Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve

This park is beautiful, moderate hiking, lovely trails and surrounded around nature! It’s second to Fort Funston.
A note why I gave three stars: there is dog poop throughout the park and even dog poop in bags throughout the park. It’s gross, disrespectful and inconsiderate of this beautiful property. If you are a dog owner please clean up after it and help keep our public spaces gorgeous.

Pretty nice place for a hike or walk, especially if you have a dog. Great views and not too crowded, plus free parking.

Pretty good hike. Views aren’t bad. Good workout for a weekday. I’d say moderate level.

Took my dog there and it was great! Relatively easy hike/​jog with not too much elevation change. Completed 5 miles and my dog enjoyed it. Met other joggers/​hikers/​dogs on the way that were nice and had an overall great time. I will definitely come back again in the future.

Good hiking spot across from Edgewood. Some shade and some sun. Good workout as some trails are relatively steep. Dogs allowed. Please clean up after them!

I love brining my husky/​malamute here to go on hikes, the scenery is beautiful and very peaceful. Definitely recommend brining your dog here to get a workout and tucker them out. Beautiful scenery!!!

Dog friendly, pretty easy hike/​terrain, just a little over 5 miles.
— Dog poop: Docking a star bc it’s impossible to find a trash can for poop around here!
— Parking: relatively easy, there’s a lot and some shaded areas to park
— Bathrooms: one co-​ed bathroom by parking lot, didn’t try it but easy access
— Trails: well labeled and pretty flat, some shade though expect to be pretty hot. Bring water. Some views but generally about the same throughout the hike — nothing terribly spectacular, but not a bad hike for an easy day

The most dog-​friendly dog trail I’ve seen.
In fact, we only saw one or two pairs of hikers who DIDN’T have dogs. And in the middle of the preserve is an off-​leash dog area, enclosed by a half-​mile loop. With beautiful scenery and room for Fido to run free, what’s not to love?
The preserve is relatively small; the Hassler Trail will take you to the Dusky-​footed Woodrat Trail, which circles back and returns to the front of the preserve via the Cordilleras Trail. This loop is only about 4 miles, and the total elevation gain is 400 feet. Horses, bikes, and people on fire are not permitted.
There’s a parking lot off Edmonds Road with room for about 22 cars, with more parking spots on both sides of the road. There was ample parking at 2pm on a Saturday when we arrived. This definitely seems like one of the less crowded preserves in the Bay Area.

Absolutely hands-​down the best place to take your dog hiking. Add on the off-​leash area plus lush trees, and you’ve got yourself a winner. Yes, there are cautionary signs regarding ticks (including ones that carry Lyme), bobcats and snakes, but for the most part you’ll see plenty of friendly pups popping in and out of the trees. Nonetheless here’s a cautionary tale: found a swollen tick on my dog a week later so make sure to do a thorough check.
*Most important thing to note is the absence of any garbage disposal areas for your dog’s excrement. Please, please, PLEASE take your dog’s waste bag with you. It is such a downer to see plastic bags filled with feces lining fences and parking spaces. It sucks, I know, but let’s «preserve» our preserve. So until the city decides to set a wastebasket there, let’s bear that stench for a few miles on the ride home – we can do it!

Dog owners must go to Pulgas Ridge OSP. The trails are beautiful and the off-​leash area is a real treat. I’ve tried two trails and experienced only slight inclines. The tree-​lined trails grow narrow in some places with beautiful views throughout the loop. The off-​leash area is spacious with shaded areas for resting too. The ONLY drawback is the lack of courtesy from other dog owners – I am amazed at how many people think it is acceptable to leave poop bags along the trail. It has never been crowded along the trails – and the parking is easy to find.

Really nice trail for dogs because there is an off-​leash area! The trail is pretty clean and the scenic view, as you are walking up the hill, is very beautiful! Totally recommend it for an easy hike upwards, because the incline is not steep at all!
The only thing I would recommend for this trail is to add a trash can because there were many poop bags filled with poop alongside the trail!

