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 I want to see many parks from LA and I don't know what sort of car I must rent : a confortable car or a SUV. The parks I want to see (in one month) are : organ pipe catus, white sands, yellowstone, monument valley, brice canyon, zion etc..

Are the roads easy to acces with a simple car or I must rent an 4WD ?

Thanks for your reply

Hi,

Our parks have some nicely paved easy to navigate roads.  These are there to make the park accessible to everyone.  If you stick to these roads, you can still see a lot of the parks, as the routes are planned to take you by many of the major highlights.

There may be some roads where 4WD is required or recommended.  Only a small portion of the visitors to the parks venture onto them.  It is a good idea to know the conditions of these roads and have emergency supplies with you if you plan to go.  From my experience, the 4WD is handy because of the high clearance of the vehicle.  These rough roads generally are narrow dirt roads with giant potholes and deep tire ruts.

For more information on driving in each of those parks, visit the NPS site.  www.nps.gov.  For each park and monument you've listed, there should be a page about getting around.

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 Thanks for your quick reply, by I have a precision : the trip is plan to 2009 october (one month). Fresh temperature, snow need a 4WD at this period ?

Thank you for your reply and sorry for my english (I am french)

I do not believe you will see snow in October.  Usually, the weather is very nice in October.  In the daytime, the weather is usually sunshine and warm.  In the nights it can be cool but not so cold.

Organpipe and White Sands are in the lower altitude deserts.  There will be no snow.  It can be very warm in the daytime.  (20-30 C)  And not very cool at night (10 - 15 C)

At Bryce Canyon, Zion and Yellowstone there are some mountains.  If you drive in the higher altitudes, you might find some colder weather and even a little snow. 

Unless you intend to drive to some of the higher places in the mountains, I do not believe you will need a 4WD vehicle.

 Thank's to Michelle and Mike for the help.

(Patrice from France)