ATV Rentals near Bryce Canyon National Park: Everything You Need to Know
While visiting the Bryce Canyon National Park area, make sure to add an ATV rental to your itinerary.
This fun, outdoor activity will get you and your family off the beaten path and away from the crowds to see more of the incredible beauty of this corner of Utah.
While the tours can be pricey, they’re a splurge that’s well worth it, in my opinion. Since you’re gaining access to viewpoints, wildlife, and trails that few others traverse, the specialized ATV tours are the perfect upgrade to your vacation.
Below, you’ll find everything you need to pick the best ATV rental experience for your family. I’m breaking down the pros and cons of a guided tour versus a self-guided rental, our recommendation for the best place to rent, and our spots along popular ATV trails in Dixie National Forest that you don’t want to miss.
The Camping Kiddos with our rented ATV at the ancient bristlecone forest near Bryce Canyon
This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through the links, I will receive a commission at no additional charge to you.
NOTE: This post was not endorsed, comped, or paid for by any of the companies mentioned. I researched and purchased the tours on my own.
Bryce Canyon City, Utah, ATV Rentals: An Overview
PIN ME!
As part of an 8-week long trip through Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota, my family and I stopped at Bryce Canyon City, Utah, for several days.
While our main focus in this area was visiting Bryce Canyon National Park with my kids, I also wanted to mix up our usual hiking and camping experiences. After all, we visited 10 national parks on this trip, and I knew my family needed some variety to help each place stand out!
My 7 year old requested one thing when I was planning our massive road trip: to ride an ATV. So, I made that happen on an extra day we had in Bryce Canyon.
Before you get any further into this guide, know that this is not the most budget friendly experience you can have, so if you’re really pinching pennies, you may have to skip this activity.
However, I can promise you that it is so worth the expense.
In fact, my dad, who went along with us on the trip, told me that it was one of his favorite things that we did on the entire road trip. And that was in a tough line-up of activities that included paddleboarding at Glacier National Park, hiking the Narrows at Zion National Park, visiting a troll in Victor, Colorado, and sandboarding at Great Sand Dunes National Park!
It’s still one of the things that my kids talk about the most when remember our time at Bryce Canyon, so go ahead and save that extra bit to make this experience happen.
What is an ATV?
I’m using “ATV” here to really mean all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and utility task vehicles (UTVs), both of which are types of off-highway vehicles (OHVs). Since different tour companies use different vehicles, but all lump them under the general label of “ATV vehicles,” I’m staying with the same general terminology, but I will specify whenever possible.
A true ATV is a recreational vehicle that you ride on top of and which has 4 wheels. It usually has room for one person, but you’ll occasionally find them for 2 people. They look like this.
A UTV is bigger with room for 2-4 people, is more stable with a roof or roll bars, and is generally considered to be safer than an ATV.
You can learn more about the differences between the two types of OHVs here.
In short, both an ATV and UTV are outdoor recreation vehicles that can be a lot of fun to drive around.
The 4 door UTV we rented to explore Dixie National Forest
Can you ride ATVs inside Bryce Canyon National Park?
While you can’t ride ATVs inside Bryce Canyon National Park, you can ride bicycles if you’re just looking for a fun way to access the park’s first 8 miles or so.
Check out my complete guide to biking in Bryce Canyon National Park if that’s something else you’re interested in doing while here.
Sometimes, though, you want a bit more speed and adventure than a bike ride can offer.
And that’s when you head just outside of the park for an ATV tour.
Dixie National Forest butts up against Bryce Canyon National Park, so you can get a similar experience without being inside the national park’s boundaries.
Inside Dixie National Forest are hundreds of miles of roads that allow ATV tours and rides, making this a an easy to access activity for those visiting the park, too.
Why should you do an ATV rental while visiting?
When you first arrive in Bryce Canyon City, the gateway town to Bryce Canyon National Park, there’s not much to do there other than the park—at first glance.
Within a short drive from the park’s entrance, you can cruise Scenic Byway 12, hike in Red Canyon, or explore the Wild West town of Panguitch, Utah.
Adding in an ATV rental is another way to add flavor to your overall experience here.
While I love hiking, I don’t just want to hike on these visits. That’s how we ended up doing archery at nearby Kodachrome Basin State Park and ATV riding through the Dixie National Forest.
