WHY?

[Brushtrooper]

My wife and I are getting back into the off-road seen after leaving due to raising kids and life in general. We were at a ORV park in Texas with granite formations and pretty cool terrain. I guess what amazed me was all the over landing setups that were running around. Back home I see it on the beach and I get it there but not in a ORV park where you have specified camping areas. It looks interestinnng to me but for the same kind of money I would buy a camper. Do not read this as bashing the over landing movement as I know it is popular and a money making gig.

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[Munkey Boy]

I say camp however you like as long as you don't make it unpleasant for everyone else AND leave the place better than how you found it.

 

[red/green hawk]

I prefer backpacking into the wilderness. A Jeep can only take me so far. But I will admit the older I get the harder and colder the ground gets and overlanding seems a much more comfortable alternative.

 

[Benbean66]

I agree with red/green hawk^^. I built my trailer to get us off of the ground, and now we can sleep regardless of the weather and don't have to make special provisions. That, and we use our set up as a "base camp" for hikes and other things. One of our favorite highlights of our trips is cooking, so we can bring the stuff we need to be fat and happy at the end of a long day. All this, coupled to the simple fact that we using my JT to it's full capability, just makes for an awesome experience.

 

[jtimbrook]

Why? I’ve done the rock crawling thing and now it’s time to relax and go where I can be so deep into the backcountry there’s no other people for miles around. I can also stay out way longer than if I was foot-hoofing it and my back loves the very nice sleeping mattress in the RTT over a sleeping pad on sketchy ground. For some of the locations we go a trailer/camper isn’t feasible for a multitude of reasons including cost prohibitive, extra weight, etc... I think you get the idea. For what I’ve got in my overlanding set-up I still don’t come close to even a down payment on a camper that would suit our needs.
Having gone to Corpus a few times I can also say that our environments are very very different and I can see where a camper would be a more plausible option but not here in the southwest where we have both desert and high elevation alpine forest butted up against each other. If anything you’re better off with a 4x4 van that’s kitted out over a Jeep + camper. Here’s a few pics from the Gila just for a little perspective.

 

[MNWillys]

I have to say, most of my camping includes boating and or hunting. So roof top tents are out for me. There's a certain niche about them that I'll never know. I can't get over the factor of being able to wake up and leave the area/basecamp without having to pack the tent every time. To each his own!

 

[jtimbrook]

I have to say, most of my camping includes boating and or hunting. So roof top tents are out for me. There's a certain niche about them that I'll never know. I can't get over the factor of being able to wake up and leave the area/basecamp without having to pack the tent every time. To each his own!

If we're in a rush we can have our whole set up put away in about 10 minutes, usually a little longer as we wait for the stove to cool down. It also means we're not tied to one single spot so if something just doesn't work the way we want to, we pack up and move to somewhere better.

This is also counterintuitive to hunting where generally you have one focal location to camp out at and then have another location where you may be using a blind, feeder, etc... I get it, my dad took me hunting a lot so I've been down that road and can see how an RTT wouldn't make much sense and if I was still active about hunting I wouldn't have my RTT on anyhow when I went.

I will say that the more I've gone down this road the more and more I'm enjoying the camping trips we've taken recently and find myself planning the next one as quickly as possible.

 

[Brushtrooper]

Why? I’ve done the rock crawling thing and now it’s time to relax and go where I can be so deep into the backcountry there’s no other people for miles around. I can also stay out way longer than if I was foot-hoofing it and my back loves the very nice sleeping mattress in the RTT over a sleeping pad on sketchy ground. For some of the locations we go a trailer/camper isn’t feasible for a multitude of reasons including cost prohibitive, extra weight, etc... I think you get the idea. For what I’ve got in my overlanding set-up I still don’t come close to even a down payment on a camper that would suit our needs.
Having gone to Corpus a few times I can also say that our environments are very very different and I can see where a camper would be a more plausible option but not here in the southwest where we have both desert and high elevation alpine forest butted up against each other. If anything you’re better off with a 4x4 van that’s kitted out over a Jeep + camper. Here’s a few pics from the Gila just for a little perspective.

Very cool setup! I saw several similar at that ORV park. You guys have real trees (LOL) compared to us in this area. If you ever make it to Corpus again, check out Padre Island National Seashore( PINS). It’s 60 miles of unimproved beach with some great fishing, once you get past the fire 5 miles 4x4 is suggested and should be taken as must have. You can get away from people pretty easy down there. My wife and I make trips down there pretty often.

