DogBreedCompass

National park · Dogs allowed in some areas only

Taking a dog into Yosemite National Park

Only in developed areas. Dogs are allowed on fully paved roads, sidewalks and bicycle paths, and are barred from trails, meadows, beaches and wilderness. Service dogs are legally permitted anywhere visitors can go. Emotional support, therapy and companion animals, and service animals in training, are not service animals and must follow the pet rules.

What Yosemite National Park actually requires

  • Dogs are allowed on fully paved roads, sidewalks and bicycle paths except where signed otherwise, including the Bridalveil Fall trail, the Lower Yosemite Fall trail, the paved trail through Cook's Meadow and the paved road to Mirror Lake.
  • The unpaved trail around Mirror Lake does not allow dogs, even though the paved road leading to it does.
  • Dogs are also allowed on the Wawona Meadow Loop, Chowchilla Mountain Road, the Four Mile and Eleven Mile fire roads, and Carlon Road from the trailhead to Hodgdon Meadow.
  • Dogs are prohibited on trails, including the trail to Vernal Fall, even if you carry the dog.
  • Dogs are prohibited in wilderness and all other undeveloped areas, and on all meadows, beaches and waterways.
  • Pets must be restrained on a leash no more than six feet long, or otherwise physically restrained, and may not be left unattended.
  • Dogs are allowed in all campgrounds except walk-in campgrounds such as Camp 4, and except group campsites.

Where this comes from

“Pets must be restrained on a leash not more than six feet long or otherwise physically restrained... leashed pets may not be left unattended.”

Source: National Park Service — Pets in Yosemite. Published by the agency that runs it, read and recorded on September 7, 2026 (dataset 2026.09). We publish the operator’s own wording rather than a summary of what other sites report, and we do not turn “varies by location” into a yes.

Before you rely on this

Pet rules, fees and limits change without notice, and staff at an individual park can apply them differently from what head office publishes. Treat this page as the question to ask, not the final answer: contact the specific park and confirm before you set out with your dog.

Other national park policies we have read

Each of these was read at its own source. None of them is inferred from Yosemite National Park.

Dog policies elsewhere

See every verified dog policy. How we source and check figures like these: our sources and editorial policy.