Plus, Dixie National Forest isn’t as well known as the nearby national park, so you will see far less people there than you will inside Bryce Canyon National Park. It’s the perfect way to get away from it all while never being more than 45 minutes away from the park.
Is this a good experience for the entire family?
Yes! The ATV tours in this area have options for just about anyone, depending on which version you end up taking.
Depending on whether you get a true ATV or a UTV (see above for the difference), you’ll have different age requirements.
The Bryce Canyon tours that are on 2-person ATVs look at how tall the riders are. You can drive one of these—minus a younger child—if you’re 16 and have a driver’s license and meet the minimum height of 4’10”. Passengers must also be at least 4’10”, which is about the size of an average 10 year old.
The tours that are on the UTVs have a larger age range. Some of the tours allow anyone, even babies as long as you bring their baby seats, can ride in these, but the drivers must be over 25. Others restrict passengers to 7 years old as long as they’re riding with a driver over 18. I’ve detailed the fine print on each available tour below.
Ultimately, I had family members ranging from 7 to 70 on my tour, and we all loved it.
Explore more of Bryce Canyon National Park and beyond!
Guided Tours vs. Self-Guided Tours
You’ll only get views like this if you’re deep in the Dixie National Forest!
As I mentioned before, Bryce Canyon City isn’t very big, so you don’t have a lot of options when it comes to choosing an ATV tour operator.
In fact, there are really only 2 main competitors: Ruby’s Inn and the Bryce Canyon Wildlife Museum.
At first glance, both of these might seem like odd properties to offer ATV rentals and tours, but each has much more going on then either the titular hotel or museum.
Tours by Ruby’s Inn
Ruby’s Inn kind of has Bryce Canyon City in a chokehold as it was, for a very long time, the only thing in town. In fact, it was the town before there was an official town here! Ruby’s Inn got started way back in 1916, 12 years before Bryce Canyon National Park was established.
Once the park began to draw more tourists, the family running Ruby’s Inn expanded their offerings to match. Today, there’s an RV campground, a Best Western, a second branded hotel, restaurants, conference center, and much more.
It’s not a stretch of the imagination then, to see why they also offer ATV tours.
They have several options available:
a traditional 2-person ride-on ATV
a 2-person UTV (either a Polaris Ranger or Razor), or
a 6-person UTV (Polaris Crew).
Regardless of which vehicle you choose, the tours will be 1 hour and will leave from the Sinclair gas station in Bryce Canyon City. You can book the ATV tour here.
The pricing depending on which vehicle you decide to rent, but the cost, on average, runs between $100-200 per vehicle.
The area covered on these tours is in the Tropic Ditch area of Bryce Canyon City and Tropic, Utah, that’s between Ruby’s Inn and the border of the national park. This area is east of Bryce Canyon City.
You’ll be able to explore some of the beautiful pine forests and see glimpses of the famous hoodoo filled amphitheatres that the park is known for on these tours.
NOTE: Ruby’s Inn only does tours. You can’t rent any of their vehicles to do a self-guided tour.
Tours by Bryce Canyon Wildlife Adventures
Conversely, Bryce Canyon Wildlife Adventures does mostly self-guided ATV tours and rentals, so you’ve got to figure out which is going to be the better choice for your family.
The larger Bryce Canyon Wildlife Adventure property also offers e-bike rentals, a bed and breakfast, and the ATV rentals.
You can choose to rent one of their 4 person UTVs for either a 2- or 4-hour rental. These are completely self-guided, though you’ll get a map and complete run down of suggested routes before you leave.
You can book these tours online, or simply show up the morning you’d like to go. If you’re visiting during the peak season, I would recommend booking ahead, as they often do rent out all of their vehicles.
There’s also a guided slot canyon expedition, which includes a hike and an ATV ride, but you’ll need to call them directly to ensure a guide is available for the days you’re visiting.
The rentals come with everything you might need, including a GPS, gas, seat belts, a small trunk space for coolers, and optional helmets.
The pricing here runs between $300-400 per vehicle, with the 4-hour tour being a slightly better price per hour. Both of these rentals are comparable in price per hour for a similarly sized UTV over at Ruby’s Inn.
Since you’re leading your own adventure, you’ll work with the outfitters to determine where in the Dixie National Forest and Paunsaugunt Plateau that you’d like to visit. They will have tried and true routes for you to follow, and, once you decide on a route, you’ll have a GPS tracking your vehicle so that they know to come find you if you get lost or get stuck.
