Lynn “Rip” Van Winkle Open Space

My dog, Kona flew out to California from Florida to join me last Monday and Rip Van Winkle Open Space is the first park we’ve had a chance to get to.
I can’t believe there hasn’t been a Unilocal entry for this place before now! It’s a really, really cool place to take your dog for some off-​leash exercise. The Pacific Grove city website describes it as a «narrow ribbon of space… approximately 2,200 feet long and 400 feet wide.» Perhaps in the grand scheme of things it’s narrow, but it doesn’t feel that way when you’re walking or jogging around it. The whole area is crosshatched with trails, so you can walk for quite a while without retracing your steps.
It’s not called a «dog park,» per se, but it seems like that’s mostly what people use it for. We went at about 9am on a Sunday and ran into at least 8 or 10 other people out with their dogs. Unlike basically everywhere in the Monterey area, off-​leash activity is actually allowed! The experience is not like your typical purpose-​built dog park, where there’s just a large open area for dogs to run and socialize in; for the most part, you walk around the trails in the RVW Open Space and dogs can romp for a bit when you run into other people.
It’s a very pretty piece of land, with lots of trees that help give the impression that you’re in a much larger undeveloped area. For the most part, it seems like dog owners are very responsible about cleaning up after their pets. One thing to note, though, is that there is a doggie-​bag dispenser near the small parking area off of Congress Ave (about 1072 Congress on G Maps), but I didn’t see another dispenser anywhere else. So think ahead and grab a bag or two before you start wandering.