I’m thinking of taking a trip to the Riverton/Casper/Cheyenne region of Wyoming in September, with my ultimate goal being Grand Tetons and Yellowstone.
I’ve had a couple of travel agents look for me, and I’ve googled quite a bit, but I’ve had no luck finding somewhere to rent a 4WD, high-clearance vehicle.
Does anyone have any contacts that might be able to assist me?
Because I love your plight, and have been in your shoes: I did a little googling.
Here is an ATV rental place.
Here is a place renting high clearance trucks.
Try looking at go-wyoming as well. BTW - The windy river area of Wyoming is absolutely wonderful. I had a great time when I was there - we rented a Jeep Cherokee and had no clearance issues.
There’s very little in the Tetons or Yellowstone that really require a high clearance 4WD vehicle. Where specifically are you planning on going?
Dunno yet. I’d like to get off the roads some, so I’m not standing next to everyone else watching the elk cross the road.
I’m very open to suggestions. My main goals are going to be hiking and photography.
It is illegal to drive your vehicle off-road in any national park. If you don’t want to be with the crowds, your choices are limited to horseback or your own two feet.
Turek you can legally drive some really cool scenic roads that border the parks and are often much more picturesque because you see a part of a national park not photographed 30-thousand times a day. Check out the Windy River Mountain Range from Mountainman Country and you’ll see some amazing stuff. If you are taking your camera and are looking for something for your mantle, this is the place to find it.
I was in the Wind River area in July with a Dodge Nitro. We rented it in Salt Lake City though. It was pretty nice for the job. No clearance issues, lots of room inside, yet not on the larger side of SUVs.
It’s the Wind Rivers, not the Windy Rivers.
I made it up to a few pretty isolated trailheads in the Winds 2 years ago in a Hyundai Azera (luxury sedan). The roads really aren’t that bad and you have lots of options to choose from. I don’t think you really need much to get where you’re going if you have some experience driving dirt roads. There were plenty of passenger cars at all the trailheads we saw. If you really want to see some interesting terrain you’ll have to walk in further then a vehicle will take you.
The Winds are amazing, and you will be driving long distances on dirt roads. Yellowstone and the Tetons aren’t like that; you’ll be on good roads nearly all of the time.
I really don’t think you need a 4wd vehicle. I was in the Medicine Bow mountains just west of Laramie in my little Honda Civic last May and got around just fine. Now, I didn’t take any jeep trails or anything but I was in very remote locations with no people in sight.
Depending when in September you are going you may run into a little snow at the higher elevations but it shouldn’t be a problem.
Same goes for the Tetons and Yellowstone.
I was thinking more along the lines of the River Road and Black Jack Road in Big Bend: unimproved and – as is the case of Black Jack Road – unmaintained roads that are perfectly legal to drive on, but will tear up the underside of a normal rental car. If we hadn’t been in my friend’s Jeep the last time in Big Bend, I wouldn’t have gotten to see a great abandoned mercury mine or spent a fun hour in the pitch black bouncing along at 3 miles per hour on a road that wasn’t fit to ride a mule on. 
Are there these kinds of roads in GT and Yellowstone?
Not in GT, don’t know enough about Yellowstone but I don’t think so.
Funny, that Trailblazer looks an awful lot like a Jeep Cherokee.
No, like Telemark said, and I think the reason is that they are national parks, thus the roads are maintained by the national parks service. I would really check out the wind river areas. Do keep an eye out for wildlife, everyone and their mother will be out gorging for the coming winter. This includes bear.
Big Bend’s a National Park, too, and there are definetly unpaved roads.
Will do, thanks for the tip!
But they are different kinds of parks. First, GT isn’t very big. The roads all lead to the trailheads which are arranged mostly on one side of the range. There just isn’t very much terrain to drive, let alone put in roads.
Yellowstone is the first National Park and was created at a time when Parks were viewed differently. It is also hugely popular, and there are upgraded roads to most attractions which takes up a lot of the park. The backcountry areas are left road free, and you get there on foot. The paved road system covers most of the park, so there isn’t room for much exploring by vehicle. Besides, since the park is so popular they’d be rescuing stuck motorists every day if they allowed people to go off road.
Big Bend is much less developed and has a tradition of jeep roads. Like Canyonlands, 4-wheeling is an accepted form of recreation there. Not at GT and Yellowstone.