About
About Runway to Rim
Runway to Rim is an independent guide to fly-in RV and campervan trips to US national parks in the Southwest and the Rocky Mountains. We focus on one question: which vehicle, from which airport, to which park — and what will it really cost?
Our editorial rules
- Every price has a check date. Estimates are labelled as estimates.
- We link to official park sources (nps.gov, recreation.gov) for rules that change, like timed entry and road openings.
- No paid placements, no sponsored rankings.
- Images are our own graphics, or licensed/public-domain images with the licence documented on our photo credits page.
Articles are written and fact-checked by the Runway to Rim editorial team.
How we research
We don't take free rentals, press trips or paid placements, and there are no affiliate links on the site yet. Everything here is desk research from published sources, cross-checked and dated. This is how it works.
Where the prices come from
- Operators first. Rental rules, pickup hours, mileage and fees come from the rental companies' own pages and help centres: fleet operators such as Cruise America, and marketplace platforms such as Outdoorsy and RVshare.
- Official park sources for rules. Entry fees, timed entry, road and vehicle limits come from nps.gov; campground prices, booking windows and length limits from Recreation.gov.
- Public averages for running costs. Fuel is priced from AAA state averages on the day we checked, multiplied by the route miles and a typical fuel economy for each vehicle type.
- Ranges, not single numbers. Rental prices move with season, vehicle and how early you book, so cost tables show a low-to-high range per line. The headline figure at the top of a cost page is the table total, rounded.
How often we update
Every price and park rule on the site carries the date we last checked it, and the main sources are listed at the end of each guide. We aim to re-check prices before each travel season and sooner when a park or an operator changes a rule. If a check date looks old to you, treat the number as a starting point and confirm it with the provider. Spotted something that has changed? Tell us at info@runwaytorim.com and we will correct it and update the date.
Why these five routes
Every trip on this site starts with a flight, so we start where the depots are. Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Denver and Phoenix (plus Bozeman for Yellowstone) all have a fleet rental depot a short taxi ride from the airport, and together they reach the parks most fly-in visitors want to see: Zion, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Arches, Canyonlands, Yellowstone, Grand Teton and Rocky Mountain. Five routes we can keep current beat twenty we can't.
What [A] means
Wherever you see [A], the value is an estimate: our own calculation from the figures on the page, a typical range rather than a quote, or a number we could only find on a reseller page and not on the operator's own site. Sometimes the label says more, for example “[A — not checked]” or “[A — confirm for your dates]”. Values without [A] are quoted from the source named next to them, as of the check date. Either way, a live quote for your dates is the final word.
What we don't claim
We don't publish reviews of individual vehicles or hosts, and we don't write “we drove this” stories. The photos are U.S. National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management public-domain images or licensed stock photos, each listed on the photo credits page.
Contact
Email us at info@runwaytorim.com with corrections, price updates or questions. Legal details: Legal notice · Privacy policy.