Going on a road trip with my dog and a friend, and we're wondering how to figure out which national forests and parks are worth going to. We're going from East Coast to West along the southern border till we hit New Mexico and then we're going north to Denver for a week or so and want to hit all the good places in Colorado. After that, on to California through Utah and Nevada and then finally up to Washington. Plan is to set up camp in nice areas and just hang out along the way in national parks / forests. We're obviously going to stop at all the famous places like the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, etc. but what are the quiant, quiet parks and forests that are less traveled but are hidden gems that are in or near Florida, Louissiana, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Washington? Happy to deviate from the route if there's an especially cool spot close by.

Also, does anyone have any experience taking a dog to the bigger national parks/forests? I know for example, the Grand Canyon has some pretty strict rules limiting which trails pets can be on. Do people actually give a fuck if I take my dog onto trails that he's not supposed to be on? It'd be awfully shitty of me to have to kennel him for a day while I go fuck around in nature just because some gay ass rules that don't allow him to get to the cool spots. That being said, I'd rather not catch a fine or get arrested.

Pic related is the tentative route, but this trip isn't happening until early May, so plenty of time to make corrections and adjust course to include some cool /out/ spots.