Honestly, I don’t think you will need it. Many of the roads will be dirt, but still maintained/graded. A van with decent tires should do it.
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… Unless it rains. Then you’re fooked.
FWIW I cruised around the BLM area outside Zion for a couple days with an economy rental and was fine. Only ran into a small handful of things where 4WD or higher clearance would have made things easier. If you’ve ever driven off-road, use the same concepts, just keep in mind the limitations.
IME you have to WANT to get onto 4wheeling trails, unlikely you’ll end up on one by accident.
I used to be pretty big into rock crawling. I’ve had everything from jeeps on 33’s to truggys on tons so I’m well versed in off-roading. I just don’t want to total a rubicon when I can’t control my self 
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Possible future situation of your rental.
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Exactly!
Still undecided what I’m gonna do but I plan on booking something this weekend for sure. Can’t wait too long or it’ll all be gone.
Any cool towns to stay in down there?
Escalante has a town, or Torrey is pretty, north of Escalante, would work for Capitol Reef too.
Bryce has a town as well or you could stay in Cedar City (has more to do, it’s a college town).
Kanab and Hurricane are good options depending on how far southwest you end up.
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Black Elk Peak (formerly Harney Peak) in the Black Hills. Highest elevation between the Rockies and France.
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@jshaving I’ve been to the top more times than I can count! Such a great little hike!
Various locations in south eastern/central Utah. Most of this trip was driving, but there was a sprinkling of hiking.
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I leave Sunday night/Monday early morning for out west.
Rented a 4x4 4Runner and have an air mattress for the back of it. My girlfriend and I are going to explore Utah and Colorado for a week (which isn’t nearly long enough).
Gonna be using iOverlander to find some good hidden gems (hopefully) and sleep under the bad ass stars.
Plan is to hit as many national parks, state parks, and just general cool spots as possible, as well as climbing my first 14’er, longs peak.
We don’t really have much of a plan. Got a few places we are gonna try to hit but other than having fun, trying to stay away from humans, and enjoying nature, nothing set in stone. I’d love to reach Zion but depending on how much time we have we might not make it that far south.
Should be an epic trip!
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Thats my default mode.
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Some pictures from our camping trip along the yorkshire coast, fossil hunting and seal spotting and was lucky enough to see dolphins whilst having breakfast from our cliff top camp. Little man covered some good miles!
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Absolutely love that mate. Whereabouts did you go?
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I’ve done this one. Pretty good hike. Start early as the weather seems to on average get worse as the day goes on. You will be plenty tired after that.
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Sounds incredible!
I recently bought my dream car, a transit van* (shuddup), and that’s the kind of trip I’m already longing for. Here’s to next summer.
*loved them before they were cool
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Hell yes! So glad you are making the trip. It is even better that you are bringing your lady.
Honestly, spend more time in Capitol Reef and Grand Escalante. You will achieve your goal of fewer people. Zion is a cluster in the summer. Also, look up the San Rafael Swell if you haven’t already. Ill stop there before I get on a rant again. No plan is the way.
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My wife really wanted to visit Staithes, she saw it on a screen saver on her laptop and thought it looked pretty. So we went to Staithes, Whitby, Robin hoods bay and Boggle hole to fossil hunt and then Ravenscar to see the seals. Plenty more places we wanted to go but ran out of days, we would have happily just carried on making our way along the coast!
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Thats a bucket list plan right there. Maybe once the sprogs are older.
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@mnben87 im excited dude! Saving Colorado for the end of the week so we can enjoy some cooler weather.
@unicornsandrainbows we are definitely going to Capitol reef and grand Escalante! I really want to see those but I’d also love to sneak into Zion well before sunrise and do angels landing before anyone gets there and before they realize I don’t have a permit lol
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