It's a great place to explore with scenery that it's hard to believe in many places...amazing. Incidentally, our experience with unpaved roads has been just the opposite... if the road is really sandy, some moisture will make the sand more firm, not less, in fact loose sand leads to problems often. If the road is more clay than sand, you'll likely get stuck (or worse) if it rains. Check out the Ut State Pk just north of Hanksville... great departure point for exploring the big reef.