These areas are west of Bryce Canyon City.
Our recommendation
After much thought, I decided to go with the self-guided rental from Bryce Canyon Wildlife Outfitters.
I knew that we would have multiple days inside the park to see the famous hoodoos from the rim, and that we would get plenty of guided tour information from ranger talks and our must-have audio tours from GuideAlong.
Since we were more interested in getting away from the crowds and having fun with the vehicle over an actual tour, the self-guided experience made more sense for us.
The Bryce Canyon Outfitters office with one of the UTVs in front
Even though it’s the single most expensive thing I booked on our entire 8-week road trip, I am so glad we did it. Riding around in the woods for a couple of hours, getting covered in dust, and seeing incredible vistas was JUST what our trip needed!
The staff at Bryce Canyon Wildlife Outfitters was wonderful, and I can’t recommend them enough.
I didn’t book ahead—though I probably should have—but we were already out on the trail less than 30 minutes after arriving on the property. And that’s including the time it took me to fill out the paperwork and go through the quick driving tutorial!
The employee who helped us talked us through different possible routes, and helped us select the best one for the time outlay we had. They have several pre-printed maps available for you to take with you that are incredibly helpful.
Each of these maps has different routes on it that are color coded and easy to follow. Points of interest are highlighted, as well as suggested places to turn or stop for a scenic overlook.
Even though we’d never been to Dixie National Forest before, the maps we were given were invaluable and made the entire process of adventuring easy without worrying too much about getting lost.
Our vehicle was a 4 passenger Polaris with a small trunk area. There were seat belts for all of us, and even my 7-year-old was able to strap in without having to use his booster seat.
Both my dad and I drove the UTV, taking turns so that we’d each have the fun of driving and of seeing the beautiful forests.
While we opted for the 2 hour rental, I almost wish we’d done the 4 hour rental! We saw SO much on the 2 hour route, but a 4 hour rental would’ve allowed us time to pack a picnic and linger more at several of the incredibly beautiful places we passed.
By the end of our 2 hour rental, we were exhilerated and absolutely covered in dust. After we turned in the UTV, one of the employees helped us clean up a little by blowing us off with a leaf blower. It looked so silly, but it got most of the dirt and dust out of our clothes easily!
Best ATV Route near Bryce Canyon
If you’re bringing your own ATV to this area, or are renting one from Bryce Canyon Wildlife Outfitters like we did, here’s where you should go.
This is roughly the route that we took on our 2-hour drive, but you could easily add onto this by exploring more of the trails that shoot off of these areas in the Dixie National Forest.
From the back of Bryce Canyon Wildlife Outfitters, follow Fork Cutoff Road until you come to a paved 2 lane road. This is East Fork Road. Turn left onto East Fork for just a hundred feet or so until you reach a gravel road on your right.
You’ll get onto this gravel road and travel about a mile over this flat, treeless land as you make your way towards a large out building. You’ll follow the trail past this building until you come to a sign for Dixie National Forest at the tree line.
You’ll enter the forest on FR 91. Keep in mind that these forest roads aren’t always super well marked, so slow down at each intersection or off-shoot road that you come to and carefully read the signs. About 2.5 or so miles on FR 91, you’ll veer right at an intersection onto FR 194.
You’ll still be in heavy forest cover, but you still might see an elk or deer in the large fields that you’ll pass from time to time.
This road, FR 194, will fork, and you’ll have the option to take FR 194 straight or turn to the left onto FR 212. Take the turn onto FR 212, and it will T-bone into FS 100.
And this is where you will want to pause. Because a colony of prairie dogs lives at this junction!
These little animals have gotten a little too friendly with humans, thanks to the regular visits from people exploring the national forest. They will come right up to your ATV (but won’t jump into it), and one even tried to nibble my younger child’s toe.
People do feed them peanuts and crackers and things, which isn’t good for them, so maybe that one prairie dog mistook my son’s sandaled feet for a snack?
In any case, they are quite cute. I wouldn’t try to pet them or hold them as they are still wild animals, but we enjoyed seeing them pop in and out of their burrows, chitter at one another, and even try to scuffle. This stop was one of my kids’ favorite parts of the entire tour.
After you say goodbye to the prairie dogs, you’ll turn right. It’s an easy turn to make since you only have 3 options at this intersection: go to the right, go to the left, or turn back around and retrace your steps.
