So how many of you actually take your pups off road?

[2002Trooper4me]

When I told my wife that we were going off road and into the mountains to camp she didn't realize I was serious.

I have enjoyed the new ability to get deeper into the wilderness with our 13RT ant yet have some comforts of home like a toilet! I never was much on squatting in the bushes.

So where do you adventure seekers live? Maybe we could plan an off road rally of sorts... Just a thought.

 

[gsellers]

That's why we have two campers, the nice one stays off the rough roads. The old one, with the spring over axle lift goes where ever I want it too! Mainly used for hunting but am planning more long way "off the paved road" trips this year

-Greg

 

[GrimmReaperSound]

I think it depends on the definition of Off-Road. I tend to go in provincial parks at their remote camping sites. The roads are usually dirt and/or logging roads. If off-road means off-paved-roads, then yes I take it off-road.
We are also planning on doing the Trans-Taiga road in the James Bay region in northern Quebec sometime in the near future. This is a heavy truck gravel road for all of it's 600km. 6-ply tires are recommended. But the scenery is supposed to be spectacular. A normal pop-up would not survive this. This is one of the reasons we got an 11RT.

 

[lp]

We have a 99 Niagara and we are only on the paved road getting to the forest road. Our camping is mostly in the central mountains of Colorado, (Flat Tops, Trappers Lake, etc.) . We pull with a ford Explorer and to date have not had any problems. Camping, to us does not include plugin power, water,etc. nor the generator. If you havenit tried it you don't know what you are missing. We practiced for about 50 years in a tent, last year decided to get off the ground, the popup is real enjoyable, but we want to keep our out back ways.

 

[Woodyrock]

We mostly use our PUP for a base camp whilst rockhounding, so rarely camp somewhere that has paved roads to it. Our previous PUP, an eight foot box Starcraft survived eight years of being hauled up and down unpaved roads before we upgraded last year. We have just come back from a two week trip into the wilds of central/eastern Oregon, and western Idaho with well over 100 miles of unpaved road travel. Damn, it is nice to have hot showers...............the old eight footer did not have hot running water, or a shower, but the new one has both an inside, and outside shower. The inside one only got used once.

 

[2002Trooper4me]

It's great to hear that I am not the only "Nut" around here!! The places that we boondock are usually not to far off the fireroads so they aren't that hard to get too. However, there is one place that as I was bringing the camper down this ravine my wife thought I was nuts and going to trash the whole rig. We made it just fine but getting back up was quite a challenge. Thank God for low range and good tires.

 

[Unstable_Tripod]

I travel on gravel forest roads and some pretty bad logging roads but don't actually drive completely "off road" in the sense that there is absolutely no road at all. I don't think the Explorer or the PUP have enough clearance to do that.

 

[Mosbyranger]

I take the Cobalt (and before that the Evolution E-1) out to chase elk and fish in Colorado. You have to go slow and be extremely careful, getting in a rush can cost big $. Low range and brakes in good repair are essential. I always take the generator to keep the battery charged and perk coffee. In November above Gunnison Co. it gets cold so at least 3 extra propane tanks (plus the 2 on the tongue) are always on hand for creature comforts, if not creature survival. Off roading can be good fun IF you are prepared, have the right set up and are not in a hurry.
MR

 

[dcj070454]

Darn skippy, slow and easy is the key.

 

[lars]

For those of you who take your trailers off-road, what tends to wear out first? The cabinetry? Has anyone actually had frame problems?

I just bought a Fleetwood Sea Pine which will see some light off-road use (forest service roads) but if I decide to go further afield, my backup plan is to replace the stock frame with a 2x6 unit. But I'm curious if standard cabinetry is up to the rigors of off-road, and whether or not the off-road PUPs have beefier cabinets or not (I know they have beefier frames).

...lars

 

[grcooperjr]

Normally we do a lot of off road boondocking. But for the last year and a half, I've not been able to get out because of the health.

This year is a bit better on the camping front. but no boondocking.

We spend most of our camping now as a camp host as they need us. At least it's camping....

 

[bobhcs]

Going off road sounds fun! I haven't done that since my tent days. It seemed easier with a tent because we didn't need much room and could always find a spot. I suppose that I should just do it and it will work out fine. There are a lot of spots that I remember but I'm not sure if there was room for a popup. When you are boon docking do you tend to go places that you are familiar with?