For those of us in the Bay Area, we’re quite limited to large off-​leash areas for our dogs, but Pulgas Ridge seems to be the answer for that!
The two closest parking lots to the trail can accommodate about 20 cars total, but I’ve seen some people park on the road too. The fastest way to get to the off-​leash dog area is by way of the trail closest to the only restroom in the parking lot. It’s 0.5 miles from the parking lot to that area, which is called Hassler Loop. The area is similar to a race track (hence the «Loop»), but it’s at an angle so you and your pup will get a good workout with those inclines. If your dog LOVES fetch, please bring a ball too! Running those hills will be an awesome challenge!
Keep in mind that the preserve does not have any garbage cans or provide doggy waste bags. When you are exiting the off-​leash area, there will be a sign. Rangers usually patrol this preserve, even in the Loop so keep an eye out so that your pup won’t have a fateful encounter.

Nice trails for humans and their four-​legged friends. Came here on a weekday afternoon and found plenty of parking. I can imagine weekends might be a bit more crowded. The land must contain some kind of watershed because there’s the sound of pumps and water in the open area by the parking lot. Plus the SFWD logo is on many of the structures.
It’s a nice place for a walk with plenty of shade. It hadn’t rained for a few days before my hike so the ground was dry. The trails are mostly dirt and rocks so rain would make these trails quite muddy, if not dangerous, so be careful. Go check this preserve out and hope you enjoy it as much as we did on a beautiful day.

It’s a gorgeous open space, great for hiking and love that it’s dog friendly — dogs are allowed and there’s a huge amount of off-​leash area for pups to run around and enjoy themselves, too. There’s enough shade to keep most dogs happy (I’ve got a schipperke, they’re quite furry and planning for shade is something I keep in mind). It’s amazing that the Bay Area, despite having undergone so much development in only recent history (70 years ago it was mainly farmland) has managed to preserve so much open space and makes it available to the public.
My only complaint lies with the behavior of fellow dog owners: please be responsible pet owners and pick up after your dogs! I came here recently and was very disappointed in how much dog poop there was along the trail, and how some folks decided to just leave bagged dog poop by the restroom. This is terrible because it’s pretty clear that the restroom is set up so that it’s minimally cleaned — it’s a self-​composting one and slightly better than a porta-​potty. California’s always in a budget crisis and parks are usually where jobs are slashed. It’s a lot easier for the state to just determine that cleaning up after irresponsible dog owners who pile up poop is too costly (it’s someone’s job to maintain the trails and clean up the restroom so it’s safe for human use — they don’t have to care about dogs and likely hate dogs and their owners for this type of trashy behavior), and change the park’s status to one that no longer allows dogs because that’s the easier/​cheaper fix. It’s what’s happened to many state beaches around here, you used to be able to bring your dogs but a few years ago that privilege got taken away.
So dog owners, if you do decide to come here with your pooch, don’t be part of the reason for why we can’t have nice things anymore. Plan ahead for picking up after your dog, and bring poop bags and if you think it’s gross to not be able to throw it in a garbage bin, figure out how you’re going to toss the poop away from the park.
Similarly, plan ahead for yourself and your dogs’ needs and bring water — there’s no water fountains, either. On a hot day dogs can and do overheat.
Bottom line: great open area that’s easy for both people and dogs to enjoy nature — people be responsible and plan for your dog’s waste so that we can keep this a place where we can bring our pooches for a long time!

This place was pretty good. Brought our dog and enjoyed it — did the Blue Oak Trail, off-​leash dog area, some of the Hassler Trail, and the Dick Bishop trail, all of which which took just over an hour — we’ll probably go back.
Pros:
+ easy to find, right off the 280
+ off-​leash dog area (don’t find those too often) with nice wide paths
+ partially shaded
+ nice views
+ pretty easy hike, not too strenuous
+ free parking, had no issues finding a spot
Cons:
— no trash cans. Nothing like bagged dog poop along the trail to ruin nature
— the main path in the off-​leash dog area was asphalt, which seemed weird given elsewhere had dirt paths and was hard on my dog’s feet (especially in the hot sun)
— I am not by any means in amazing shape or an experienced hiker but would’ve preferred the hike to be a little more challenging. Next time need to try the Dusky-​footed Woodrat Trail

Free parking Lot!!! Place wasn’t hard to find. I did make sure to write down the directions before I ventured off. Helped. I did happen to use the bathroom in the parking lot, it’s not bad. I’ve seen worse, Nisene Marks *bleh*. Trails are well kept up, we even ran into the maintenance team the day I hiked. Trails are easy to walk on. There is a point on the top where you have a beautiful view of the canyon. Give this place a try and enjoy the outdoors.

