National parks that allow dogs on trails

Acadia National Park

Acadia is the rare big-name national park you can actually hike with a dog: 100 miles of hiking trails and all 45 miles of the crushed-stone carriage roads are open to leashed pets, and the carriage roads in particular are wide, gently graded and easy on paws. The park names the exceptions rather than the allowances, and they matter: skip anything with iron rungs or ladders, and note that Sand Beach and Echo Lake close to pets in summer, most lakes are public water supplies where neither of you may swim, and the Wild Gardens of Acadia are off limits. Bar Harbor next door is unusually dog-friendly for a base. The catch is crowds: this is one of the busiest parks in the country packed into a small island.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

A narrow, vertigo-inducing gorge where the useful dog options are two rim walks: the Rim Rock Trail on the South Rim, linking the visitor center to the campground, and the Chasm View Nature Trail on the quieter North Rim. Everything else, including the inner-canyon routes and the wilderness, is closed to pets, so plan on overlooks and short rim strolls rather than a day of hiking. The park warns that deer protecting fawns can turn aggressive toward dogs in summer. There are no kennels in the park; boarding is in Montrose, Olathe or Gunnison.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce keeps dogs on pavement, but the pavement happens to run along the best view in the park: the half-mile of Rim Trail between Sunset and Sunrise Points looks straight down into the hoodoo amphitheater. The paved Shared-use Path and every viewpoint except Piracy Point are also open, so a leashed dog can see most of what a day visitor comes for without descending. Nothing below the rim is available, and pets are barred from the shuttle. The park itself suggests nearby Red Canyon, on Forest Service land, for anyone who wants hoodoos and real trail miles with a dog.

Capitol Reef National Park

Dogs at Capitol Reef get the green heart of the park rather than the slickrock: the Fremont River Trail from the campground to Hattie's Field, plus the connector between the visitor center and the Fruita Campground. That is a pleasant orchard-and-river walk through the historic Fruita district, and in fruit season you can pick from the orchards. Every other trail, the backcountry and all public buildings are closed to pets. Pets also cannot be left unattended in the campground, and there are no kennels in the park.

Congaree National Park

One of the most genuinely dog-open parks in the system: every trail is available, including the elevated Boardwalk Loop through the old-growth bottomland forest, and pets are welcome in the campgrounds and on the canoe trail. The park flags one practical wrinkle, that the elevated boardwalk is a confined space with no quick exit, so a dog uncomfortable around strangers is better off on a ground trail. Summer here is hot, humid and full of ticks and snakes, and much of the forest floods seasonally. It is also one of the quietest national parks in the country, which is part of the appeal.

Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake allows pets on a short designated list: the Lady of the Woods and Godfrey Glen trails when they are free of significant snow, the Annie Spur connector, and the official Pacific Crest Trail, which is a real long-distance option rather than a nature walk. Rim Drive, the Rim Village parking areas and the snowpack beside the road are also open, so the famous view is easy to reach. The Cleetwood Cove Trail, the only legal route down to the water, is closed to pets even if carried. Snow lingers late here, which closes much of the pet-legal list for a good part of the year.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

A free park between Cleveland and Akron with over 100 miles of trails open to leashed dogs, anchored by the flat, crushed-limestone Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail that runs the length of the valley. The park publishes its own short list of dog-suitable walks, from a two-mile Towpath section past the Beaver Marsh to the 7.1-mile Buckeye Trail loop between Boston and Peninsula. Exceptions are few and specific: the East Rim mountain bike trails, park buildings, the scenic railroad, and the Virginia Kendall Hills during sledding season. Being a metro-area park, trailheads can be busy on weekends.

Great Basin National Park

Remote, high and very quiet, Great Basin charges nothing to enter but gives dogs only two walking options: the Lexington Arch Trail in the park's far south, and the connector path between the town of Baker and the Great Basin Visitor Center. The bristlecone groves, the Wheeler Peak trails and the whole backcountry are closed to pets, and dogs cannot join the Lehman Caves tours, which are the park's main draw and cost extra per person. If you are passing through with a dog this is a stargazing-and-scenic-drive stop rather than a hiking destination.

