Desert Dog: Travels Across Four Deserts With My Pal Otis
I have a Boxer/Old English Bulldog named Otis. He’s two and a half, and while he’s mostly a good dog, he needed some civilizing. Since I’m newly empty nested AND unemployed in the traditional sense for the first time in over a decade, I decided to take him on a road trip. There and back again. I may be a Pisces, but this water sign needs a trip to the desert every year, and winter is the best time to visit the desert. We went just after President’s Day when all the families returned home and pretty much had each place to ourselves. There’s something about the hot wind, vast horizons, canyons, plateaus, rock formations, reds, browns, greens, oranges, not to mention the various vegetative wonders and the wildlife, that soothes my soul. So I decided to take my dog to Santa Fe and back, driving 8 full days on the road. I’ve never been to Santa Fe and read it was a great dog town, and thus I planned a dog-friendly trip around that destination.
Given there are so many dog loving folks out there, I thought I’d share with you what I learned. This Desert Dog trip begins and ends in Joshua Tree, CA. I drove to Joshua from my home in the Bay Area, you can also get there easily from LA, Las Vegas, San Diego, and of course, via the plane from anywhere since Palm Springs airport is quite close (though the airlines are getting stricter about dogs on planes).
So let’s begin in Joshua Tree, one of my favorite places in the whole, wide world.
I’ve been to this national park several times, but never with my dog. This is a mostly pet-friendly establishment. Pets are welcome in all campgrounds and picnic areas, however they are not allowed on any of the park trails. You can, however, walk them on a leash on all roads, paved and unpaved. This is what we did. Joshua Tree has several 4-wheel drive unpaved roads to explore. Some of them, like the Geology Tour Road and Pinkham Canyon, have parking and restrooms nearby, so you can park the car and head out for the hike and then come back for a picnic and use the facilities when you’re done. We hiked the Pinkham Canyon Road that begins right across from the Cottonwood Springs Visitor Center, only 10 miles or so from I10 to the south of the park. It was a beautiful hike, and we saw only one car on it. It was a wide path, which was nice since about three minutes after we arrived at our Airbnb, Otis had not one, but three cholla burs on his face and one on his foot. Hiking a large dirt road was safe for him, and the wildlife around. Speaking of wildlife, we saw several jackrabbits and cottontails, both of which excited Otis, but not much else during our hike.
We stayed at Coyote Rest Studio Apartment, an Airbnb in the Joshua Tree highlands neighborhood, just outside the western entrance to the park. There are a number of dog-friendly Airbnb listings for Joshua Tree. This was the perfect location to get in and out of the forest. We settled in by five in the evening and I went out to eat at the local café, Crossroads. They don’t allow dogs, but Otis hung in the Airbnb just fine. The next morning I made myself coffee and sat out front to meditate in the gorgeous yard before driving into the park. It took about 1 ½ hours to get to Cottonwood Visitor’s center from the western entrance and then we hiked about 1 ½ hours before heading on to our next destination: Winslow, AZ.
Petrified Forest National Park, AZ
This was a first time experience for me. About 45 minutes east along HWY 40 from Winslow, AZ, the Petrified Forest was simply stunning. I’m going to admit that spending three hours in Joshua Tree and then driving almost eight hours to Winslow, AZ, was a bit much. If I were to do this again, I’d try to find a place in between to stop and rest. There are many beautiful places and parks between the two.
We spent the night in Winslow at La Posada, an amazing 1930’s Paul Harvey hotel that also loves dogs. They treated both of us as special guests. Even though there’s nothing going on anymore in Winslow, this hotel was full on a Tuesday evening. I learned a lot while I was there about the Santa Fe railroad line, the Paul Harvey hotels that were built during the 20’s and 30’s, and how they opened up the west to the nation, first as a rail car business and then as Route 66 destinations. La Posada has been redone to look like it did in the 30’s and has plenty of gardens and open grassy areas for walking the dog. I ate at the Turquoise Room, the lovely restaurant located inside of the hotel. I wish I’d arrived sooner, Otis was allowed everywhere but the eating area and it was truly a pleasure to explore this hotel and learn about a unique part in our nation’s history.
We rose early and made it to the Petrified Forest by 9:00 am. Again, we had the park to ourselves and walked the rim trail, as well as explored the open trails at the base of the visitor’s center, also knowns as the Painted Desert Inn, yet another Paul Harvey establishment now a museum. Dogs are allowed EVERYWHERE in this park, I imagine because it’s so desolate and there aren’t a lot of prickly things to hurt your dog. Just hike down the steep path from the Painted Desert Inn and go where you want. Just around the bend the trail ends and the canyons and painted desert go on for miles and miles.
After our hike, I had a picnic up by the Inn, changed, and then headed to Santa Fe.
Santa Fe, NM
Rio Grande at the County Line Boat Launch
As I mentioned, I’d never been to Santa Fe before, so that was the destination goal for the entire trip. We arrived around five in the evening again, and stayed at Hotel St. Francis, probably the most dog-friendly hotel you will ever find. The doorman has doggy treats, reception is completely understanding about finding you in the bar if your dog is making a nuisance in the hotel room (mine didn’t but they assured me that I could eat without worry while I was there). There were several dogs there and each night I had a glass of wine in the lobby while Otis sat next to me, being a very civilized dog. By the second night he and I had fallen into a routine, and it felt like a vacation, even if the “goal” of the trip was training.