Great for a mom who wants to put a baby in the stroller and just to get some incline exercise!
Loved this paved hike. It’s a slow incline upward. It’s partly shaded and I loved seeing the goats near by since it’s for vegetation control. Easy parking off Edgewood/​280 freeway.
Walk with a friend as it’s kind of quiet path and dogs can be unleashed!

I love this trail and so does my dog. Pulgas Ridge is great for hike, which is not difficult. You’re never out of breath, this hike will never kill your legs, but you’ll get a decent workout.
There’s a nice up top place with an off leash area. Dogs love to run free and only dog owners will understand how nice is to have an off leash place for the pup to run around and explore (even if it’s a short leash-​free area). Just beware of wild animals, reptiles and keep your dog close to you if he’s the «Curious George» type of dog.
There’s a lot of free parking at the entrance, but I’ve been here before where those spots were all taken. If that happens there’s more parking along the roadside.
I’m all about finding new places where I can take my dog with me. We love getting out of the house, hiking to a beautiful place and getting a great exercise. So grab your hiking shoes, your pup and go explore. There’s a variety of trails to take and there’s always people walking with their dogs, so I’m not that worried about safety.

I’ve brought one of my dogs here to hike after hearing about it from my boss (also a dog-​lover). This is the only hiking area I’ve found so far which has an off-​leash zone!
You’d only understand how awesome Pulgas Ridge OSP is if you’re a dog owner who has tried to look for dog-​friendly trails or off-​leash areas only to realize there are so few options available.
Pulgas Ridge OSP is a little paradise for dog owners and dogs alike. So much space for the dogs to roam around in the off-​leash area in the middle of the park! A lot of different plant life and terrain for the dogs to explore. And many short and long trails to go on around the hills as well.
For our first trip, we went straight to the off-​leash area, which was a very short hike, probably no more than 20 minutes. On a Saturday, we encountered 4 – 5 other dogs, all were friendly and walking alongside their owners. Some wanted to say hi, others were just passing by.
For our next trip, we’ll be taking the long scenic route called the Dusky Woodrat Trail which goes around the hill for ~4 mi. I’ve been told it’s a lovely hike.
Note: Dogs must be kept on-​leash on the trails!

On the whole, I am very confused when hiking. The trails are all difficult to navigate. On this sign it says «[up arrow] for [trail 1]» and then «[side arrow] for [trail 2].» Next thing you know, I’m walking in a circle.
However, I am a hiking n00b. I have been on exactly three hikes in the last six months; one in Tahoe, one in Pulgas Ridge, and one in Muir Woods. Before I’d stay home and sit on my computer, but lately going out has been a nice enough activity.
So Flea Ridge, eh? Sounds enticing. Mom said she had this goal with my aunt to go to at least one different hiking place in the Bay Area a week, and since my aunt was in Hawai’i, I got to accompany her. It was random, spur of the moment, and this place lets you take dogs, so it was an obvious choice. There is an off leash area!
The hike is easy. I’d say if one were to compare hiking trails to ski trails, this would be between a bunny slope and a green. It was fun, there were some uphill moments that were really nice and let you sound out of breath if you’re talking nonstop (like me), but otherwise it’s a nice good hike for an hour or two. There are several trails, we took the easiest (being that it’d been months since my last excursion). The weather started out cold because of the shade, then ended up getting really hot, then back to getting cold.
Either way, I totally recommend this hike for dog owners, and for people who, like me, are just starting back out venturing into nature.
PS: I did not see any fleas. Disappoint. Minus 1 star. :P