Fall Foliage Drives With the Dog: Chester County Roads
Our freeze-dried treats ride in the console every weekend this time of year, because a fall foliage drive with the dog around here always turns into more stops than we planned. Ella rides shotgun in the Camaro with her head out the window until the air gets too cold for that, and then she settles into the passenger seat and waits for the treat pouch to come out at whatever stop is next.
Chester County backroads
We do not have one set fall route. Some Saturdays we take the back roads out past the horse farms and end up nowhere in particular, other weekends we point the Camaro toward whatever car show or festival showed up on the calendar that week. What stays the same is the routine at each stop: park, let Ella stretch her legs, hand her a treat, get back in. It sounds small written out like that, but it is the whole reason the drive works with a dog in the car instead of feeling like a chore for her.
October also means Fall Carlisle out in Carlisle, the huge car event that runs the first week of the month, and we have made the drive out there with Ella in the back seat more than once just to walk the rows of cars parked in the fields. It is a long day by our usual standards, so we treat it differently than the shorter Saturday loops, with more water stops and a longer break in the shade between rows.
Most other weekends the drive is shorter and closer to home, an hour out and an hour back with one stop in between. Those are the ones that actually feel like fall to me, windows cracked, the Camaro's heater just barely on, Ella asleep against the door by the time we turn back onto our own street.
What to bring
Our own treats come first in the console: cheddar bites and the Beef Trio both hold up well in a bag that gets tossed around on the floor of a car all afternoon. Alongside those we keep the One-Hand Treat Training Pouch clipped to whoever is walking Ella at each stop, so treats come out one-handed while the other hand holds the leash.
We also keep a water bottle and a bowl in the trunk, since a dog who has been riding with the window down gets thirsty faster than you would expect. None of that is anything special, just the same short list every time so nobody is digging through the trunk at a rest stop while Ella pulls toward the nearest patch of grass.
From the shop
For a fall foliage drive with the dog we pack our cheddar bites and Beef Trio first, then the gear: the One-Hand Treat Training Pouch and our circle-logo bandana, both in our road trip essentials collection. If the stop happens to be a Halloween event, we swap the everyday treats for something from our freeze-dried treats collection instead, including anything out of the Halloween dog treats lineup. More on all of it, including road trip planning, lives at Trail and Travel.
Where to go
Three stops in Pennsylvania give a fall drive from our end of Chester County an actual destination instead of just a loop back home.
Fall Carlisle, September 30 to October 4, 2026, in Carlisle, is the big one, rows of collector cars and swap meet stalls that take a full morning to walk.
OctoberFeast at Peddler's Village, October 10-11, 2026, in New Hope, is a smaller, walkable stop with the kind of storefronts that make a good excuse to get out of the car.
Autumn Alive! Fall Festival and Pet Parade, October 17, 2026, in Quakertown, adds a dog-specific reason to make the drive instead of just a car show.
We add to this list as we hear about new ones at the dog-friendly car events board.
Questions
How far will Ella ride before she needs a break?
An hour or so is usually the point where she starts asking for a stop, less if it is warm out. We plan our loops around that instead of the other way around, which is part of why we end up at so many small stops instead of one long drive.
What goes in the pouch on a normal drive?
Cheddar bites most weekends, because they hold their shape in a bag that gets shaken around on the floor of the car. We swap in the Beef Trio when we want a little more variety across a longer day out.
Does the bandana do anything besides look good in photos?
Mostly it is just what Ella wears on drive days, our circle logo instead of anything seasonal. It is an easy way to spot her in a crowd at a car show, which matters more than it sounds like once a parking field fills up.
For the rest of the year's drives and stops, we keep a running list at Explore.