 

[dcj070454]

Off roading is fine and fun, remember you TV has a much better suspension than you PUC, so slow and easy is the key. The CG will be there when you arrive.

 

[barb_dave]

If we ever take ours off road it will mean I was probably not watching were I was going in drove off the road into a ditch

 

[apachejeep]

Out here in the West I occasionally take 4x4 Forest roads and find a level area to set up. However, at this time of the year, I am always mindful of the possibility of camping around someones Marijuana farm. These farmers may have booby traps or guns to protect their crop. So I stay near the Campsite and tend not to hike too far. Not trying to scare anyone here, its just the world we live in. Be careful out there.

 

[wileetoyote]

I tend to take rural fire roads to remote areas and then drag the pup off into the woods somewhere.

I wish I took pics of this but I was far too busy to think about it...

Up in the Tonto National Forest here in AZ, I camped along the Mogollon Rim which in some cases has a 1000 foot vertical drop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogollon_Rim). In order to get the pup to the edge, I had to weave my way through pine forest along a small atv trail literally having inches of clearance on either side as I made my way in an 'S' pattern about 100 feet to this ledge. Spent 3 nights in one of the best spots I've ever boondocked.
In order to get out and since there was no room to turn around the way I came in, I had to continue along this trail which had an 8" diameter fallen tree crossing over it. I figured 'no problem' as my lifted FJ80 Landcruiser went up and over this tree. Then came the the pups turn.... as the wheels left the comfort and stability of terra firma, the whole trailer decided to side with gravity and slide along the tree down the side of this little hill dragging my FJ80 along with it. Assessing the situation and since everything looked stable, I decided to try again... another slide and now the pup is nearly at a 25 degree angle to the truck and the truck is now about 25 degrees to the trail. The good and bad news is if I slide any farther, a tree on the down hill side of the truck will stop me from going any further So the next thing you know, I've got straps, 2 ratcheting come-alongs hooked to the pup and wrapped around trees all around us. It was quite the sight.

Too bad I never thought to take a pic as I finally pulled the pup over that tree with out any damage.

Now that the pup went from 19' to 27.5', I have to be a lot more conservative but off-road boondocking is in my mind, the only way to camp.

 

[trailpimp33]

My wife and I take our PUP with our Motos, Mountain bikes, dogs and our 4 year old son out to the Colorado mountains every chance we get. Spring and fall we go to Moab, and I use it occasionally for a Motocross or Mountainbike race. I think in the 10 years we have owned our PUP we have only visited a "plug in" spot 3 or 4 times. We try and get as far back in the sticks as we can, in fact part of my post camping routine at home is to buff out the tree and shrub scratches in my trucks paint.
There is a lot of satisfaction in being creative with our camping. You know little things like where to dig the um "waste hole". Where do we put our camp shower so that it is out of the way but still gets sunlight. Washing the dishes with our pump sink. Finding room for our 2 spare 7 gallon water jugs. And finally for a long trip, being very conservative with the lights at night to conserve our battery power in case it gets cold at night.

In hindsight I wish that we would have bought an offroad model instead of our standard 8' Jayco, but it has done the job so far!!

 

[2002Trooper4me]

We have used our camper enough that I found a couple of weak links. One of which being that the stove keeps falling apart as we bounce down the trails. The second is the sheetmetal rear bumper. It is slightly twisted now from dragging the trail a time or two.

The dealer is replacing the stove under warrenty and I have made my own brace for it so this one won't get messed up. The bumper is getting swapped for a more substaintial one fabricated up by a friend of mine who owns a local 4x4 shop. The new one will be made of box steel with a 2" reciever hitch and 2 D rings for recovery should I get in too much trouble!!

 

[Kevin 11-RT]

I used to live in South California and purchased a StarCraft RT11 to take off-road for camping, gold prospecting, astronomy, and such. So, yes I have taken my camper off-road quite a few times.

I feel the camper could go places my lifted (only 2 inches) 4x4 2004 Toyota Tacoma could not. The lowest point on the camper is the axle, but the camper came with 31” off-road tires!

I cannot wait to start dragging it around Oregon.
Kevin

 

[2002Trooper4me]

We are just starting to get ready for a boondocking trip to the George Washington national Forest this September. There will be a thread in the "Rally" section if anyone is interested. The opertunity to get your pup into the woods is always fun!

Come on and leave the campgrounds for the motorhomes!!