Economical Camping ?

[sarguy1941]

So 2 years ago wife and I took a trip to the GC and back. It was a little over 2 weeks and about 6000 miles. We towed a cargo trailer conversion and while it was alot of fun it had its limits. We had just come from a 35' Class A...so... Anyway new year new trip. This year we are doing Yellow Stone, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and other places. We are doing hotels/lodges for some of it but would like the option to camp a couple nights depending on what's available. I know the cheap way is a $20 dome tent. The ideal is a RTT but I can't justify a $1500 tent for maybe 1 or 2 nights in it. So what have others done in between ? I see the tents that go in the bed of the truck but I plan to have gear in the back so not sure that would work. Maybe throw stuff in dome tent and sleep in bed ? Has anyone found economical RTT's that are actually decent ?

We will be grabbing a electric cooler/fridge/freezer. We got the Oracle Cooler for the last trip and love it. But 16 days of Ice in 100+ temps did get old fast...

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[CJ5w4wdSmokyOnMyTail]

Some new ground tent designs go up instantly. Traveled for three weeks on Trans America Trail two years ago and ground-tented the entire way (well, three nights in hotels). Yes, I think I'd prefer a RTT on a trailer, but the ground tent option worked fine and was dirt cheap.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

So 2 years ago wife and I took a trip to the GC and back. It was a little over 2 weeks and about 6000 miles. We towed a cargo trailer conversion and while it was alot of fun it had its limits. We had just come from a 35' Class A...so... Anyway new year new trip. This year we are doing Yellow Stone, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and other places. We are doing hotels/lodges for some of it but would like the option to camp a couple nights depending on what's available. I know the cheap way is a $20 dome tent. The ideal is a RTT but I can't justify a $1500 tent for maybe 1 or 2 nights in it. So what have others done in between ? I see the tents that go in the bed of the truck but I plan to have gear in the back so not sure that would work. Maybe throw stuff in dome tent and sleep in bed ? Has anyone found economical RTT's that are actually decent ?

We will be grabbing a electric cooler/fridge/freezer. We got the Oracle Cooler for the last trip and love it. But 16 days of Ice in 100+ temps did get old fast...

Another not so cheap? But cheap in comparison to a $4k RTT..
Gazelle T4 Plus Extra Large 4 to 8 Person Portable Pop Up Outdoor Shelter Camping Hub Tent with Rain Fly & Extended Screened in Sun Room, Orange https://a.co/d/es66xyf

seriously awesome.
Snomaster fridges…. I’m bias- best out there. Picked ours up in 2018 and it never leaves the vehicles. From out of town shopping to camping. It’s a game changer.
https://www.snomasterusa.com/product-category/fridges/

 

[KQL]

Not sure what you’re using your cooler for, but I’ve been happy with using frozen 16oz bottles. Freeze a 24 pack at home, prechill the cooler with some other frozen bottles. Pack the cooler and items as full as possible with food/frozen water bottles. When staying at a hotel, they often have a mini fridge/freezer. Freeze some additional bottles overnight and put into cooler. Pros: never need to dump melted water from ice, have backup water in case of emergency, can re-use the bottles for years even the thinner plastic ones they all seem to be now. Did this in Moab in June and had partially frozen bottles still at the end of a 10 days. Kept the cooler in the cab on the back seat, Canyon brand 55qt. Can always switch to ice if you misjudge the number of bottles to food ratio.

 

[Shopshirt]

If you want to do a bed tent here are a couple of economical options.

https://www.amazon.com/KODIAK-CANVA...pcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1VTEI6ED6YVJU

https://offroadtradingco.com/produc...M633pfCI5aiP2_j_ItNzRrm4JS5HYDMsaAvnzEALw_wcB

 

[Forum Crawler]

Look at Gazelle, Overlandish, and Shiftpod.

Hub tents are a game changer. Like a yurt, but easy to set up and tear down with zero assembly required.

 

[Forum Crawler]

Bed tents suck eggs. Yard sale every time you set up. Highly recommend against bed tents for anyone.

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