Dogs had their day when Bonney Lake’s 3.8-acre dog park officially opened on Saturday.

On Sunday, despite clouds overhead, several four-legged animals were enjoying an afternoon of play with their owners in tow.

Viking Dog Park, behind Bonney Lake Elementary, has a more rustic quality than other dog parks in the region. Between tall evergreen trees, trails offer a path to adventure for curious canines. Not everyone stays on the path and two of the smaller dogs on Sunday seemed to enjoy off-roading. They veered off to the side and spent some time stepping over logs before getting back on course.

Lake Tapps resident Kristina Kolerich brought her dogs Brave and Charlie, who were wandering around apparently having the time of their lives.

Since adopting Brave, a 5-year-old German shepherd mix, Kolerich has taken him to the Grandview park in SeaTac, but the Bonney Lake park is closer to home.

Harriet Shiloh brought her dogs, a retriever with a bushy coat named Toby and a considerably smaller dog named Lucky, to walk the trail. Shiloh also visited Grandview before Viking Park opened in Bonney Lake.

“This is just wonderful,” she said.

She likes the Bonney Lake park more than Grandview because instead of being a large open space, it offers a terrain suited for exploration.

“Here they do everything,” Shiloh said.

Kolerich believes dog parks are the happiest places on Earth and her pets seemed to agree.

While having his photo taken, Brave’s excitement became too much to contain and he marched toward the camera with a stick in his mouth before dropping it. When it was thrown, he ran after it and immediately returned.

Viking Dog Park is at 18902 E. 82nd St., behind the Bonney Lake Elementary fields.