Dog friendly bush walking - Ellis Brook Reserve, Perth

Last weekend was a long weekend inWestern Australia, we had time to take a hike in yet another new location, Ellis Brook Valley. It is a local government reserve near an abandoned quarry which is renowned for it's bird life, wildflowers and 60 foot waterfall. Unfortunately we were a bit early for the wildflower season, which is supposed to start in July, and there was no water gushing down the waterfall, but the dogs still enjoyed the hike.

Some of the trail was easy and flat like this.

There was a metal grate that no self respecting dog would walk on (the gaps were big enough for Barbie's paws to go through!), but both dogs managed to pick their way along on solid ground one side of the grate. 

There were quite a few steep sets of stairs - they were mostly the solid kind just made out of dirt with logs or rocks or pieces of wood supporting the dirt. Barbie didn't have any issues with most of these, though I decided next time I needed to use a longer leash so that I didn't have to walk so closely behind her on narrow trails. 

There was another family there with two Irish Setters, and they let them do the trail off leash. I think it was because it's easier when the terrain is rough. 

Barbie struggled to get down these stairs but she did it in the end. She gets stuck when she forgets that she can move her back legs down onto the next step. After we got down the stairway we saw there was another trail that allows people and doggies to walk down without the stairs. 

It was a shortish walk as we parked in the 'upper' car park, but we weren't sure how Barbie's soft princess feet would hold up in the rough terrain. She did fine on the short walk so I think she would have probably been OK for the full 6 kilometre loop. 

As it was a public holiday, every family and their dog decided to go for a walk - we arrived at about 10.30am and finished the walk in an hour, and the car park was packed by the time we got back down.

At least Barbie got to make a friend on the walk. It's another great winter walk, and we will have to go back late winter when the wildflowers are out and there might just be some water in the water fall.