Our thoughts on roadtripping (far) with a dog in an electric vehicle

We first adventured far, far North to the Canadian Rockies more than a decade ago. It was a dream back then and we gawked at the distance and time. Since that trip, we have been back to this incredibly spectacular place (and, really, all of Canada) at just about every available opportunity. And we crave that sparkling summer beauty-the huge lakes, glacial valleys, raging rivers, welcoming towns (even being from Colorado)- and can't wait to paddle, backpack, hike, camp and eat our way through the Northern Rockies again and again. 

Jasper

Waterton Lakes

Kootenay 

Banff

Yoho

Mt. Robson

For our most recent trip, we added a few variables to the adventure: our trusty sidekick, Joonah (dog) and our method of transportation, an electric vehicle (EV).  We all know that U.S. National Parks are not dog friendly, though we did manage to navigate short stops through Yellowstone and Teton en route to British Columbia.  

But, good news! Canada's National Parks, for the most part, are open to dogs!  The bad news, as we've learned from previous road trips with dog in an EV, is that spontaneous doesn't always result in fun when you need a place to sleep for a family of four with a dog to include about six hours of slow-charging.

So, first things first! Big, big trips require a little more thought now. We need a plan: where are dogs welcome? where is charging infrastructure? where do they overlap? This takes time and patience but thankfully many resources are dedicated to help. 

Love, love, love the dog-friendly Lander Llama Bunk House!

Traveling with a Pet:

Have you ever used BringFido? This is a great resource that is rapidly bringing together information on the world of businesses and places that love pets. We also frequently filter Google for "pet friendly."  And, every backcountry and frontcountry campground reservation on the Parks Canada reservation website lets you know if dogs are welcome. In addition, we've found that it's usually worth a little more online investigation around rules, cost and requirements for pets...just to be safe. 

Charging:

We drive only electric vehicles, powered at home with rooftop solar (and, BTW, in Colorado all of our electricity is happily, rapidly transitioning to clean and renewable) -- because every time I climbed into our gas-guzzling, greenhouse-gas-emitting, internal-combustion-driven cars, I felt like a terrible hypocrite. We will never go back to gas and fortunately we won't need to. 

We went with Tesla because, well, we bought at the very beginning (the first version of the Model 3) and drive often and far into the wild. When we decided to go electric, Tesla EVs had the longest range and most convenient charging infrastructure (I think still true especially after owning a Rivian) and, frankly, our Model 3 is the best vehicle we have ever owned. In 2026, almost 10 years old, it is still kicking ass and use it for everything including with teenage drivers: errands, road trips, backpacking and winter sports (+ snow tires and the Model 3 = shred!). 

Riva the Rivian: bikes, boats, camping, plug-in fridge(!), offroad capable and still 400+ miles of range.

In 2025 we opted to trade in our 2nd Tesla for a Rivian. We did this for a variety of reasons, mostly being that we thought the Rivian R1S offered everything we needed. And we were tired of compromising with Teslas. We immediately tested out our new Rivian on a 5 week trip to Novia Scotia. More on that soon!

Early days of the M3: 4 days in the backcountry, coming back to a full battery (and pre-cooled interior).

For Teslas, superchargers make things very fast and easy. In 2026 there is fast charging almost everywhere but there are still gaps (we found this out the hard way on the long drive North through Wyoming and then across South Dakota during the summer of 2025). Plan correctly and everything is fine, i.e. this requires a longer stay to fill up the battery, slower, overnight. Fortunately, some of our best hotel finds (Entrada Escalante Lodge in Escalante, Utah) and off-the-beaten-path serendipitous but amazing experiences (hiking the Trail of the Cedars while charging in the Northern Cascades) have been in order to have slow charging. This also can be frustrating (for a long, long while there was one working fast charger in Pagosa Springs, Colorado which was often occupied and ridiculously expensive). More recently, with the Rivian, we've found the lack of uniformity in apps and charging systems frustrating. Almost always we must try multiple times to get charging to work. Fortunately, we have had very few complete failures. Also, some slow chargers include $/kWh fees plus parking fees and have time limits which can make for a cold midnight jaunt to move the car.

charging in Newhalem, WA (Northern Cascades)

Charging locations can be found on Google Maps and PlugShare.  Slow charging can be very pleasant if you find a spot walkable to any of the following: shopping, food, hikes, a movie theater, museums, paddling, a place where you can spend some time working remotely (i.e. digital nomad) or even if it's just close to a park.  We've also reserved campsites with electric hook-ups for really slow charging. 

campsite with electric hookup (we were the only non-RV)

To the North with dog!

So we can't backpack the Tonquin Valley or Skyline trails because dogs are not allowed. But dogs are allowed just about everywhere else in the Canadian Rockies. Parks Canada backcountry campsites (also some of the provincial parks) have tent pads, outhouses and bear lockers/hangs. And frontcountry campgrounds have running water, kitchen shelters (sometimes with wood burning stoves) and showers. Many are located within walking or biking distance to welcoming, fun townsites (Waterton, Redstreak, Wapiti, Tunnel Mountain, Lake Louise) which provide supplies, nice breaks and access to restaurants, museums, movie theaters and basketball courts. 

Redstreak campground is walkable-ish to town and hot springs.

So get out there with your dog and give EVs a chance if you haven't already. It's fun. (P.S. I took a little drive up Guanella Pass with Joonah in January and plugged our induction kettle into the Rivian to make hot chocolate...YES!). More coming from us on traveling with a dog in an EV including many solo trips to drop off and pick up Kenedy at the University of British Columbia and Tucker to drop off and pick up where ever he ends up.

Bring on the adventure!