[binary visions]

Last year, work converted me to a full-time remote position.

We spent the summer and fall staying in AirBnbs in Whitefish, MT, Durango, CO and West Bumfuck, UT.

We're thinking about heading to the Pacific Northwest for a few months, but are uncertain exactly where we should be going. Primary criteria are:

• Lots of dog-friendly hiking. This usually leaves out national parks. We'd certainly do some hikes while leaving Sanchez at home, but most of the time we want to hike with her.
• Not crowded. Even without a pandemic we don't like to hike with crowds, but with COVID-19 this becomes especially important.
• Relatively decent internet. It doesn't have to be gigabit fiber or anything, but some crappy 3 Mbps DSL in the sticks that goes out regularly isn't going to cut it.

Montana was pretty great - we were right up near Glacier, but there were tons of national forests and state parks there that allowed us to hike with Sanchez, and nobody seemed to be on the trails outside of Glacier.

So... I know some current and former PNW monkeys are out there. What say you?

 

[jonKranked]

paging @HAB

 

[eric strt6]

PM GoneFirefighting

I really like the area west of Bend on the Cascade lakes scenic biway

 

[iRider]

You want to be out of the way or in a city?
Corvallis, OR was great for me. College town with all the things that come with it (food, bike shops), OSU research forest in riding distance from town with tons of multi use trails, Mary's Peak (tallest peak in coastal range) as hiking/biking destination 30 mins drive away, Falls City Black Rock (serious freeride area) 45 mins drive away, now the new Alsea Falls trails (after my time, so no first-hand experience), 1 1/2 hrs to the coast, a little longer to the Cascades with all the trails there, (think Oakridge, MRT, etc.), weekend trip distance to Bend (IMO overrated for biking), great road/gravel biking area, skate park in town, some at-the-time pretty run down BMX track/DJs.

 

[stevew]

my favorite place burned to the ground....

 

[dump]

Vancouver Island, BC.

 

[stevew]

and congrats on the fulltime remote.....

 

[6thElement]

Already suggested by iRider but I was going to suggest Oakridge OR.

 

[iRider]

Already suggested by iRider but I was going to suggest Oakridge OR.

For riding trail/enduro bikes it is great, but I would miss the possibilities to ride more serious jumps and drops. Not sure if Willamette Pass is still operating their "bike park".
Also for living it is pretty out of the way, hence why I asked what he is looking for.

 

[boostindoubles]

If your after lots of options for local hikes that are dog friendly and low crowds come to Yakima. Low cost of living and centrally located for accessing the entire PNW in a sub 5 hour drive. Most of the PNW can be accessed in a 3 hour drive though. Lots of tacos.

Downsides... not a trendy place at all.

 

[boostindoubles]

Other towns that aren't urban centers are Moscow, ID, Chelan, WA, La Grande, OR.

 

[Westy]

Other towns that aren't urban centers are Moscow, ID, Chelan, WA, La Grande, OR.

I don't know too much about it, but if I could work from anywhere I think Winthrop would be high on the list.

 

[boostindoubles]

I don't know too much about it, but if I could work from anywhere I think Winthrop would be high on the list.

Two downsides to Winthrop are long winters and isolated location. If your hunkering down and not trying to travel around and see other places it would be a great spot.

Ellensburg and Goldendale could also be interesting base camps for exploring lots of nearby locations.

 

[boostindoubles]

Another place to look is Whidbey Island.

 

[Westy]

Another place to look is Whidbey Island.

If one could borrow a boat, the San Juans. I know someone giving away a 28' sailboat. It goes without saying, that is far from "free"

 

[stevew]

here are 60+ some hikes in washington....

Washington Fire Lookout Sites - Lists - Locations

 

[jimmydean]

GFF had a real nice setup in Sister's and really anywhere near Bend has all you need.

 

[Westy]

I can't really recommend holing up in Western Washington because of crowds costs and dominance of dog free hikes. But god damn are there some amazing places to visit. Highly recommend passing through and if you make it out here let me know and I can point you towards some pretty special places.

 

[boostindoubles]

Yeah the I-5 corridor is no bueno.

Edit - but the Peninsula doesn't qualify as west side. Sequim, Port Townsend, and Port Angeles all could be amazeballs.

 

[Jm_]

Yeah the I-5 corridor is no bueno.

Edit - but the Peninsula doesn't qualify as west side. Sequim, Port Townsend, and Port Angeles all could be amazeballs.

You if you are into coastal and ocean at all, that's a huge amazing gateway right there. That hiking in the Olympics is also pretty amazing, real backcountry glacier stuff.

 

[Adventurous]

Yeah the I-5 corridor is no bueno.

Edit - but the Peninsula doesn't qualify as west side. Sequim, Port Townsend, and Port Angeles all could be amazeballs.