Grand Canyon National Park

Dogs are welcome along the South Rim above the canyon edge, which covers miles of rim-side path, the developed village area and the campgrounds, so a leashed dog can walk the classic view for as long as you like. Nothing below the rim is permitted, and pets are barred from the shuttle buses, which is the real planning constraint on the South Rim in summer. The North Rim is thinner still: only the bridle trail connecting to the North Kaibab and a stretch of the Arizona Trail, with no kennel on that side. There is a kennel on the South Rim if you want to hike into the canyon yourself.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Dogs get the day-use dunefield, which is the part most visitors come for, plus the Dunes Overlook Trail, the forested Mosca Pass Trail in the preserve, and the Medano Pass Primitive Road. The line the park draws is a physical one: beyond the first high ridge of dunes, and north of Point of No Return, pets are out, as is the Sand Ramp Trail and any backpacking site inside the park. Time it carefully, because summer sand surface temperatures can reach 150F from late morning to late afternoon; go early or late, bring booties, and use Medano Creek when it is flowing.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The busiest national park in the country is also one of the most restrictive for dogs: exactly two trails, the Gatlinburg Trail on the Tennessee side and the Oconaluftee River Trail near Cherokee, both flat, short and near a town entrance. The park has banned dogs from the backcountry since the 1930s and says plainly that most visitors are better off leaving a dog at home. Entry is free, a quirk of a 1950s deed restriction on the main roads, but parking tags are required for any vehicle parked longer than fifteen minutes. Bear encounters are the stated reason for the ban, and they are not hypothetical here.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Texas's high desert park is candid about the limits: leashed dogs get the paved Pinery Trail out to the Butterfield Stage Station ruins and the Pine Springs Campground connector, and the park states outright that pets are allowed on less than a mile of trails park-wide. Guadalupe Peak, McKittrick Canyon and everything else are closed to pets. The park points visitors toward adjacent Forest Service land, where leashed dogs are allowed on trails. Note the fee is charged per person aged 16 and up rather than per vehicle, so a carload costs more here than the sticker suggests.

Hot Springs National Park

A small, free, city-wrapped park where all 26 miles of trail are open to leashed dogs, including the longer and more remote Sunset Trail and the shorter interconnected loops on Hot Springs and North Mountains. Bathhouse Row runs straight through downtown, so this is one of the few parks where a walk with the dog ends at a cafe; the Superior Bathhouse Restaurant and Brewery even allows pets inside. Federal buildings, including the Fordyce visitor center, are off limits. It is compact enough that a determined hiker will see the whole trail system in a weekend.

Indiana Dunes National Park

Fifteen trail systems along the Lake Michigan shore, and dogs are welcome on nearly all of them: the named exceptions are the fragile Pinhook Bog Trail and the equestrian portion of the Glenwood Dunes system. The bigger draw for a dog is the beach, open to leashed pets year round apart from the lifeguarded swimming area at West Beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day, where dogs may still walk through to reach the sand on either side. Leashes are required even in the water, and handlers who let a dog chase shorebirds can be cited. Being an hour from Chicago, summer weekends are busy.

Mammoth Cave National Park

The cave is the headline, but above ground Mammoth Cave is one of the more dog-generous parks: every surface trail is open to leashed pets, including more than 60 miles of backcountry trail on the north side of the Green River. Dogs cannot go underground, which is the obvious problem for a park whose main attraction is a ticketed cave tour, so the park solved it: the Lodge at Mammoth Cave runs a self-service day kennel for cats and dogs, with proof of vaccination required. There is no entrance fee, only tour tickets. Expect to share the backcountry trails with horse riders.

New River Gorge National Park and Preserve

The newest national park in the East is also one of the easiest to visit with a dog: every trail is open to leashed pets, entry is free, and the trails range from quarter-mile strolls to seven-mile pushes through old-growth forest, past abandoned mines and along the rim of the gorge. The Endless Wall Trail, a 2.4-mile cliff-edge walk to Diamond Point, is the classic. Practical notes from the park: no drinking water at trailheads, gorge streams may carry giardia, and much of the land inside the authorized boundary is still private. Visitor centers are closed to pets.

North Cascades National Park

Inside the national park itself there is exactly one trail dogs may use, and it happens to be the Pacific Crest Trail, so the single option is also a serious multi-day one. Everything else in the park is closed to pets, though leashed dogs are fine along Cascade River Road and the first 12.9 miles of Stehekin Valley Road. The surrounding Ross Lake and Lake Chelan National Recreation Areas, which most visitors pass through anyway, allow pets on leash throughout, as does the neighbouring national forest. That distinction is worth checking on a map before you go, because the boundaries interleave.