Santa Fe is a wonderful town to walk with your dog. Hotel St. Francis is close to the plaza and the river walk parks. Each time we went out, I covered more and more ground, exploring block after block radiating out from the old west plaza. There is more shopping than you can imagine, and dogs are allowed inside most of the stores. I left Otis behind one morning to eat breakfast at Tia Sophia’s, a local café, and then to shop and when I found a ring I loved at Ortega’s on the Plaza, the women helping me begged me to bring my dog back. So I did, and then Otis and I shopped a bit more before heading up the Rio Grande route to Taos. We drove north on Highway 285 to NM 68, which follows the Rio Grande up to gorge. Take it all the way to Taos and you will find several places to stop to visit the river. Ebudo Station is a historic site, again part of the Santa Fe railroad. It appears it’s for sale, so if you’re in the market for a historical site, check it out! We stopped at County Line Boat Launch and walked around. I loved this river, it was quite peaceful and again, we had the place to ourselves.
Along NM 68, just before you hit Taos, there’s an amazing trail head called the Rio Grande Gorge Recreation Area Taos Valley Overlook to the right. Dogs are welcome. We didn’t hike this, as I wanted to bring Otis to the snow, since he’d never been there before, but I think it would have been a great destination that day all itself if I’d known about it ahead of time.
The next stop was up to Taos Pueblo, where dogs are welcome. Then on to Taos Ski Valley, not to ski, but to introduce Otis to the snow. Being a California dog, he’s never seen it before, so I headed up NM 150 toward the ski resort. It was fun to walk around in the village, but the best part was stopping along the way at one of the campgrounds, Cuchilla del Medio, currently closed but you can get in by walking through a snow drift. I wish I’d taken a video, Otis was so funny when he fell in up to his armpits! But soon he figured out how to play in the snow and we explored the Rio Hondo. It was so magical, words escape me.
When we returned to the Hotel St. Francis that night, we enjoyed a glass of wine and making friends in the lobby once more, before I left Otis to sleep in the room while grabbing dinner in the bar. The food was fantastic, I highly recommend it, though the doorman has a huge list of local restaurants as well.
The next morning we rose early and drove south, to Tuscon.
Saguaro National Park West
Again I stayed the night in a lovely Airbnb, Ayda's Casita, a bright yellow, tiny house near the Catalina Mountains just outside of Tuscon. Dog friendly with three acres of desert landscape to enjoy. Santa Fe to Tuscon is an easy drive if you’re not planning on hiking along the way. There’s just no way to see everything in one trip. After breakfast in the casita, we hiked the western park.
Similar to Joshua Tree, dogs are not allowed on the trails here, but can be walked on any of the roads, including the unpaved Bajada Loop Drive. This road is not 4x4 only and has many trailheads along it so we encountered a lot of cars, yet overall it was an amazing hike. I entered from the east and parked at the Sus picnic area, then hiked out about an hour, turned around and hiked back to the car. The views are so different in each direction, I was in awe the entire time. It gently rained on us the whole time, which actually made the entire experience even more magical. After the hike I was able to have a picnic under a covered table, change out of my muddy clothes in the bathroom, and then head to Phoenix to visit my sister, arriving mid afternoon.
Cottonwood Springs
Return to Joshua Tree
The drive from Phoenix to my house is doable in one day, but I’ve never bothered. Instead, I always stay at Joshua Tree to split the drive into two days and take advantage of the desert I love so much. I left Phoenix later in the morning, enjoying my time with my sister and niece, and got to Joshua Tree by three. This time we tried a new hike along a paved road, again outside of Cottonwood Spring, to visit the spring itself. This is a 1.2 mile hike one way along the road that also leads to a picnic area and campground, as well as a back country trail head. It was very busy, but fortunately I found a wash to the right side of the road and we hiked that instead.
It was eight days later and about ten degrees warmer than our first hike of the trip. It was also late afternoon rather than early morning. Several things then were different. First, there were way more people in the park. Second, my dog actually found a large sage brush and laid down under it! I think as a bulldog, he found the 77 degrees unfavorable. I can’t even imagine what he’d do during the summer! Dogs aren’t allowed in the spring itself, but I was able to catch a glimpse and truly understand what the word oasis meant in premodern times. As we approached, the view changed from prickly and sandy to lush, green, woody palm trees.
Driving Solo
I’d never driven more than a day on my own before, and usually it was to meet up or visit with someone. Even most of my solo air trips have been to visit others or for business. Only once before have I traveled alone, and that was to Paris for a night, squeezed in-between a visit to a friend in Zurich and a business engagement in Oxfordshire. Paris was where I switched trains to get on the Chunnel and staying for the night before heading on to England simply made sense.
Road trips alone are different. Sometimes there are roads that go on for a hundred miles with no services or exits in site. This is the case if you take 177 north to get to Winslow from Joshua Tree. I recommend 177 north to get you to HWY 40 East, it’s awesome and beautiful, but make sure you gas up on the I10 as you exit Joshua Tree. I made the mistake of getting on CA 177 north with 200 miles left in my tank. When I finally arrived at a gas station, I only had 50 miles left. This was the sort of experience I’d hoped to avoid, it’s hard to feel free and adventurous when you have no idea when the next service station will come into view.
Yet being alone and venturing out into the desert was something that changed me. I feel older, almost grown up. Sure, you’d think at 48 I’d already feel grown up, but I wasn’t. Logging 2839 miles with only the dog was liberating. Of course, Otis’s company meant I wasn’t truly alone. Dogs are our best friends for a reason, and while he couldn’t help with the driving, I felt safer with him by my side.
A woman and her dog make a great traveling pair.