Upper Beaver Meadows in Winter

Upper Beaver Meadows in Winter

This easy winter trail offers the option of a 3-mile hike with a canine companion. The out-and-back hike follows the closed road, which winds north of the creek. Hiking with leashed dogs is permitted for 1.5 miles to the road’s end at the summer trailhead. Keeping dogs leashed is essential so that park managers will continue to allow hiking with dogs on closed roads. The meadows are thick with elk and deer, which many unleashed dogs would chase. During rut, mule deer bucks are likely to gore dogs that annoy them, resulting in very serious injury. Chasing wildlife is the cardinal sin that dogs can commit in a national park, although the deer and elk pay no more attention to leashed dogs than to human hikers. With their vastly superior senses of smell and hearing, leashed dogs may show you wild animals that you otherwise would have overlooked. Highlights: Elk exclosure to test effect of grazing, glacial geology.

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