Blackstone River and Canal in Uxbridge, MA. March 29, 2019

A beautiful dog friendly park is a nice treat for you and your dog.  Daisy and I met my niece and her dog at the Riverbend Visitor Center on Oak Street, in Uxbridge, MA.  This dog friendly park offers locations for fishing, paddling, and photography, walking, and jogging.  All dogs were on leashes and wagging their tails.  They were excited to meet other dogs out for a walks along the canal, or around the grassy field and trails.  I found this to be one of the most dog friendly parks I’ve visited.

There is overflow parking in the field north of the Visitor Center.  Starting from the visitor center parking lot, cross East, over the wooden bridge and the trail is a sandy gravel path, good for walking and very dog friendly.  Turn North to walk along the canal a short way up to the spill way and the stone bridge. 

There is a dirt pull off parking lot area above the spill way.  It’s a good place to put a canoe or kayak into the river.  When water is pouring over the spill way, the river is high, and cautious novice paddlers like myself, will wait for another day to paddle.  The bubbly water sings to my dog, and she looks forward to getting into the water.  This is a good place to keep dogs on a leash for their safety.

We turned around and walked south along the gravel path, and passed the visitor center.  We saw several teens picking up their fishing poles and buckets and tackle boxes, moving to other locations.  Several people were jogging along the trail.  Some folks like us, ambled along, enjoying the weather.  Most every person was dog friendly in this park, and we enjoyed meeting each other’s dogs. 

We saw a line of little turtles on a log in the canal.  My dog saw them too.  A good reason to keep a dog on the leash is to keep them dry for the ride home.  I know Daisy would have liked to have gotten much closer to that group of turtles, and come home wet and muddy.  I wished I had brought my camera to snap a picture of the turtles lined up smallest to largest on a log.  A picture of Daisy excitedly watching them would have been precious. 

Continuing South, past an open field area there was another group of teens playing with a soccer ball.  Seeing people out and enjoying a beautiful spring day was uplifting.  They were also dog friendly and played a little soccer with Daisy.  Everyone there was a total stranger and all were very nice people. 

Almost like a dog show, we saw lots of wagging tails.  The smallest dog might have been a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and the largest dog was easily the Great Pyrenees.  Most of the dogs were dog friendly.  Some dogs were practicing their new social skills with their new owners. 

There is a small park like area to the East of the walkway, and across the park is the Blackstone River, and canoe portage.  It’s also an easy location to walk to and see how the river looks and is flowing.  The strong experience paddler may prefer to be surprised by the river.  I’m a rookie paddler and hope to stay dry on my next adventure.  High on a tree along this little dirt landing is a sign that states “Portage”.  My Daisy just needed to splash in the water.  I let her loose, to take a few pictures. 

Here is a picture of Daisy evaluating the river, and the dog friendly portage area.

The gravel path ends at the Stanley Woolen Mill, Mendon Street.  A little wooden bridge over a small spill way leads to another small parking lot.

Here we turned around and walked back along the same gravel path.  We explored a few grassy trails that lead to picnic tables on the river. 

As we were crossing over the wood bridge back to the parking lot, the cutest little girl reeled in a fish on her pink plastic fishing pole, and her Dad, unhooked the fish and tossed it back.  I’m told it’s about using the right bait.  Everyone was having a nice afternoon in the park.

You don’t need to bring anything with you to this lovely dog friendly park.  Next time, I’ll bring a picnic for us to sit and enjoy our day at the park just a little longer.  It would be worth the effort to bring a salad or sandwich and water and a doggy lunch, in a small tote bag and sit at any of the benches or tables, or lay out a table cloth and have lunch on the lawns.  I always have a few trash and doggy bags with me, or in my vehicle.

Please always pick up after your dogs, and keep your dog under control when in these parks.  It’s nice to have these wonderful places for people to enjoy and bring their families and pets out for the day.  I imagine it is especially nice for families who live in apartments and don’t have much lawn space to enjoy.  The Blackstone Heritage Corridor has been years in development and the parts that are finished, need to be cared for and maintained.