Continuing down FR 100, the landscape will change. The towering evergreens and small meadows that have been the norm so far slowly give way to shorter, stubbier trees with less underbrush.
Part of the forest road leading into the ancient bristlecone forest
You’ll come to a small cul de sac, and this is where you’ll want to pause again.
Surrounding you are 1,000 year old bristlecone pine trees, and in front of you will be a beautiful overlook. The red, white, yellow, and orange cliffs below and beyond you are reminiscent of what you’ll see in nearby Bryce Canyon—just without the crowds.
Enjoy the quiet, where the only sounds you’ll hear is the wind whistling through the ancient forest around you.
When you’re ready to go, you’ll return back down FR 100, and then continue past the prairie dog colony. Stay on FR 100 until it t-bones into FR 91. (You’ve roughly done a big circle at this point.)
If you turn left at this intersection, you can return back to Bryce Canyon Outfitters to return your ATV.
However, if you have a little more time, take a right onto FR 91 going south and follow it along East Fork Sevier River until you get to the Tropic Reservoir.
If there’s a river to splash in, you know we have to make time!
At the corner of the reservoir that you’ll come to first, near the intersection of FR 91 and 572, you might get lucky and see the ospreys at their large nest back to the right of the FR 91!
You can wade in the reservoir—or even go swimming, but I wouldn’t recommend that as you have a dusty return trip to complete.
When you’re ready, retrace your path, following FR 91 straight on all of the way back until you get to the 2 lane paved East Fork Road again.
From there, it’s one more turn onto the Fork Cutoff Road, at which point you’ll be able to see Bryce Canyon Outfitters again.
My dad goes through the simple but effective dust removal at the Bryce Canyon Outfitters office
When you get back, the employee on duty will help you out with the copious amounts of dust you’ll have on your clothes and hair by using a leaf blower to knock most of it off.
This process looks hilarious, but it is surprisingly effective, so you don’t have to get your personal vehicle dirty.
What to Bring while ATVing
Towels
We have these lightweight Turkish towels that we bring along on all of our camping and hiking adventures.
They weigh very little despite being larger than a standard towel, and they dry super fast.
You can use these for several things while ATVing: for wiping dust off of the seats, drying off after splashing in the reservoir, or wiping dust off of you!
There’s nowhere to escape the dust while ATVing.
Sunglasses
Sunglasses are another line of defense against the dusty trails, and are especially necessary if you wear contacts like I do. If I hadn’t had sunglasses for this trip, my poor eyeballs would’ve been in misery.
Some of the trail is surrounded by dense forest, but there are other less protected sections where you’ll be glad to have sunglasses like the reservoir and the bristlecone forest.
Binoculars
If you’re someone interested in wildlife spotting, binoculars are a must on this trip.
It’s luck of the draw on what you might see, but those binoculars will help you safely spot everything from mule deer to elk to peregrine falcons to Great Basin rattlers.
Snacks and Water
As you can imagine, the Dixie National Forest feels remote and has very few amenities.
You don’t realize how much work a windshield does until you don’t have one!
You’ll want to bring enough snacks and water to comfortably get your group through 2-4 hours out on the trails. Quick, easy snacks that don’t require prep while you’re driving around. Think whole fruit, bags of nuts, granola bars, and the like.
If you’re going to be out on a longer trip, there’s plenty of room to bring an entire cooler or picnic hamper with a full meal or heavier snacks.
Neck Gaiters
We have these Buff CoolNet neck gaiters mostly to protect our necks from the sun while hiking, but they were also super helpful at keeping dust off of our faces while we were driving around.
You can find them in many of the local gift shops, or pick them up for around $30 on Amazon.
In addition to wearing them as a face covering here, you can also use them as a neck protector, headband, beanie, and more. They come in more than 2 dozen colors and patterns.
Final Thoughts on Bryce Canyon ATV Rentals
Whether you regularly ride ATVs or are looking for a new way to experience the area around Bryce Canyon, I can’t recommend this experience enough!
The ATVs and UTVs are a blast to drive, even for a novice. The quick, agile, but tough vehicles allow you to get into areas that a regular car would struggle with so you’re able to see even more wildlife, scenic vistas, and beautiful places far from the crowds.
While the ride is dusty, it’s a blast from beginning to ending.
Plus, if the rest of your time near Bryce Canyon is filled with hiking and sightseeing, renting an ATV is a perfect change of pace.
