending on the dog. You should have a conversation with your Veterinarian before embarking on a dog friendly hiking adventure.
New Hampshire is a place where the trails can be difficult. The locals have some really strong hiking skills, so what they think is easy may not be for you and your dog! Use caution and good judgement in selecting your hiking trails. And of course always bring lots of water for both you and your dog!
One thing I really love about the Waterville Valley resort is that they have a terrific long, relatively flat dog friendly trail right in the resort. It actually doubles as a cross country ski trail, which is weird but skiers know this particular trail is both pedestrian and dog friendly so we rarely see skiers on that trail. My Husky Icy absolutely Loves hiking on this trail! She comes alive on the snowy trail and although she's 14 years old, it's like she's a young dog again. We had such a great time!
I really can't wait to get her there in the Summer, but it's not looking good for this Summer, for a variety of reasons. She is starting to slow down and I'm afraid she won't be able to do even the easiest hiking after this year.
Here's a short video of me with my dogs crossing a bridge over one of the beautiful streams around the property:
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Check out this Custom Engraved Pet Portrait Keychain! You can buy it in my Etsy Store It's great to celebrate a new pet, or memorialize a pet that has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. I got one to memorialize my beloved angel Phoebe. I love having it with me every day, seeing her beautiful face engraved on something I always have with me.
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There aren't quite as many New Hampshire hotels in the area that are dog friendly. It's strange that the Waterville Valley resort allows dogs on the resort property and on some trails, but their hotels don't allow dogs!
There are a ton of condos surrounding the resort, and many owners rent out their places but none are pet friendly. There are a few lodges around the property as well, but only one is pet friendly. It's called the Snowy Owl. We stayed there once years ago and it was awful. The location is perfect, you can walk to everything in the resort including that dog friendly trail I mentioned above. I'm happy to see that it is now under new ownership, so I have hope that it will soon be up to par. The previous owner didn't seem to put any money into improving it and we wouldn't stay there again until some changes are made.
For the last few years we've been staying at the Fairfield Inn & Suites, a Marriott hotel in nearby Plymouth, New Hampshire. It's about 20 minutes from the Waterville Valley Ski Area, but it's a great place! We love it there.
Here's a 2 minute video I posted on YouTube that gives you a glimpse of how we spent our days, and how beautiful Waterville Valley New Hampshire is. I think it's a great dog friendly vacation, in any season!
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