Port Angeles will be forever etched into my memory as the place where I saw the most tweaking tweaker I've ever laid eyes upon.

Otherwise, yes, decent enough town with great proximity to the Olympics.

If you can convince the Canadians to let you in, my vote is for Vancouver Island.

 

[Jozz]

+1 for Oakridge

 

[binary visions]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

You want to be out of the way or in a city?

We don't need to be in a city as long as we have okay internet. And, of course, we're staying in AirBnbs, so there tends to be more selection in a city - but out-of-the-way suits us better.

Vancouver Island, BC.

We plan to head up to America's Hat after the pandemic breaks and the border is open again. We did some of our favorite hiking up near Banff and Jasper.

Downsides... not a trendy place at all.

We definitely don't need trendy.

You if you are into coastal and ocean at all, that's a huge amazing gateway right there. That hiking in the Olympics is also pretty amazing, real backcountry glacier stuff.

Is there good hiking in the Olympics outside of the national park? That's been a sticking point for us - we've looked up some gorgeous places where it seems like all the good hiking is inside the borders of the national parks.

I wish the NPS was able to hold individual owners accountable for being stupid, instead of blanket banning all dogs.

 

[SkaredShtles]

I wish the NPS was able to hold individual owners accountable for being stupid, instead of blanket banning all dogs.

 

[Dirtrider]

If your after lots of options for local hikes that are dog friendly and low crowds come to Yakima. Low cost of living and centrally located for accessing the entire PNW in a sub 5 hour drive. Most of the PNW can be accessed in a 3 hour drive though. Lots of tacos.

Downsides... not a trendy place at all.

How is the riding in Yakima?

 

[Westy]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.


We don't need to be in a city as long as we have okay internet. And, of course, we're staying in AirBnbs, so there tends to be more selection in a city - but out-of-the-way suits us better.


We plan to head up to America's Hat after the pandemic breaks and the border is open again. We did some of our favorite hiking up near Banff and Jasper.


We definitely don't need trendy.


Is there good hiking in the Olympics outside of the national park? That's been a sticking point for us - we've looked up some gorgeous places where it seems like all the good hiking is inside the borders of the national parks.

I wish the NPS was able to hold individual owners accountable for being stupid, instead of blanket banning all dogs.

Well there are a lot of trails here you really don't want to bring your dog on. North Cascades NP has the highest death rate per visitor of any park. Introduce dogs into that mix and you will add a lot of dogs to that list as well as their owners.

 

[binary visions]

Well there are a lot of trails here you really don't want to bring your dog on. North Cascades NP has the highest death rate per visitor of any park. Introduce dogs into that mix and you will add a lot of dogs to that list as well as their owners.

Ah, yeah, well I don't think, "this is a dangerous place to hike and we'd prefer you not die" is an unreasonable position to ban dogs from trails or certain parks. I was more complaining about the blanket ban on all dogs from all trails in virtually every NP in the country, rather than common sense rules and enforcing those rules.

 

[Westy]

Ah, yeah, well I don't think, "this is a dangerous place to hike and we'd prefer you not die" is an unreasonable position to ban dogs from trails or certain parks. I was more complaining about the blanket ban on all dogs from all trails in virtually every NP in the country, rather than common sense rules and enforcing those rules.

Well you can thank the hoards of people who aren't responsible with their dogs. There are regular reports of people losing their dogs on the local mountain with good MTB trails. It doesn't end well a lot of the time.

 

[binary visions]

Well you can thank the hoards of people who aren't responsible with their dogs. There are regular reports of people losing their dogs on the local mountain with good MTB trails. It doesn't end well a lot of the time.

Yep, understood. Still don't like it.

Keep your fucking dogs on a leash and pick up after them. Just doesn't seem that hard to me. Clearly it's brain surgery for a significant chunk of the population.

 

[jonKranked]

Well you can thank the hoards of people who aren't responsible with their dogs. There are regular reports of people losing their dogs on the local mountain with good MTB trails. It doesn't end well a lot of the time.

like my neighbor, who just lets their dog out and never bothers to pick up after it. their dog shits in our yard with enough frequency that i've taken to just launching the turds back into their yard with a shovel.

 

[jonKranked]

Keep your fucking dogs on a leash and pick up after them.

a summer or 2 ago i came across a group of 4 boomers and a dog while riding a fire road connector at one of our local trails (in a state park). leash connected to the dog, but no human on the other end of the leash at any point once they came into sight. i slowed down and gave them a very wide berth, but they were too focused on a fucking map or something and not their dog, who had taken an interest in me. as i passed them, the dog started following me, and i told them to restrain their dog. they were still distracted and the dog was getting too close to comfort, so i took off sprinting, boomers finally realized what was going on and started yelling after the dog, "you'll never outrun her!". joke was on them, a half mile later the dog gave up, long after we were out of sight of the dogs owners. i hope those assholes had a good time finding their fucking dog.