 

[BAT]

Very cool setup! I saw several similar at that ORV park. You guys have real trees (LOL) compared to us in this area. If you ever make it to Corpus again, check out Padre Island National Seashore( PINS). It’s 60 miles of unimproved beach with some great fishing, once you get past the fire 5 miles 4x4 is suggested and should be taken as must have. You can get away from people pretty easy down there. My wife and I make trips down there pretty often.

Yes having 4x4 and a winch and some traction boards are always a good Idea for PINS.

 

[Scrambler84]

This is the way. When you get older it is nice to have it in/on the back of the truck and pack up and drive away. On to the the next place.

 

[brianinca]

There are some really cool trailers that are perfectly suited to car camping, I mean, dry camping, I mean, overlanding! The Opus blow up trailer series is on my list, they even come in orange.

Keeping everything on the vehicle, including the tent, is one way to do it, but it's not the only way. My buddy with the built WJ has a kitchen in his swing out tire carrier and a NICE bed in his cargo space. No RTT needed for overlanding on that rig! 35's counts as off the ground sleeping, for him.

I'm upgrading the suspension on our big travel trailer for dispersed camping, NF and BLM style from fire roads. A true off-road trailer is another way to do it. Camping is where you find it.

My wife and I are getting back into the off-road seen after leaving due to raising kids and life in general. We were at a ORV park in Texas with granite formations and pretty cool terrain. I guess what amazed me was all the over landing setups that were running around. Back home I see it on the beach and I get it there but not in a ORV park where you have specified camping areas. It looks interestinnng to me but for the same kind of money I would buy a camper. Do not read this as bashing the over landing movement as I know it is popular and a money making gig.

 

[Mark Doiron]

Last year I drove most of the TransAmerica Trail across Oklahoma and we camped a lot in designated campsites. That is the nature of the beast in Oklahoma, which is, just like Texas, mostly private land. We made the best of the adventure, adding in some neat places a bit off the route. Here's the teaser video for that trip to give an idea of how we made it a better adventure than just driving the designated to route (what probably everyone who drives the entire TAT across the county says is the most boring part of the entire trip) ...



Then last week I was with a few friends driving the southern half of the Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route. Nevada has huge amounts of public lands; as a percentage of the state, more than any other. We had a great time enjoying our travels across them with the freedom to camp almost any place we wished. It is a different experience, for sure, than camping in a state park, and you'll need a little bit different gear (such as a toilet facility, maybe a shower, etc). There's the opportunity for a lot more solitude, which was virtually impossible where we camped on the TAT-OK. Here's the teaser video for that ...



Bottom line is to make do with what your opportunities are vis-a-vis what your goals are (Hunting/fishing? Learning about the history, culture, etc? Spending time with friends?). Staying in designated campsites is fine. So is staying in a hotel. Overlanding is about travel. There are others who are quite delighted to tell you how it should be done. Ignore them. Just get out there and enjoy yourself, pursuing those parts of the adventure that intrigue you. Here's an older video I made a few years ago about what overlanding should and should not be. Yes, I'm one of those who is guilty of telling you how it should be done. ;-) ...



P.S.: YouTube has placed ads on my videos. My channel is not monetized. Please don't feel guilty about pressing the skip button. I make no money off of the channel, so you aren't denying me income if you do.

 

[MPMB]

The draw of the RTT for us was dealing with horrible tent pads at campgrounds and bears.

We don't need to haul around any cots or inflatable beds (which end up leaking after a year of usage, so the next year you use it and wake up flat on the hard, bumpy ground). We're also out of the water (tubbed tents still get wet inside). I've set up and slept in a downpour in Glacier NP. Actually, in both a ground tent and RTT. The RTT was more comfortable.

We also camp in bear country (real bear country, not Yosemite), so not being on the ground where a nosy griz could easily poke its head in your tent is a good thing.

Yes, it does get a bit tedious to pack the tent up if you're going someplace only to return later that night. But it's not hard to set up the tent. I consider myself a quick tent builder, having learned at an early age with an army surplus tent with exterior frame.

But they're not for everyone. No big deal. That's why we have a free market with lots of options. I still have 3 or 5 other ground tents in my garage.

 

[tysongladiator]

We have a 22' camper and an RTT. If we go somewhere and don't plan on offroading like at an ORV park, we pull the camper. But if we do go to an ORV park that's a good distance, we just use the RTT. We've actually used the RTT more than the camper. If we want to just hit a trail at random, there's only so far you can go with the camper. I use it quite often when I'm alone.

Actually, I did an ORV park in SC, hit the road, popped open my RTT in TN, and spent the night. Got up the next morning, hit the road, and did another ORV park in WV. And then drove back to SC.

 

[j.o.y.ride]

People suck and are annoying. Anything to get away from them is

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