Yosemite with a dog
 

Hello,

We're planning a long weekend in Yosemite with our young dog and would really appreciate hearing about places we can dine with her and the ins and outs of having a pet in the park. We know that there are a limited number of hikes we can do wth her, but hope the trip will be worth it nevertheless. We've booked a room at the Tanaya Lodge.

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Here's the info from Yosemite's web site:
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/pets.htm

You won't be able to eat inside with your dog but you're probably ok eating outside.

Good luck!

If the trip is for your dog, great. If it is for you, I would reconsider bringing the dog.

Can you take your dog -- sure. But having pets in Yosemite is very problematic. You won't be able to access many of the trails/viewpoints. The dog can never be left unattended. And she can't go on the shuttles - which means you have to go everywhere by car and fight for parking.

She won't have much fun and your options will be VERY limited. If it was me --I'd take pity on the poor pup and either get a dog sitter or put her in a boarding kennel and see/enjoy Yosemite yourselves.

Tanaya Lodge doesn't allow pets to be left unattended in the rooms so you can't leave the dog behind and visit the park. It looks like they can arrange pet sitting services. If you take your dog and you want to see the main attractions of the park, then I'd arrange for pet sitting.

Your dog will really limit what you can see of the park unless you and your traveling companion want to take turns eating and hiking.

Utahtea

Please give us a break. Leave your dog at home when visiting a park full of thousands of other people.

We have 2 big dogs and never bring either of them for the reasons mentioned above. One year my friend did bring her little dogs when we went camping (there's only one campsite -- Upper Pines -- that allows dogs)and she couldn't do ANYTHING fun. There are bears, raccoons, squirrels, deer, and all sorts of wonderful wildlife that will make most dogs run off or get in trouble. They must be on a leash. They can't go on trails.

In short, the only people that seem to bring dogs are those with camping trailers, and even then, the dogs are going to have a bummer of a time.

Tenaya Lodge has several recommendations for pet sitters if you want to get off the pavement in the park. You're dining options will be limited but the food at Tenaya Lodge wasn't too bad. I'm sure we ate somewhere in the park with the pups but obviously it didn't make an impression. :)

oops utahtea said the same thing! Where's the edit button when you need it?

When you mention "places to dine" in Yosemite... you are already stretching the concept. I havent been there in awhile... but there used to just be the Ahwahnee Hotel Dining Room, the snack bar place in the valley near the store where you could get a few things and the Yosemite Lodge had a cafeteria style place. Maybe someone else who has been there more recently can advise.

You are almost better off packing an ice chest!

We were in Yosemite and had our dog. It is very limited as to where dogs are allowed. We ended up taking our dog to doggie day care at Clouds Rest Pet Sitting in Mariposa. Our dog had a wonderful time and we were free to explore without worry. We loved having our dog on our road trip so this worked out great for us.

I wish I had seen your post before our trip! We did end up having a wonderful time, and did some great hiking in the park with our dog. We couldn't do the more rigorous hikes, but had a lovely time anyway. Tenaya Lodge worked out well for us; our room was perfectly acceptable and dog friendly, the concierge staff was excellent in helping us figure out what we could and couldn't do, and arranged a dog-sitting period for us when we wanted to visit the giant sequoias. Only problem was eating. None of the Tenaya restaurants would allow dogs - so we were limited to room service which wore thin after a few nights. At a min of 3 hours of pet sitting at $15/hour, we weren't interesting in booking it just for dinner. Otherwise the trip was excellent.

***None of the Tenaya restaurants would allow dogs - so we were limited to room service ***

Does that mean on the patio too? They also let us leave the dogs in the room while we ate dinner inside, as long as no one complained that they barked. That was during the winter, though.

They weren't serving on the patio, so we couldn't eat out there and leave the dog on the other side of the fence (as they said folks sometimes do). But, our dog is a pup and couldn't have handled it anyway. But they were very clear with us that we weren't allowed to leave the dog in the room alone for any period of time. Maybe they're more relaxed i the winter. The lodge was booked solid the weekend we were there.

A fence? That's news to me. Sounds like they've tightened things up a bit. Thanks for the heads up!

California law prohibits dogs in the inside part of restaurants in California. Whether to allow dogs on patios is a local option (not that it would have done you any good, since the patio wasn't open).