 

[Westy]

Yep, understood. Still don't like it.

Keep your fucking dogs on a leash and pick up after them. Just doesn't seem that hard to me. Clearly it's brain surgery for a significant chunk of the population.

Whenever someone's leashless dog approaches my dog and declared "don't worry, he's friendly". I tell them my dog will murder their dog. He looks the part, but is a teddy bear, but it is fun to see their reaction.

 

[Jozz]

Whenever someone's leashless dog approaches my dog and declared "don't worry, he's friendly". I tell them my dog will murder their dog. He looks the part, but is a teddy bear, but it is fun to see their reaction.

My leashless dogs never go near dogs on leash. There is a reason they are on leash.

 

[OGRipper]

Oakridge checks a lot of your boxes. Also, the mtb trails are top notch, seriously some of the best on the West Coast. Like a lot of similar places however, you need to be ready to deal with right-wing nut jobs though.

Some friends of ours moved there full time a while back. They scored a super rad house with a big yard right on the river for basically pennies on the dollar compared to other places.

Bellingham may already be too hip but worth checking out as well.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Keep your fucking dogs on a leash and pick up after them. Just doesn't seem that hard to me. Clearly it's brain surgery for a significant chunk of the population.

This. 'Round here, I suspect we are getting *close* to our county open space banning dogs. I make sure to file a report *every* time I come across an off-leash dog in a park. I also tell the owners that there is a ranger coming down the trail. That at *least* results in them doing the right thing... at least for the moment.

 

[OGRipper]

Generalizations about dogs and dog owners are about as useful as generalizations about mountain bikers. There are some grains of truth but they're pretty useless and unfair for the most part. Don't be the person who lumps everyone together like all the Karen hikers out there who assume all mtb'ers are assholes. Filing reports? Lying about rangers? Supporting a county-wide ban? Sounds like some pretty dick-ish behavior to me.

There are responsible dog owners and irresponsible dog owners. Our dogs run off leash with us all the time, sometimes on fairly crowded trails, and we've never had a problem. They're super nice and under voice command. Most people are happy to see them and have a positive experience. But you just can't do that with some dogs, and it's up to the owner to recognize one way or the other.

You don't have to like dogs, but maybe recognize the fact that some people like different things than you and that we can all make it work just fine.

 

[Jozz]

Generalizations about dogs and dog owners are about as useful as generalizations about mountain bikers. There are some grains of truth but they're pretty useless and unfair for the most part. Don't be the person who lumps everyone together like all the Karen hikers out there who assume all mtb'ers are assholes. Filing reports? Lying about rangers? Supporting a county-wide ban? Sounds like some pretty dick-ish behavior to me.

There are responsible dog owners and irresponsible dog owners. Our dogs run off leash with us all the time, sometimes on fairly crowded trails, and we've never had a problem. They're super nice and under voice command. Most people are happy to see them and have a positive experience. But you just can't do that with some dogs, and it's up to the owner to recognize one way or the other.

You don't have to like dogs, but maybe recognize the fact that some people like different things than you and that we can all make it work just fine.

 

[6thElement]

Generalizations about dogs and dog owners are about as useful as generalizations about mountain bikers. There are some grains of truth but they're pretty useless and unfair for the most part. Don't be the person who lumps everyone together like all the Karen hikers out there who assume all mtb'ers are assholes. Filing reports? Lying about rangers? Supporting a county-wide ban? Sounds like some pretty dick-ish behavior to me.

There are responsible dog owners and irresponsible dog owners. Our dogs run off leash with us all the time, sometimes on fairly crowded trails, and we've never had a problem. They're super nice and under voice command. Most people are happy to see them and have a positive experience. But you just can't do that with some dogs, and it's up to the owner to recognize one way or the other.

You don't have to like dogs, but maybe recognize the fact that some people like different things than you and that we can all make it work just fine.

Question for you, are your parks supposed to be on leash at all times? As all of the parks SS is referring to are supposed to be leashed at all times.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Question for you, are your parks supposed to be on leash at all times? As all of the parks SS is referring to are supposed to be leashed at all times.

Yup. And I'm not being a dick making the reports, or telling them there are rangers coming. I'm avoiding telling them directly they're entitled twats that think the rules don't apply to them.

ETA: And to be clear, I'm not proposing a county-wide ban, but I'm just pointing out that with the *massive* increase in trail usage and the associated issues with this, that it's not going to take too many off-leash dog bites to get OS management to just pull the plug on it.

 

[rideit]

GTNP AND Yellowstone are already a shit show, we don’t need them to become a dog-shit show. But here, the big animals are the major concern for dogs. No bueno.