Rental Car for Big Sandy Trailhead /Wind River Range

[Al K]

Going Labor Day weekend for 5 days and doing a loop including Cirque of Towers and Haily Pass. Sounds like there is a 40 mile plus section of dirt road to get to the trailhead that supposedly is in good shape. I have the option of renting an economy car for $187 or an intermediate SUV for $290 from Salt Lake City Airport. Are the roads good enough for an economy car or is it better to play it safe and upgrade to the SUV?

[Ben C]

Last year the road was fine.  You’d be fine with a cheapo.  Make sure to gas up and have a map though.  We had our car shuttled.  When we got to the car at Big Sandy, we had no idea how to get out.

[Brad Rogers]

I took a rental car there in 2014 and 2016. The road isn’t great, but I made it without problems in whatever the cheap car was. I think I had a Ford Festiva one year and a Nissan Versa the other.

[Marmot]

I went last year and sprung for an SUV. Ultimately it wasn’t necessary, you should be fine!

Agreed about the map (or just use the google maps offline feature to save that area). We did drive in and still managed to get lost on the way out :)

[John Klinepeter]

If you are approaching from the NW (Boulder) via Hwy. 353 you will eventually come to an intersection where you will have to turn left (east).  This intersection at Emigrant Trail is not marked :)  Probably best to figure out the rough mileage from Boulder to Emigrant Trail beforehand.  When you reach the final  stretch, Road 850 to Big Sandy trail head, where you will turn left (north) there will be mega signage.

I have never approached from Hwy. 28, can’t be of help except that my map indicates 25 miles from Hwy. 28 to mega signage.

Yup, last year my smallish car had no problem on Hwys. 353 and 850.

[John Vance]

You should be good with the smaller car.  I noticed last year that they had ground down the tops of buried rocks in the road which are the biggest problem.  Just go slow in the rough spots and you should be good.

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