By Mariah Cannon

For all my fur baby parents out there, traveling with a pup can sometimes be a challenge! You want to include them and bring them with you, but not all places are dog friendly. This can be incredibly challenging for people like myself, that are living somewhere where you don’t have any family or friends nearby to watch them when you leave town.

In this blog, I’m going to give my best tips for traveling specifically to national parks with a dog and areas nearby to explore where dogs are welcome.

Can I Really Bring my Dog to a National Park?

Yes! But there are very specific stipulations and it’s crucial we follow the rules that the National Park Service sets in play for us so we can keep exploring and bringing our pets to areas.

1. Most National Parks allow dogs in the campgrounds as long as they’re on leash and don’t run around.
2. Their food and water dishes must be put up, especially in bear areas – they will need to be put in the vehicle in between uses or in the campground provided bear containers.
3. Most parks don’t allow dogs to be more than 100 feet from parking areas or the road, whichever is closer.
4. You must clean up and pack out all waste from anywhere you stop to let your furry friends out.

What Parks are the Most Dog Friendly

While most parks allow dogs in campgrounds and parking lots, as mentioned above – some parks do allow dogs to roam in more areas!

1. Acadia National Park, Maine – Has a good amount of dog friendly trails, especially along the Appalachian Trail. The town of Bar Harbor also is very dog friendly from parks to breweries!
2. New River Gorge National Park, West Virginia – Offers quite a few different dog friendly trails throughout the park.
3. Indiana Dunes National Park, Indiana – Where dogs are allowed in all of the National and State Parks!
4. Shenandoah National Park, Virginia – The Appalachian Trail, amongst some others in the park are dog friendly.
5. Along with so many more National Monuments and land that offer dog friendly trails and facilities.

My Personal Tips for Taking Dogs Into the Park

• Go during colder months! I know most people don’t think of hitting up the National Parks during Fall/Winter/and even early Spring – Buuuttt, it’s the best way to be able to take them with you and leave them in the car if you’re camping/not staying in a place where you can leave them home all day. Dogs can’t handle being in the car when it’s too hot and/or they don’t have fresh air flow.
• Let them out where you can to potty and walk around, then simply leave them in the car when you go onto trails or into buildings that are dog free zones.
  • Now I know a lot of people have problems with leaving animals in vehicles, but if done properly, it is no biggie.
    • Leave them with a cracked window to get fresh air
    • Put a bowl of water in the vehicle with them or hooked on the inside of their kennel
    • Make sure the temperatures are not above 60 degrees
    • Invest in a battery operated fan to keep airflow moving in the vehicle (we set ours on the floor).
  • Cody and I typically will only do shorter hikes where Maverick and Jasper will not be in the vehicle for too long.
  • I promise you, if you give them the right environment and don’t leave them in the warmer weather, they will most likely sleep and not even notice you’re gone. Maverick will wake up when we open the doors and you can tell he was in a super deep sleep lol. It’s the greatest thing.
• I recommend picking some hikes outside of the park (if there are any) to get them out for a fresh air walk to stretch their paws out. 😉
• A question I get asked a lot is; Do people throw a fit or turn you in for leaving your dog? The answer is no; we have never had any issues with it and it’s something we do frequently when we have to bring the puppies along. It may surprise you, but many other national park lovers and travelers also bring their dogs during the cooler months.

Enjoy this guide for exploring the national parks? Be sure to save it for future adventures!

Let’s Get Adventuring!

Mariah 🙂