Den Rock Park with your dog: boulders, beaver ponds and the Shawsheen

Greenbelt's page for Den Rock Park lists dog walking with hiking, birdwatching, horseback riding, mountain biking, trail running and winter recreation. Its Trail Safety Guidelines ask you to leash dogs where required and follow posted guidelines, keep dogs from approaching wildlife, horses, other dogs or people uninvited, and bag the waste and take it with you. Greenbelt's general policies add three more: carry a leash, leash an aggressive dog and never leave a dog unattended.

The main park belongs to the City of Lawrence, and its park guide, produced by the city with Groundwork Lawrence, asks owners to keep dogs under control: leashed or closely supervised at all times. Across the town line, Andover's bylaw requires any dog outside its owner's premises to be held firmly on a leash no greater than six feet long. We could not read Lawrence's own ordinance for this page. With a trail network that crosses between two towns, a six-foot leash satisfies every rule we found.

The main, city-owned entrance is near 341 Winthrop Avenue, which is Route 114, in Lawrence. Greenbelt describes ample parking there, an information kiosk and direct access to the trail network kept up by the city and Groundwork Lawrence, which built that visitor lot with the city in 2004. The second entrance, at 38 Stirling Street in Andover, has limited on-street parking and leads straight onto Greenbelt's trails.

The hours are worded two ways. The city's park guide says Den Rock Park is open every day from dawn to dusk, and Greenbelt keeps all its properties open from sunrise to sunset. Either way, this is a daylight walk. The guide also rules out fires, alcohol and motorized or off-road vehicles, and anyone wishing to camp overnight must first get written permission from the city's Department of Public Works.

Den Rock is a Merrimack Valley walk, and Dogtown is on Cape Ann. From Lawrence or Andover, 210 Eastern Ave in Gloucester is about 55 minutes away outside rush hour, by our estimate, by Route 114 east and Route 128 north, and both towns are outside the Pup Van towns, so ask us about pick-up. We would not suggest the drive just to wash off a muddy walk; a hose at home does that job.

If you are coming to the coast anyway, for a Crane Beach morning in the dog season or a weekend on the North Shore, our bath and brush takes river mud and salt out together: $55 for a dog up to 25 pounds, rising by size to $95 for an extra-large long coat, with no evaluation needed. Our board and train pages for Lawrence and Andover cover the longer programs. We do not take dogs to Den Rock Park.