If like me and my fiancée you have a little four-legged family member, you might be thinking of the best walks to do with them. Your usual leg stretch at the local park is great. However, sometimes you all need something a little more adventurous. We went to Snowdonia recently on a family holiday and wanted to head up Snowdon. We did a bit of research on the most dog-friendly trails up the mountain, then headed off. If you’re thinking of tackling Snowdon with your pooch, then carry on reading!
Plan, Plan, Plan
As I said, we had done a little bit of research on which route to take up Snowdon. Many sites recommend the Snowdon Ranger Path and that sounded a great idea! The only snag for us, is we were staying at a beautiful campsite in Llanberis, and the start of the Snowdon Ranger Path was a little out the way. By that, I mean a 10 mile drive around Moel Eilio. We weren’t doing that. Nor were we walking up and over a peak just to walk back up again. Our little Shih-Tzu, Willow, would not have thanked us for that!
We looked at our map for the area (an essential for any hiking trip) and planned a route. Thanks to Ordnance Survey’s website/app, I was able to plot our points before we went, which acted as a handy backup. Some of the route we worked off map and compass, other times we used GPS to cross-check. When you buy an OS map these days, they come with a digital copy, so you can access your map online. This is a great planning tool and one I’ve used many times on my other hiking exploits!
The route we planned was just over 10 miles and headed around Cwm Dwythwch, keeping ascents to a minimum. It then joined the Snowdon Ranger Path part way up, before summiting Snowdon. From there, our route dropped back down into Lalnberis along the Llanberis Path. This bit wasn’t totally ideal, but I’ll cover that a bit later. This whole loop has just over 3,500ft of ascent and should take around 5 or 6 hours with breaks thrown in. It did actually take us about that in reality. We were out for 5:44, but added on an extra couple of miles at the end around Llanberis.
Setting Off
After a morning weather check (not too hot for Willow) and making sure we had plenty of supplies, we were off. It’s worth noting here the importance of ‘supplies’. All the walks I’ve done previously have been pretty easy to pack for. I know how long I’m out, how I’ll cope, how much I’ll (roughly) drink. That’s a lot of ‘I’ in there. When you’re planning to summit Snowdon with your pooch, you need to be out of that ‘I’ mindset. You don’t necessarily know how they’ll cope, how much they’ll want to drink and how much help they’ll need! We made sure we were overly prepared for this one. Better to be safe than sorry!
We had plenty of water for ourselves and Willow (including her little bowl) and snacks for all 3 of us. We had her raincoat packed into her bag, along with her little Pawaboo pet carrier we have. It’s such a great tool to have packed away in case she starts struggling. It hadn’t been used fully in vain before (only trial runs), so this trip was a great opportunity to try it out. We also made sure we put on some wax to her paws for protection from the sharp rocks and cold higher up. We took spare too, just in case. I’m probably missing out more here, such as the blankets we took to line the carrier, but it goes to show the extra considerations you need to make!
Once we got going, we headed out from the site and along towards the Snowdon Ranger Path. This route wasn’t great for Willow, as the stones were quite small and she looked like she was uncomfortable. We picked her up here for a bit – the carrier worked a treat! Once we had contoured along Cwm Dwythwch we popped her down for the little uphill burst over a ridge to the Snowdon Ranger Path. Over this period, we took several breaks. They were all predominantly to give Willow a chance to have some water, which she refused on most occasions! Still, we felt offering little and often made sure she was staying hydrated. So were we!
Snowdon Ranger Path
For all those people who recommended this route up Snowdon with your pooch, bravo. It’s much quieter than the other tourist routes, which gives the space to be able to let your little one off (if you so wish). We kept her on the lead throughout, to avoid scaring any livestock. That’s a big no-no anywhere really, but make sure around Snowdonia if you’re letting your dog off their lead then they are well under control. There were very few sheep as we were on the Snowdon Ranger Path, but still, we didn’t let her off.
We were initially dubious about how she would cope going up the second highest peak in the UK. We needn’t be. She smashed it. All the way up the Ranger path she was hopping up the rocks, absolutely loving it! We stopped a few times again, one to get our rain jackets on as it got showery towards the top, and the others for food and water. She was loving her treat stops, though less bothered by the water. Typical child!
As we neared the summit, it started lightly snowing. Willow wasn’t bothered in the slightest, as she was warming up from all the uphill excursion. I’d note here to be cautious of the weather. We were really lucky that it was overcast and not too hot. Had the sun been out, I think she could have really struggled overheating and we would have had to take a lot more stops and find shade. In all honesty, I think we might not have done it with her if it were a hot day! She only started shivering when we stopped at the top for family photos!
From the top, we quickly headed back down to escape the cold (more for Willow than us). For the quicker descent back to Llanberis we took the Llanberis path. This is the most touristy route up/down Snowdon that has the railway running alongside.
Llanberis Path
As I mentioned in the start, this route really isn’t suitable for small dogs. Bigger dogs may be able to hack it, but little Willow had no hope! There were a lot more people, the rocks underfoot are sharper and the incline is more constant. The railway runs alongside too, which could have been a great ‘get out of jail’ option, but they don’t allow dogs. We thought about how much we could wrap Willow up and pass her off as a baby. But opted to walk!
We had her down in the carrier the whole way, as the cold had started to kick in where we had stopped going uphill and it wasn’t the easiest terrain to descend along. We popped her back down as we got back to the paved roads into Llanberis and she was absolutely fine! While this route could work for some bigger dogs, I wouldn’t say go for it with the smaller ones. But feel free to try it if you think your Chihuahua has it in them! Don’t blame me though when they don’t…