Why are we so entranced with the National Parks? It seems they’ve dominated American family vacations forever. We even measure how well-traveled we are by the number that we’ve visited … so, you’ve been to Europe half a dozen times, but have you seen Yellowstone?
And yet, in all our travels, we’ve only found one national park that we would classify as pet friendly – the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. With all the miles we’ve covered and the places we’ve been with the dogs, you’d think we’d have learned our lesson by now. Well, not quite yet, apparently…
In the southwest corner of Utah you’ll find Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks – two “must-dos” if you’re to be considered a serious traveler. And so, like moths to a flame, we were lured once again.
Bryce Canyon National Park
The scenery was nothing like we’d seen before. These ancient sand dunes solidified into sandstone mountains, and over millions of years they’ve eroded in the most unusual ways. The towers that are left standing are called hoodoos – which is as much fun to say as they are to behold.
And now comes the part where we pull the rug out from under you. (Don’t act so surprised – you knew this was coming!) According to park information, there is only one pet friendly trail in Bryce Canyon. It runs along the rim from Sunrise Point to Sunset Point and is a whopping 0.5 miles long.
Adding insult to injury, signs appear to contradict the information provided in the official park brochure. It’s tough to make out, but the sign in the background above says “No Pets or Bicycles on Trails.” Confused? So were we! We tracked down a ranger who said that the “trails” this sign is referring to are the ones below the rim – as far has he knew, leashed pets were welcome on the entire rim trail. Well, not according the the park brochure!
We chose to abide by the printed rules and did not take the boys beyond Sunset Point. That meant we saw a majority of the park by driving along the canyon’s edge and jumping out to take pictures at the turnouts with the rest of the tourists. Pets are welcome to join you for the ride and are allowed to get out to stretch their legs only in the paved parking areas.
Zion National Park
Things were a bit better at Zion. The Pa’rus trail is clearly marked as pet friendly and extends for 1.7 miles along the banks of the Virgin River. Beginning at the visitor’s center, you walk along the edge of the campground though the valley.
At Zion, you have to leave your vehicle and board a shuttle which takes you up the canyon to the popular sights. If you walk the pet friendly trail BEFORE you go see the really good stuff, the views are pretty nice.
But the pet friendly trail won’t get you anywhere near this:
Lessons Learned
The point of this rather long-winded rant is that our national forests are wonderfully pet friendly! Remember the map from above? Did you notice the unmarked patch of green between the two national parks? That’s part of the Dixie National Forest.
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Spread across southwest Utah in four different regions, all the trails in Dixie are free to use and pet friendly. And they have a lot to choose from! We opted for a five-miler in Red Canyon with plenty of ups and downs. It was about the middle of the road between the wheelchair accessible trails and those of the extremely difficult, all-day variety.
This hoodoo reminds me of a plump grandma in her Sunday hat.
Just look at how happy the boys are!
One could argue the landscape in the national parks was more spectacular, but that would be slitting hairs over magnitudes of stunning. And, in the national forest we got to get out into the scenery and experience it – with the dogs. To me, that makes all the difference.
The next time you’re thinking of taking a trip to a national park with your pets, dig out the map and find a national forest nearby. You’ll want to plan to spend part of your time there.
