North Rim: Rental SUV and Bugs in Early May

[Ron Marshall]

How bad are the bugs in early May at GC North Rim, Bryce and Zion?

If I rent an SUV are they permitted on roads such as the one to Toroweap? I intend to phone the rental agencies to get it from the horses mouth, but I'm interested in others experiences and the condition of that road.

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Drew Wiley]

North Rim and Bryce are pretty high. Zion varies in altitude. Some of the warmer slots and moist streambeds in Zion have a lot pesky flies or gnats that time of year, but I don't think of this as particularly buggy country.

[Fotoguy20d]

I took a rental SUV on the dirt road to Chaco Canyon (road is pretty washboarded but at least the wash wasn't running so it was dry). My thinking (for right or wrong) was that as long as it's got a state or county number associated with it, it's really a road so you aren't taking the vehicle off-road, which is what the agreement doesn't allow.

Dan

[Colleen K]

Some of the rental companies say you can't take it off paved roads-best to check with the individual company.
Colleen

[brianam]

Run it through a car wash before you return it.
Not telling you to violate any terms of service from a rental agency, just saying it wouldn't exactly be the first time a rental SUV was taken off road. <gasp!> ;-)

[Richard Raymond]

You can assume that all rentals will have GPS tracking. Whether this is an issue probably depends on the condition of the car when it is returned.
Ric

[Duane Polcou]

I've been to GC North Rim / Zion / and Bryce Canyon many times at varying times of year and never found bugs to be a general problem. As Drew said, slot canyons (which abound in Zion) can have pools of water filled with mosquitos and flotsam left from flash floods which may attract flies. The only time I felt bugs were a genuine nuisance was when driving to Lathrop Canyon from the White Rim in Canyonlands NP in August. Gnats were everywhere. I was told by a ranger that this was a particularly bad year. I've hiked the Needles District in Canyonlands at a later date and never been bothered.

I've driven the Toroweap Road twice, once in a passenger car, and once in a 4WD vehicle, both rented. It is not a jeep trail, but a graded dirt road, and is driveable in a passenger car during fair weather if you exercise care. If recently graded it can be like driving on a washboard, and following a rain it can be very slick; practically undriveable. There are a couple of sections where you are driving on bare rock so you must be careful not to bottom out. I would inquire when renting if you can drive on these roads; and preferably get a 4WD vehicle like a Jeep Cherokee.

It is a truly magnificent drive as it passes through volcanic Toroweap Valley with cinder cones and ends overlooking Lava Falls and the Colorado River. I could drive it over and over and never tire of it.

Hope this helps.