Outbound Hound - Travel Unleashed

As part of my Amazon splurge, I picked up two books specifically about hiking in this region.

The first one, Doggin’ Northern Virginia: The 50 Best Places to Hike with Your Dog in NOVA, is exactly as it says on the cover, so judge away. The beginning of the book has some great tips about preparing to hike with your dog as well as a top 10 list of things to look for on your hikes.

The main part of the book summarizes the 50 hikes and consistently contains directions, trail information, dog friendliness and even canine swimming (a favorite feature of Karma’s). This is a great book when determining where you can take your dog.

The second book is 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Washington, DC. Now this is a “real” hiking book as it contains the type of information usually found in more serious hiking books, such as elevation changes, map references, trail surfaces, scenery, configuration and more. If you have read other guides or even the ones I talked about last time, this is the type of book you are used to.

If I had a magic wand I would combine these two books. The “Doggin’” book doesn’t have enough trail information and the “60” book doesn’t tell me about dog friendliness. I find I am using the “Doggin’” book to find the trail then the “60” book as the real guide. Yes, it’s kind of a pain, but together they are all the information you need. Best of all, they are expanding my knowledge of the nearby area and encouraging me to try new hikes!