That was pretty rough country in Western Utah when we lived there in the late 80’s. You had to bring supplies in case of vehicle problems.
Yup.
When we lived in central NV, we had a whole lot of stuff in the back of cars (including parts, tools, etc) in the event we were stranded, even on paved roads.
In the old days, old timers described trips to the larger towns in terms of how many extra tires/tubes they took with them. A trip from Eureka to Elko was described as a “two tire trip,” for example. A trip to Delta, UT was a three-tire trip.