December roadtrip with Dog through Utah -> looking for tips
I [30M] am based out of Calgary with a new dog (currently 7 months, Great Pyrenees rescue, name is Winter) and spend every Christmas in Scottsdale AZ with my family (parents and brothers) who have a home down there. Unfortunately none of the airlines will allow me to bring the dog with me due to the amount of packages that are shipped over the Christmas dates so I thought it would be fun to take Winter on a road trip!
I've never been through these states before or any of their national parks so i'm looking to make the most out of my drive and split it up over 3-4 days each way. I'm thinking that Montana and Idaho will have very limited access to their parks in December and I might be better off skipping Glacier Park and Yellowstone this time in order to have more time to experience Southern Utah where the park access and temperature might be more favorable.
So in theory, as per the attached rough route, I could beeline it to Salt Lake city in about a day (pending roads) with a few brief stops at viewpoints in Montana and Idaho to stretch our legs... And then spend a couple of days in and around the mighty 5 before continuing on to Scottsdale. Maybe go along highway 12 one way, then on the way back I could go through Moab and see the arches.
Budget is not an issue, i'll be leaning towards hotels every night as i'm not the most equipped Winter camper. Both the dog and I can do decently tough hikes ad we're also happy to stop anywhere on the road that might have nice views for minimal effort. I'm hoping in my research that we'll be able to find off leash areas in the state parks too.
I still have a lot of research to do and December is a long ways out but i'm just wondering if this is a silly plan considering how risky road conditions could be and how limited my access to the nicer parks might be with a dog. Some of the stuff i'm reading indicates that none of the national parks are dog-friendly, but there are some state parks along the way that are almost as good? There are some stops along the way that i really wanted to check out (ie. antelope canyon, mighty 5) but as the dog can't attend I think it would kind of defeat the purpose of bringing him along if I had to leave him in the car (responsibly) or kennel him somewhere for a day just so i can experience certain things that he can't, and might decide to leave certain 'must-see' experiences for another time.
Anyway just looking for any advise that might help me in planning this out, while i'm aware that weather and the dog will be my biggest logistical challenges, I could certainly use more insight into those matters. Again my main motivation is getting to Scottsdale for Christmas with the dog so that my family can spend a week getting to know him while he's still young, and any magnificent things we can see without too much of a detour would be a much-welcomed bonus.
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