K'Ehleyr overlooking Bighorn Canyon
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area
Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area is a 4-paw, dog friendly, park at the border of Wyoming and Montana. Lots of trails and camping available.
National Park Dogs talks about how pet friendly our National Parks, Monuments and other federal lands are or aren’t. A few parks do not allow dogs at all while most parks have different amounts of restrictions.
To provide a quick reference for park pet friendliness, I have devised a paw-rating system. One paw means pets are only allowed on roads or paved areas and not left unattended in vehicles. Two paws mean pets must be within 100 feet of roads and there is one pet friendly trail. A three paw park has two or more pet friendly trails. The most pet friendly parks get a four paw rating, theses parks have few limiting restrictions. When travelling to any National Park, you will need leash and cleaned up after your pet.
Blog posts in National Park Dogs give more details about each park we have traveled to with our Great Danes. I have also included an info-graphic for quick reference and maps to dog friendly trails when available.
Traveling enriches both your life and the life of your Great Dane.
Organ pipe cactus, Stenocereus thurberi
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on the southern border of Arizona gets a 3-paw rating. It has 3 pet-friendly trails and 2 dirt roads to walk your dog.
Death Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park gets a 2-paw rating. While it has 6 roads, mostly dirt, where you can walk your dog, there is only 1 official pet friendly trail.
Lower Waterfowl Lake
To Vulcan by way of Banff and Jasper
A quick trip through Banff and Jasper National Parks. Many of the park highlights are short hikes from the road. Take your dog on some longer hikes to get away from the crowds.