Zion National Park: do they allow dogs to enter?
 

We own a big, gentle Labrador retriever. He always travels with us on a leash, never runs away, and seldom barks at anything. He is completely housebroken. Does Zion National Park allow dogs to enter? Is there a policy about dogs that applies to all or other national parks?

every park clearly indicates it's pet policy on the website.

For Zion pets are not allowed on most trails or on the shuttles.

We just returned from Zion and the only place we saw a dog was tied up at the campground on the edge of the park. There is one trail that allows dogs and it is the Pa'rus Trail that is near the campground. There are no vehicles (except shuttle buses) allowed in Zion from March through October and as janisj mentioned, dogs are not allowed on the shuttles so access is pretty limited. Unless you plan to leave your lab at the hotel or campsite most of the time I'm not sure this would be a good spot for him.

Thanks for your advice. Very helpful. I think we will skip Zion until we can leave our dog at home, where I believe he will be much happier. We found putting him in a boarding kennel in Canada while we visited Banff and Jasper was a good idea, but a difficult experience for us. He seemed to love it, however.

We have the same problem, but would not want to leave him in a hotel room or car (he loves the trails more than we do -- even on a leash), so he goes in a kennel at home when we travel to a national park. It bothers us more than him -- when we pick him up it is like we never left (but we researched alot and are happy with our kennel).

Most of the National Parks do not allow dogs on most (or all) of the trails. Some do let them on quite a few of the trails (like Shenandoah), so you do have to look at their websites. They aren't allowed on the trails in GSMNP, but the Blue Ridge Parkway and mountains in North Carolina in that area are very dog friendly. Also, we saw dogs (on and off leash) almost everywhere we went in the San Francisco area (Carmel, Mt. Tam, Chrissy Beach etc.). Wouldn't want them in the City, but were considering a ride up the coastline at some point with him. (again, not allowed in some places -- like Redwood).

The majority of national parks are not dog accessable. However there are many places near the parks that take great care of your dogs and cats. Many of them offer day only, play groups for all ages, or just plain relaxing for the more sedate pets. Look on the internet, give your dog a chance to mingle with dogs, maybe get a break from the family and the family car. I am a dog trainer and I find it sad how many dogs are not allowed to mix and mingle with their own kind. It is so important to let our dogs be dogs. We can always love as a family members and yet let them be dogs.