DAY 20
4/7-8/2026 Tuesday/Wednesday
AdVANture finish
Summing it Up. Essentially we spent 3 weeks circumnavigating Utah and a dab into Wyoming, western Colorado and Idaho in a clockwise direction. From the Colorado western border, south to the Arizona border then southwestern Utah not far from the Nevada border, north through the Salt Lake City madness to the southern Idaho border back to southwestern Montana and home to Billings.
Scenery scenery scenery… every 20 miles it’s a new Wow! Late March and early April was a beautiful time of year to take this trip in 2026. Yea it’s a dry winter in this area but it made for great weather on our adVANture. Our plans to ski did not materialize but it didn’t take us long to forget about that desire and relish the warm weather and blooming spring!
So much public land… We traveled through mostly BLM Monuments and BLM rangeland, Forest Service, National Park Service, State Parks, County Parks. All available to the public free or at low cost… especially if you’re a Senior Citizen! This is an American benefit to appreciate and advocate for future use for our children, grand children and forever. This should always be cherished. Some say they lament the crowds (which I also have mentioned) but some good measures have been taken to allow access without drowning the resources. You may have to plan ahead more for your access to some treasures but there is so much available to enjoy without restrictions if you search beyond the top favorites.
This trip we focused on the incredible National Parks I/we had never seen. Yes they were busy, but it didn’t stop us from being awestruck on their beauty. Then we travelled some of the more prominent Monuments but there was so much we didn’t see of some of them and some we didn’t venture to visit. If you have 4×4 capability you can go deeper into these landscapes away from crowds.
There are places you see that will overwhelm you at how vast the landscape is and it is entirely uninhabitated by humans! As far as the eye can see. Just truly takes your breath away.
Utah is worth the time and effort to get away from the city/suburban Salt Lake City corridor. Most of Utah is small towns and public land… the real Utah. Do yourself a favor and take the time to visit. You will be happy you did!
Off Road RV’s. This subject needs an honorable mention. I was slightly aware of these behemoth industrial type RV’s that sometimes are associated with the Australian Outback but have never seen ones like these. You see some regular campers that are black and “say” off road but they are measly compared to a few we saw! Just go with me in your imagination because I failed to photograph any of them! Big mistake on my part.
Not that I’ve done much rv camping … (it’s pretty new to me) but in Utah you see a different breed!
These are expedition, heavy duty, back country dirt road rv’s. They range in size from a monster truck to a small semi. The tires alone are gigantic and look bullet proof! I did not even begin to think I should photograph these behemoths until I saw at least three of them.
I’m guessing you see more of these in Utah because of the exorbitant amount of canyons and public land conducive to crawling through washes and over rocky rough terrain. I’m pretty sure there’s not much to stop them! Once I realized I should photograph one I never saw another one… go figure.
It made me wonder what age and type of person wants, needs and enjoys this kind of activity? Funny thing is that so far I’ve seen them in regular campgrounds for overnight or at the visitor center. One big dude truck was pretty muddy, dirty and dusty up over 10’ high so I know he was “out there”.
The first one I saw in Fruita State Park was called an “Earth Roamer”. It was a monster truck size. So I looked them up… curious to what’s in/on them and what does one cost. Answer: heavy duty everything and they start new at $750,000- $1.1 million. What???!!!
The guy who was in the Earth Roamer was probably in the 50-60 year old range. The bigger one that was semi-like was driven by an older guy…60’s easy (or more). I didn’t see a brand on this one so I don’t have a clue what that would cost but rough guess goes far over 1 million!
We all have different hobbies don’t we?!
Licensing and Sales Taxes. Licensing your RIG in Montana or expensive big RV’s has become a common occurrence. Apparently you can form a corporation in Montana and then when you purchase your RV you can avoid paying out of state sales taxes by claiming Montana residence of your corporation. You see Montana does not have a sales tax.
I asked one couple if they were from Missoula because I saw their plates and the response was “Oh no… we’re from Arizona”. We did see several Montana plates on RV’s and even that big rig! The most common plate was MT. 4-####. Missoula County for some reason. Now I doubt most of these big Montana RV’s.
Thanks for following! I hope we took you a good AdVANture of Utah. A lot of driving but some great hiking and bicycling along the way. We really enjoyed the trip and made some memories. See you down the road… this summer perhaps.
Alaska on our mind. The van is going to take a long trip through BC Canada (which we love) and then my first trip to Alaska. We have a little family and friends in our future adVANture😊
cinnicrew 