Off-leash hiking with dog(s) (Charleston, Awendaw: eat, friendly, parks)

[jaj2276]

I have two labs that are well behaved. We take them to Sullivan's often, but while that gives the dogs a good bit of exercise it leaves much to be desired for my wife and I.

Does anyone know if it's allowed to hike either the Awendaw Passage or Swamp Fox passive of the Palmetto Trail with dogs off leash? My dogs are well behaved, non aggressive (to humans and other dogs), however I'm not sure how others would react to see my dogs coming down the trail (my dogs will run down a trail until they can't see us anymore and then turn around). And if there are many bikers on this trail, it's not totally out of the question of an unfortunate accident/collision as my dogs aren't familiar with bikes.

Let me ask another question in case people don't recommend dogs off-leash on the Palmetto Trail. Are there any trails around the Charleston area (not off-leash dog areas inside the various parks around the county) that I might not know about. What I'd love is access to private acreage (no hiking trails necessary) where I could just meander through the forest with my dogs.

Thanks in advance.

[OleTomCat]

Yes you can walk the trail with your dogs off leash, just be careful around the wet areas especially with Labs since it is hard to keep them out of the water, gators do eat dogs on a regular basis even ones that would never bother a human will go out of their way to gobble up a pooch..

[Fripper]

We always have our dog leashed. He loves people but can can be dog agressive when a strange dog runs up to him, he has scarred a few noses on our walks. It drives me crazy when people yell out about 25 feet behind their dogs "don't worry he's friendly" as their dog comes running at me and my leashed dog, my answer is "mine's not though". So please, if your dogs are not under your control at all times, keep them leashed.