Olympic National Park

Four named trails are open to dogs, and they are spread across the park's very different worlds: Peabody Creek at the Port Angeles visitor center, Madison Falls in the Elwha, the Spruce Railroad Trail along Lake Crescent, and the July Creek Loop at Lake Quinault. The Spruce Railroad is the one worth driving for, a flat former rail grade with a tunnel and clear turquoise water. The rainforest valleys, the coast strip and all wilderness are closed to pets. Adjacent Olympic National Forest allows leashed dogs on its trails, which is the usual workaround for a longer hike.

Petrified Forest National Park

Unusually, Petrified Forest lets leashed dogs into its designated wilderness as well as onto every developed trail, which makes it one of very few parks where a dog can legally go off the pavement and into backcountry. The developed trails, Blue Mesa, Giant Logs, Crystal Forest and the rest, are mostly short, paved and barrier-free, so they suit an older dog too. There is a fenced Bark Park with separate small- and large-dog sections beside the Painted Desert Visitor Center parking lot, and a Bark Ranger program with a treat at any entrance booth. Only service animals may enter park buildings.

Saguaro National Park

Saguaro publishes a short explicit list of dog-friendly routes rather than a general rule, and in the Rincon Mountain District east of Tucson that means the Mica View Trail, a 0.7-mile accessible path from the Broadway trailhead to the Mica View picnic area, and the 1.5-mile Mica View Dirt Road, both threading through dense cactus forest. Every other trail is closed to pets under the superintendent's compendium. One fee covers both the east and west districts for seven days. Watch the ground temperature and the spines: this is low Sonoran desert, and summer afternoons are genuinely dangerous for paws.

Shenandoah National Park

Shenandoah is the benchmark for hiking with a dog in a national park: pets are allowed on most trails, and the eleven closed ones, including Old Rag's ridge and saddle routes, Dark Hollow Falls, Limberlost and Bearfence, add up to fewer than 20 miles out of more than 500. The Appalachian Trail runs the length of the park and dogs are allowed on it, so this is somewhere you can put in real mileage. Pets are welcome in the campgrounds and in pet-friendly lodging, but not on ranger programs. The park asks you to think honestly about paw pads and endurance before picking a trail, and about what you would do if your dog met a bear.

Voyageurs National Park

Voyageurs is a water park, and its pet rules follow the water rather than the trails: the only walking route open to dogs is the Rainy Lake Visitor Center Recreation Trail, but leashed pets are welcome on lake surfaces frozen or open wherever motorboats can go, at frontcountry campsites, on boat ramps and at the primitive campsites along the Kab-Ash Trail. Tour boats, the Kabetogama Peninsula backcountry sites and the Ethnobotanical Garden are closed to pets. Entry is free. The park flags blastomycosis, a fungal disease of the Great Lakes region, as a health watch for dogs.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve

The largest national park in the United States, bigger than Switzerland, and dogs are allowed on its trails and throughout its backcountry, which makes it the most open park on this list by a wide margin. Leashes are required around the contact stations, the Boreal Forest Trail at the Copper Center headquarters, and inside the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark. Entry is free and there are no entrance gates on either of the two park roads. The practical constraints are Alaskan rather than regulatory: two long gravel roads, visitor centers open only in summer, wildlife and trappers' snares to think about, and very little infrastructure once you leave the road.

Yosemite National Park

Yosemite Valley's paved paths are open to dogs, and that covers more of the postcard than you might expect: Bridalveil Fall, Lower Yosemite Fall, the boardwalks through Cook's Meadow and the paved road to Mirror Lake. The dirt trail around Mirror Lake, the Vernal Fall route and the rest of the trail system are closed, even to a carried dog. The park also lists a few genuinely obscure allowances, including the Wawona Meadow Loop, Chowchilla Mountain Road and the Four Mile and Eleven Mile fire roads at Wawona, and the Old Big Oak Flat Road up to the Tuolumne Grove parking lot. A kennel operates in the valley in summer.

Zion permits dogs on exactly one trail, the Pa'rus, and it is a good one: flat, paved, about 3.5 miles round trip along the Virgin River from the visitor center to Canyon Junction, open to bikes, and with the canyon walls rising on both sides. Everything else, including the wilderness and every named Zion hike, is closed to pets, and dogs are not allowed on the shuttle buses that are the only way up Zion Canyon most of the year. In practice that means a Zion visit with a dog is the Pa'rus, the campgrounds, the roads and Springdale just outside the gate. Kennels operate in and near Springdale.