Ron Bexel
Dog Friendly Hiking Vacations – We believe that every member of the family deserves a vacation! That’s right, even your four-legged friends! Pigeon Forge welcomes pets and wants them to enjoy your stay without fear of being left behind! We’ve rounded up some great suggestions for where to take your pets while you enjoy the beautiful Smoky Mountains! These pet-friendly trails allow you to hike the trails with the whole family!
The Oconaluftee River Trail is hard to spot, but easy to navigate! Â This 3.2 mile hike is perfect for any member of your family. Hikes on this trail lead to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee, NC. You can enjoy the beautiful views while walking along the Okonlupati River! You can also bring dogs and bikes for this!
Dog Friendly Hiking Vacations
This is a fan favorite track for families and pets in the area! Hiking the Gatlinburg Trail is a 5.8 mile loop and is easy to do. The mostly flat terrain and the banks of the river make it a quiet and relaxing route. It’s also dog-friendly and one of the only bike trails in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Your Dog Friendly Vacation In Central Oregon
Cades Cove is a popular place for visitors because of its convenient access to the Smoky Mountains. Take a tour of the historic Cadds Cove Loop. The entire area is 11 kilometers long and offers views of mountains, soothing streams and old cabins of early settlers. There are also lots of pull-ups to get down and stretch your legs. Bring your jealous friend and roll down the windows! They will love to drive this amazing car that drives over the mountains. Did you know that there are 7 hiking trails along the Cades Cove loop?
Visit the largest campground in the Great Smoky Mountains! There are over 200 tent and RV sites to choose from. Whether you are looking to build next to a small river, in a wooded area or in a convenient location, there is a perfect place for you!  Vacation travel is such an easy way to spend quality time with your family and pets! Never leave your pets unattended and always keep them 20 feet away! Warmer weather is upon us and you know what that means… road trips! If you’re like us, you love taking your bags out for a walk. Last September we took one of the most amazing trips with our two children, Newton + Maya, to a beautiful forest. I thought I would do a little blog series about our adventures (this is part one of part one) and hopefully give you some helpful tips if you too are traveling with your dogs.
There are 2 main factors to consider with Utah: (1) weather + (2) crowd. Being a major tourist destination, it gets busy during the warmer months, so keep that in mind. It also gets HAWT in the summer. This may not be ideal for you or your puppy. We decided to go in mid-September, which we did. There was still a bit of a crowd, but not as bad as in June, July or August. It was still warm and sometimes hot, the summer is not dead. Can we make it to October? Probably. We also didn’t want it to be too cold, so maybe doing this trip in late September, early October is a pretty good compromise.
So, are you ready to walk your dog?! Maybe you’ve done it before (good for you!), but maybe it’s your first and longest trip and you’re a little nervous. Here is a little information that I hope will help you prepare. First, make a list of your dog’s daily needs…
The Dog-friendly Itinerary: 3 Days With Your 4-legged Friend
Other things you can use every day or make your home more comfortable.
Then, divide your food and your puppy’s daily treats into the number of days you’ll be gone, and place everything in containers or plastic bags for easy transport. Calculate the number of medicines/supplements required daily and multiply by the number of days and place them in bags/containers for easy transport. Then pack the car with a water bottle, toys, dog bed or litter box and whatever else you need!
Now for the good stuff… where should we go? It was really hard for us to choose just one area. If you’ve never explored Utah, you know the state has great parks and attractions. In the east you’ll want to see the arches and canyons of Moab, but you’ll also want to visit Zion National Park and check out the amazing slot canyons in the Achoza Desert in the southwest/southcentral region. Utah has a lot to offer, and if you’re traveling on both sides of the country, you’re already going far, so you better take advantage of it all! ]
We decided on a week long trip (5 nights and 6 days to be exact) to see as much as possible. Planning a trip of this magnitude can be overwhelming, but with a little (actually a lot) of research, planning, passion and motivation, you can do it! I hope this blog helps you in your planning. Here’s how we broke it down.
Five Dog Friendly Hikes In Northern Michigan
Since he had a home in Denver, CO was our starting point. We wanted to include Moab and Zion in our trip even though it was more than 4 hours across the country. It made sense to go to Zion first because it’s the farthest (9.5 hours and up from DEN) and there are some great pit canyons to drive from Zion to Moab that we also wanted to see, so that’s the plan. We started our week trip in UT, just 35 minutes from Zion. We stayed there for 2 nights and then went to Moab. On our way to Moab, we stopped in Kanab in the Ahuza desert, where you can find beautiful and dog-friendly slot canyons. The trip also included Lake Powell, Arizona (which looks amazing and is definitely on our list for our next adventure). Finally we arrived in Moab and stayed for the rest of the trip and 3 nights in total. It was a nice easy 5 hour drive home at the end of the vacation. Overall, I think our design makes more sense for what we’re doing. Depending on where you’re coming from, how much time you have, and what you’re most interested in seeing, you may want to adjust, add, remove, and plan. (If you don’t have time, I recommend doing Moab all the time). Here is a little bit about the first two parts of our trip: Zion and Hor Bambar Malls. [Soon we will launch a separate blog in Moab!]
After a 9.5 hour drive from Denver to Tooele (with lots of snacks and snacks), we arrived at the most unique A-frame cabin in Storm UT, about an hour from Zion National Park. See the review here! The first day was a wash because we were tired and just wanted to relax and enjoy the amazing views from the Airbnb. Tuvelia is a small town, but for a big challenge check out Main Street Cafe.
Tuvelia is only 50 minutes away from a completely unexpected and (for us) unplanned natural wonder… Pink Coral Sands National Park! We didn’t know about this park until we got excited and since it was so close, we took the driver there. Boy oh boy was it worth it… I’ve never seen pink sand before, this place was so beautiful! Plus, as a national park, it’s dog friendly, which was the best part for us! Also, since it’s not really popular, you won’t have to fight with the whole crowd. The Pink Coral Sand Dunes are located in Kane County, south and west of US Highway 89, between Carmel Junction and Kanab.
On the second day we drove about 35 minutes to Zion National Park. Zion, like all national parks, restricts dogs in the park. But unlike many other national parks, Peacock Trail Park has one dog-friendly trail. The length of the sail is about 3.4 miles (in and out).
