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Dog-Friendly National Parks: Where Your Dog Can Hike

By The Green Adventures · Updated · How we check

Pets are welcome in many parks but on few trails. This table counts how many of the hikes the park service lists in each park allow pets.

Park Listed hikes Pets allowed Share
Hot Springs 25 25 100%
Virgin Islands 9 9 100%
Petrified Forest 8 8 100%
Cuyahoga Valley 6 6 100%
New River Gorge 5 5 100%
White Sands 5 5 100%
Great Sand Dunes 4 4 100%
Indiana Dunes 2 2 100%
Mammoth Cave 2 2 100%
Wrangell-St. Elias 2 2 100%
Gates of the Arctic 1 1 100%
Lake Clark 1 1 100%
North Cascades 1 1 100%
Acadia 51 44 86%
American Samoa 5 4 80%
Olympic 5 4 80%
Shenandoah 47 37 79%
Death Valley 3 2 67%
Wind Cave 3 2 67%
Badlands 4 2 50%
Black Canyon of the Gunnison 8 3 38%
Chiricahua 14 3 21%
Carlsbad Caverns 10 2 20%
Bryce Canyon 21 3 14%
Guadalupe Mountains 30 3 10%
Kings Canyon 27 2 7%
Sequoia 27 2 7%
Voyageurs 14 1 7%
Pinnacles 16 1 6%
Zion 17 1 6%
Great Smoky Mountains 41 2 5%
Great Basin 24 1 4%
Joshua Tree 25 1 4%
Yellowstone 55 1 2%
Arches 2 0 0%
Big Bend 4 0 0%
Canyonlands 1 0 0%
Capitol Reef 5 0 0%
Denali 5 0 0%
Everglades 1 0 0%
Glacier 2 0 0%
Glacier Bay 1 0 0%
Grand Teton 41 0 0%
Haleakalā 6 0 0%
Hawaiʻi Volcanoes 19 0 0%
Isle Royale 6 0 0%
Katmai 1 0 0%
Kenai Fjords 2 0 0%
Lassen Volcanic 5 0 0%
Mount Rainier 21 0 0%
Redwood 12 0 0%
Rocky Mountain 2 0 0%
Theodore Roosevelt 12 0 0%
Yosemite 1 0 0%

Hikes listed by the park service are a sample, not every trail, and rules can differ on roads, campgrounds and overlooks.

The B.A.R.K. rules

  • Bag your pet’s waste.
  • Always keep your pet on a leash no longer than 6 feet.
  • Respect wildlife.
  • Know where you can go.

Never leave a pet in a hot car. Pets are not allowed in park buildings, except service animals.

Sources

Last checked 1 November 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Which national parks are most dog friendly?

Parks where most listed hikes allow pets include Hot Springs, Virgin Islands, Petrified Forest, Cuyahoga Valley.

Can dogs go on trails in national parks?

Only where the park allows it, and always on a leash no longer than 6 feet.

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