Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

BeautifulAndStoned t1_ja4jjtd wrote

Reply to comment by satanshand in The White Rim, cracked and crumbling into the abyss. Canyonlands, Utah [OC] [5423x3615] by Chipotle42

The permit is for backcountry camping. The weather is also pretty intense so everybody tries to go at the same time of year.

8

Kloodist t1_ja4nzuy wrote

Sometime in the past couple of years they changed the permit requirements. You now need one to be on the road at all, not just for camping.

You can drive the potash road and Shafer switchbacks without a permit but anything else requires one.

18

One_Dull_Tool t1_ja4rlfd wrote

I tried driving the shafer road and it was closed due to snow. But the drive to the gate was 20miles in and absolutely beautiful!!

You are correct in that a permit is currently required to drive the white rim road.

7

I_tinerant t1_ja6k4by wrote

When I did WRT, it snowed the night before we ended and some dumbass tried to drive their corolla down the western end, couldn't do it, and just abandoned the car blocking the road.

We and 2 other groups pushed it into the ditch so we could get past.

Don't drive down a steep, one-lane, janky-ass road in a corolla.

2

BeautifulAndStoned t1_ja4y0mw wrote

but you don't have to wait 6 months to get the day use permits, you can just walk up most of the time. you can get permits all the time even for the backcountry sites it just goes quickly because there are some strong preferences for campsites and people want to have their itineraries locked down. if you're planning to bike it you can have some rough days if your sites don't line up in a reasonable way. even in the busy season you can grab 1 day campsite permits if you want to come middle of the week or something like that.mostly it's only hard to get permits because everybody wants to come when the weather is nice and for a long weekend trip.

it's not that fun to do as a day trip, there are better ways to spend your time even if you just want to have some good views. but if you're just driving in to a trailhead or something like that you don't have to plan the same way.

5

lostcosmonaut307 t1_ja5jc04 wrote

I wouldn’t go without camping, it would be a long slog all day to make it in one go and you’d barely see anything.

4

BeautifulAndStoned t1_ja5kv9r wrote

You don't have to do the whole thing. If you come in the Colorado side its mostly a good dirt road so it's an easy out and back.

0

lostcosmonaut307 t1_ja5l049 wrote

When we went it was only one-way I think? Maybe it was two-way on the one side. Granted it was also more than 10 years ago.

0