A Dog-Friendly Trip to Canyonlands National Park (Island in the Sky)
A dog-friendly trip to Canyonlands National Park.
In September 2025, we did a weekend road trip to Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, and Arches National Parks. Our second national park of the trip was Canyonlands.
Is Canyonlands National Park Dog-Friendly?
Not really. Dogs aren't allowed most places in the park, even areas like paved walkways where they can go in other national parks. I probably wouldn't recommend this as a focal point of a dog-friendly trip.
Luckily for us, Maya and Piper like the car and have plenty of fun on scenic drives (you'll see later that they had a moment of excitement at the end of our visit).
Where Are Dogs Allowed?
- Parking lots
- Campgrounds
- Picnic areas
Where Aren't Dogs Allowed?
- Hiking trails
- Overlooks
- Inside any buildings
- Anywhere in the backcountry
Scenic Drive
We did our usual scenic drive through the park. Since we were focused on driving, we chose to explore the Island in the Sky district, which has a few overlooks. The entire park is massive though, so there is a lot more to explore (probably not with dogs).
We ended up stopping at Green River Overlook, Grand View Point, and Back Canyon Overlook.
Even though we couldn't do much with the dogs, we really enjoyed the stunning views.
On our way out of the park, we saw something that made Piper look like this:
Piper was MAD.
A coyote!
Cute little coyote eating some lunch.
