Pets are not allowed on boardwalks, trails, or in the backcountry. This can severely limit your experience in the park.
There are dog-friendly trail options located nearby and outside of the national park, including Shoshone National Forest. You can find a map of Shoshone National Forest at www.fs.usda.gov/main/shoshone/maps-pubs.
Since pets are prohibited throughout most areas in national parks, it’s best to leave Fido at home while visiting Yellowstone. But, if your dog is along for the trip, here are some tips on how to make the best of it.
Pets are never to be left unattended outside. While you may leave them in vehicles, this is not recommended without proper ventilation and temperature control. They also may join you in a tent overnight, but all food and water dishes must be put away.
Pets are not allowed in any hotels within Yellowstone National Park, but cabins can accommodate pets. There is a $25 cleaning fee per location (not per night) to have your pet stay with you. Check with the park’s lodging concessioner for details — Xanterra Parks & Resorts at 307-344-7901.
Day 3: Pets in Yellowstone – Northwest Corner
On the third day of our trip, we headed back into Yellowstone to explore the northwest section of the park. Entering the north gate from Gardiner, we came almost immediately to Mammoth Hot Springs.
As we drove, we spotted three wolves making their way along a distant wood line. Although we didn’t get photos, it’s still my Yellowstone “best moment!”
After a day in this amazing landscape, alive with boiling mud and steaming streams, we drove out the west gate and spend the night in the little town of West Yellowstone.
Where Can I Go With My Dog in Yellowstone?
Campgrounds
Yellowstone has twelve campgrounds, and all campgrounds allow dogs. If you want to camp with your dog, please be aware that:
Parking Lots
Your dog can be with you in any of the parking lots in Yellowstone, but they are not permitted to go more than 100 feet from the pavement. If you need to get out of the car and stretch your legs in the parking lot, your dog may join you.
Please don’t leave your pet in the car while you hike.
Scenic Drives
Yellowstone has some beautiful scenic drives that you can enjoy with your dog. If you plan for some time to enjoy the scenery from the car, you can see some spectacular views in the park together!
A few of my favorite scenic roads are:
Take a look at the Yellowstone Map to locate these roads before you go.
You’ll also enjoy hitting all six of these spectacular roadside waterfalls in Yellowstone. Just be aware that your dog will not be able to join you at some of these viewpoints.
Always clean up after your dog so that these areas continue to be dog-friendly!
Trails and Boardwalks
Dogs are not permitted on any trails or boardwalks in Yellowstone. This includes (but is not limited to) boardwalks and trails at Old Faithful, Canyon Village, and Mammoth Hot Springs.
You cannot carry your dog in your arms, push him in a stroller, carry a kennel, put her in a backpack, etc. to get around these rules. The rule is simply that no dogs are allowed on the trails and boardwalks in Yellowstone.
Backcountry trails and all thermal areas are also closed to pets. Please do not leave your dogs in a vehicle while you hike.
If you want to do some traditional hiking with your dog, you’ll find some amazing trail options in the nearby Shoshone National Forest. This beautiful forest service area borders the park’s east side, and you’ll find some majestic mountain views out here!
You’ll also find some great trails and views in the Gallatin National Forest that borders the park’s west and north sides. You’ll find Hebgen Lake just a few minutes outside of West Yellowstone, and I suggest trying the Cabin Creek Trail or Refuge Point Loop.
Be sure to check out the Beartooth Highway, which lies in both of these national forest areas. Leashed pets are permitted on the trails in all of these places.
Public Buildings
Dogs are not allowed in the park’s public buildings, such as visitor centers, museums, restaurants, or gift shops.
Everywhere Else
If an area isn’t listed in the “Where Dogs Are Allowed” section above, then you should assume that your dog is not permitted.
Seeing Old Faithful For The First Time – RVing With Dogs in Yellowstone
Discover our Top 10 dog friendly hikes and activities near Yellowstone National Park and best pet friendly Yellowstone hotels.
When you bring Fido along with you on vacation, you know you need to find the best pet friendly hotels in or near Yellowstone. But what you might not count on is needing to find hikes, activities and things to do that are just as friendly to man’s best friend.
Problem is, Yellowstone itself isn’t super welcoming to your pets. In fact, Yellowstone pet regulations require you to keep dogs or even cats on the road and hard leashed.
Your dog won’t even be allowed on park trails! If not for these rules, your pet may disappear into the Yellowstone wilderness or cause problems with wildlife.
Even so, if you want an adventurous vacation for your pup and yourself, don’t count out the first National Park. The fringe communities that skirt Yellowstone tend to be dog-friendly with plenty of National Forest trails that will get your dog’s tail wagging.
Read on to discover the top 10 dog friendly hikes near Yellowstone, organized by entrance. They’re all within striking distance of the park. And between you and me, it’s going to feel like you never left anyway.
You don’t have to “paws” your vacation for your dog, so let’s discover the best dog-friendly hikes near Yellowstone together.
We know we said “near Yellowstone,” but you can still bring your dog to the park’s premier attraction, as long with you’re OK with a little bit of quarantining.
While you won’t be able to walk the boardwalks around the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, you will be able to gaze out on the basin from a designated dog area about 200 feet from the star of the show: Old Faithful.
