Pueblo has a dog park called the Bark Park. It’s a fenced 2.5-acre facility nestled between a pair of softball fields and across the street from the zoo in City Park where people can let their dogs romp off-leash. It features agility equipment, water, and a tiny annex for smaller breeds of dogs. It draws a nice crowd weekend mornings and early evenings during the week, once the weather warms up.
About two miles west of the Bark Park is Lake Pueblo State Park. On the park’s south side, along Highway 96, is an access point to a nice up-and-down network of trails that total just over 24 miles. It’s formally known as The Southshore Trail Network and is popular with mountain bikers. Locals simply call it The Redgate, after the red gate that keeps cars and motorcycles from entering the park. There are lots of rabbits and cactus out there, as well as the occasional coyote. And for seven months out of the year, it’s my dog park of choice. Reina, Rafa, and I typically spend about an hour out there four or five mornings a week, until the rattlesnakes begin to emerge from their dens.
Reina and I have walking out there for nearly nine years and just over three years with Rafa. The park requires leashes, but it’s rare that I’ll put them on a lead. We’re usually off the trail before 9 a.m. and more often than not, the folks we run into have their dogs off-leash as well. I’ll usually do a loop of 3-4 miles while the dogs do a variant of same, sprinting up and down hillsides and out-and-back on bluffs chasing a robust rabbit population. I estimate they do at least an extra mile for every three miles I walk. And when the weather warms up, they’ll manage to find the water and squeeze in a swim, too. It’s a nice workout for them, offering more physical challenges than the dog park in town does.
