Other than the obvious rental car, is there some other method I'm missing? I hate to spend $250 on a rental to basically just park it at the trail head for a week. But I doubt an hour ride in an Uber is any cheaper or even possible.

I'm looking at expanding my menu farther out. Just kicking around numbers:

Flying/Rental
$547 for a flight, rental and gas.

Driving own vehicle entire way
$151 in gas (plus wear and tear)

Driving rental entire way
$401 for rental and gas

Flying is actually making some sense, especially since it cuts 8 hours off the travel time.