And since the geyser can send plumes of water as much as 184 feet in the air, you’ll still get the full experience without being elbow to elbow with other ogling visitors.
2. Take the pup to Pine Creek Falls — or Pine Creek Lake if you’re feeling adventurous (North Entrance)
Want a rewarding quick hike outside Yellowstone’s North Entrance? Try Pine Creek Falls in the aptly named Paradise Valley. The valley is a known fisherman’s haven, but you’ll find plenty to do with your dog if you’d rather not deal with wet dog smell.
The hike to PIne Creek Falls begins as a gradual rise through a beautiful wooded canyon until you connect onto a steeper feeder canyon where Pine Creek Falls tumbles down.
Pine Creek Falls sits on private property, so we do recommend a leash to help keep this hike open.
Reaching Pine Creek Falls could be a quick day-trip, or you can get adventurous and seek out a real backcountry experience at Pine Creek Lake.
The route to this lake takes you up almost to treeline past a pair of smaller ponds and a major cascade to find a cliff-ringed lake popular with locals for the fishing. Maybe you should break out that wet dog smell after all.
Also a popular cross-country skiing destination in winter, Passage Creek Falls is an impressive waterfall whose trailhead can be found at the end of a long dirt road near Chico Hot Springs.
Be careful of forking trails, the signage on this trail could use work. After crossing the third bridge on the trail, stay right to continue toward the falls. And getting down to the falls requires traversing some somewhat sketchy switchbacks, so keep Fido firmly in control here.
If you want to hike to big views of the Absarokas and Paradise Valley, this may be the place for you.
Your dog will appreciate consistent access to water, and you’ll appreciate the wildflowers if you hit it in the right season.
Not much more than a mind-boggling leg stretch, the Buffalo Bill Dam is a great quick stop to walk the dog and see some incredible sights.
This 325-foot concrete arch dam was the highest dam in the world when completed in 1910. And if you venture along the shores of the pretty reservoir to peer into the canyon, you’ll see why.
Beneath you, the canyon drops away to a ribbon of green-gray water churning with whitewater. Catch it with the spillway open and you’ll also see a powerful waterfall gushing directly out of the cliff face.
If you’re not done yet, you can also find a two-mile river walk your dog is sure to love.
Note: Dogs not allowed in actual visitor center, but sometimes a bowl of water is provided outside.
Pet-Friendly Restaurant Note: The historic Irma Hotel built by showman Buffalo Bill himself is a dog-friendly restaurant, along with other pet-friendly Cody hotels and restaurants in the charming Western town of Cody.
In short, there are a lot of options to pursue here. Both the Pahaska Trail and the Grinnell Trail take off from the trailhead, allowing you to flow and meander into two separate picturesque valleys with water running through them.
Wherever you go, you can expect wildflowers, flowing water and big canyon views synonymous with Yellowstone.
7. Hike to a 1930s era fire tower with Yellowstone and Teton views at Huckleberry Lookout (South Entrance)
Just south of Yellowstone and north of Grand Teton National Park, you’ll find a practically unknown trailhead where dogs are welcome and the vistas are vast. The Sheffield Creek trailhead is on forestland at the base of Huckleberry Mountain, elevation 9,600 feet.
If you make the effort to walk your dog to the summit, you’ll catch glimpses of massive views of both National Parks occasionally.
And at the top, the world opens up at a 1930s log lookout tower that was in use until 1957 before being added to the National Register of Historic Places.
This trail offers one part history and two parts nature, so enjoy this rare doggie treat.
Sandwiched between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park is a meager strip of secluded forestland home to various lakes and reservoirs. From Flagg Ranch just south of Yellowstone, you’ll head about 13 miles west past Grassy Lake Reservoir.
The Cascade Creek trailhead sits just after a bridge about a mile beyond the reservoir. To the north, you can take your dog tantalizingly close to some beautiful Yellowstone waterfalls, but you have to cross into the park soon after starting your hike to get there.
But on the south side of the road, a disused double track heads into the woods past wandering creek meadows toward the dog-friendly Tillery Lake and Lake of the Woods. The latter is tied to a Boy Scout camp, but taking your dog in from this old road you’re not likely to see many campers.
Just northwest of Yellowstone’s West Entrance, you’ll find Hebgen Lake. It’s a fun place for your dog to play and swim, and it offers several dog-friendly trails around its shores.
Coffin Lakes trail is one of the more intense trails in the area, but it comes with a big payoff. The lake’s trout fishing is good, wildflowers blanket the area in June, and you’ll feel like you’re deep in the backcountry at a beautiful lake.
Get a little history in during a nice dog walk through the meadows between Hebgen Lake and Earthquake Lake. The latter lake was named for a 1959 earthquake that built up the Madison River into a lake, (much like Slide Lake out the South Entrance) and left a ghost village for you to discover.
The cool history coupled with an easy walk and some nice lake and Madison Range views should make this a great leg stretcher, if nothing else. And there are plenty more trails in the area if you’re itching for more.
Yellowstone may not be super per-friendly, but no matter which entrance you use to access the park, you should find plenty of reasons to get out and about with your canine.