Best dog walks on Brisbane’s northside for getting into nature
Generally speaking, taking the dog for a walk usually happens on the footpaths nearby home, or in our case at Kat’s Kritters Pet Sitting and Dog Walking, it’s nearby the homes of our wonderful clients.
However, at times we love to mix it up and venture somewhere different – more so for our own dog, than our client’s dogs due to schedule or time constraints, but watch this space for news on this front down the track.
On the northside there are some great place to take the dog for a walk, whether it’s the foreshore at Sandgate, or even the grassy riverside at Kedron Brook. But there are also some fantastic conservation parks on Brisbane’s northside which are excellent for taking the dog for a walk.
As a rule of thumb, dogs are never allowed in National Parks, but there are plenty of dog friendly walking available in a number of conservation parks, state forests, and recreation areas around Brisbane.
The main reasons dogs aren’t allowed in National Parks are that the parks contain wildlife that can be threatened by dogs, and we obviously don’t want wildlife to feel threatened or be attacked in their habitat. The other reason is that there are poison baits throughout National Parks to target invasive species and they can be deadly to dogs.
So when you take your dog for a walk in conservation parks, it’s important to keep them on the lead. The Queensland Parks website has a great function where you can search for areas where dogs are allowed on-leash.
Throughout Greater Brisbane there are some great parks to take your dog for walk, but here are the best parks for dog walks on the northside of Brisbane:
Bunyaville Conservation Park
For those of you near Bunya and Albany Creek (like Kat’s Kritters), you’ll be familiar with this one. For those yet to check it out, do yourself a favour and head in for a visit. It’s just 15km northwest of the CBD and features open eucalypt forests and scattered creeks. The park has a stack of mountain biking, horse riding, and hiking trails, but dogs are only allowed on the numerous shared trails. The Jinker Track is one of the best options but there are various access points to dirt tracks from the road.
Samford
Samford is a 19km drive northwest from central Brisbane. Samford has beautiful scenery and some lovely cafes and a pub. It also features a web of dog friendly shared trails. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed on the only dedicated walking track in the Samford Conservation Park, the Crebra track.
But there are extensive shared tracks, with more than 20. The Samford Road Break shared track is closest to Crebra Track (and parking). Samford’s hilly terrain is great for wearing out energetic dogs – like our Kelpie cross Astro.
Mt Coot-tha
Mt Coot-tha is probably considered west of Brisbane but it’s on the northside of the river so we’ve included it here. It’s a fantastic 1500 hectares, and is Brisbane’s largest conservation reserve. It’s easy to get to from the northside and is just 8km out of the city. Thankfully there are a whopping 54 dog friendly walking tracks here. The Summit Track is Mt Coot-tha’s iconic hike, and offers fantastic views from Moreton Bay and the Stradbroke Islands, to the McPherson Range and the Brisbane skyline. It’s a 30-minute walk from J.C. Slaughter Falls, take your water bottle and remember to be sun smart. You can also get compactable dog bowls which are great for hikes like this for when Fido gets thirsty. Most dogs should be able to handle the exercise level but talk to your vet if you’re unsure of how yours will cope.