One of the joys of RV travelling for us is that the pup comes too. Our dog Waffle is now 3 and has been a part of much of the travelling we have done since moving to the US and starting homeschooling.
National Parks in the USA are not super dog friendly, unlike in the UK. If you want to be able to go everywhere and hike anything with your dog in tow, don’t go to an American National Park.
However visiting National Parks with a dog is totally doable, especially if you are travelling with an RV. We have now taken Waffle to 6 National Parks – Mount Rainier National Park (NP), North Cascades NP, Redwoods NP, Zion NP, Grand Canyon NP and Death Valley NP. And we have at least 2 more lined up for this year.
Here are my top tips for visiting a National Park with a dog in tow:
1. Check before you go
Preparation is key, otherwise you could easily rock up and be unable to do anything you hoped to do. For our last trip, I printed out a binder of visitor guides, maps, directions and places we wanted to go on our way. And it wasn’t overkill, I promise, it was awesome! Included was where dogs were allowed in all the places we visited. It is pretty standard in National Parks that dogs need to be leashed and are restricted to campgrounds, roads and developed areas, but there may be others or specific no-dogs areas, like everywhere below the rim at Grand Canyon NP. Every National Park website so far has had a specific page on pets with this info.
2. Find the dog friendly hikes!
We are finding that many National Parks now have specific trails that are designated dog friendly. It may well also be wheelchair or bike friendly, so be prepared for a lot of wide and even paved trails, and it may only be one trail in the whole park, but we’ve loved these trails as options and often it means we have the choice of taking bikes or the kids’ scooters too. For example, Zion NP has the Pa’rus Trail, Grand Canyon NP has the South Rim Trail and the Greenway Trails and Redwoods NP has the Cal Barrel Road and Walker Road.
3. Check whether you can leave a dog in an RV (or car)
Obviously hot or sunny conditions can quickly make a vehicle dangerous for a pet, and we noticed in some of the more southern parks that it was posted that it was prohibited to leave pets in any vehicle (even an RV with A/C). If you can, and the conditions are safe for your pet, then this obviously opens up a lot more areas and trails to your group.
4. Kennels may be an option
Kennels are an option at some parks, such as Grand Canyon NP, for when you want to hike where you can’t take dogs and you don’t have a place to leave the dog or someone to stay with them.
5. Use National Forests etc
Use National Forests (often near or next to National Parks), National Conservancies, State Parks, beaches etc near to where you are staying to both exercise your dog and explore the wilderness around you.
We have done some pretty epic hikes near Mount Rainier NP with the dog in tow, in a National Forest, but still in the same kind of environment that is in the National Park. On our latest trip, we did some amazing hiking in the Red Rock National Conservancy, which is near Las Vegas and so in between the Grand Canyon and Death Valley.
6. Be prepared to split up
Be prepared to split up as a group if some of you want to do more hiking than is possible with a dog, especially if you don’t have an RV or cannot leave the dog in the RV. An adult and perhaps younger kids staying near camp with the dog while another adult takes older kids hiking is a simple solution to both pet-restrictions and too little legs.
7. Consider what you can do from the road!
We have seen much of National Parks while driving the RV and then stopping at various points for a break, an explore or a photo opportunity. Especially if you have all already stretched your legs on a dog-friendly or outside-the-National-Park hike early in the day, and have kids in your group then driving for views doesn’t seem that sedentary!
This was pretty much how we “saw” Death Valley NP, but what with stopping at all the highlights on the list and doing some very scenic drives, it didn’t feel at all like we missed out.
