Utah
My humans took me to Utah last year in 2021 as one of my first big hiking trips. I was so small but ready and excited to explore what else is out there to sniff. We got our campsite set up in Gooseneck state park which was so cool because we were sleeping on the edge of the cliff. That had my humans’ panties in a bunch, they were very cautious about me. During the hot days of Utah we did a lot of driving, about 15 minutes down the road we visited Monument Valley and all I can remember is my humans kept saying “Run Mia Run” I don’t know what they were talking about. We stayed here and hiked along the San Juan River in Mexican Hat for two days to cool off.
We continued our trip out west towards Kanab. We stopped along the way to see Horseshoe Bend. That was so coooooool!!! They were dog friendly and allowed me to walk anywhere they even had shaded seating areas for me to catch a breeze. It was a fun way to stretch the legs but needed to continue driving.
A long day of driving and setting up our new campsite, but we were in Kanab. We went hiking at Zion National Park along the Pa’rus Trail, which I enjoyed walking and sniffing around as well as saying hello to new friends. Just outside of the park we explored the belly of the dragon which was only 1.8 miles long and had plenty of nice cool sand to roll around in out of the sun.
The next stop in Utah was along the scenic highway 12 in Boulder. We hiked one of the coolest trails called Lower Calf Creek Falls which was 6.7 miles long and, but in the end I got to swim under a 126’ waterfall.
After a fun few days we started the journey back home, but first we stopped to visit some dinosaur tracks about an hour north of Moab. I’ve never seen a dinosaur before but from the pictures they looked like big lizards…and I love chasing lizards. So I thought it would be fun however, after sniffing around for a few minutes and a quick poop, I found some dinosaur tracks… WOW thee things must be huge I walked right into one of the foot prints, I quickly realized I didn’t want to meet one of these things and ran back to the car. After narrowly escaping certain death by dinosaur, I thought it was best to end our trip in Utah.
This time around, I learned dinosaurs don’t live here anymore so we returned to make a stop in Moab and this place is PAWSOMEEEEEEE. Utah was not any different this time around, as a dog, I am still not allowed on any hikes in the national parks here. My humans wanted to explore The Arches National Park, so instead of hiking we went driving around at sunset and walked around the picnic area. As I walked, I felt the cool sand on my paws and the views were so spectacular, I am so happy to be a part of this journey. The next day, my humans took me to see Dead Horse Point State Park at sunrise and HOLLLLLLYYYYY COWBONE, it is so AMAZING. They were completely dog friendly with lots of shaded seating areas and picnic areas along the rim trail. Along the canyon rim there were so many rocks to climb on and lots of new plants and smells. Seeing how we were still close to our RV We decided to come back that evening for a sunset view.
During the hot days we did a lot of driving to stay out of the heat, and decided to drive through another not so dog friendly national park, Canyonlands. It was cool from the distance but very hot up close, my humans said it is not safe for me out there due to heat up to 110F from the canyons. After it cooled down we visited another dog friendly park, Lions Park. We played in a small grass area and went for a walk across a bridge above the Colorado River. We ended the trip in Moab with my favorite activity, swimming in Ken’s Lake. I don’t know how my humans did it, but they did, they found water in the desert. I had the best time playing fetch, catching the ball in this clear water, and grabbing rocks from under the water and bringing them back to the shore.
Thank you Utah, I will be back and I will not give up on your National Parks.