Summer Camping Stoke. Post pics here.

[evdog]

Made the most of summer with MTB trips to Sierras in June and then BC/WA/OR. Not much actual camping stoke since I usually arrive late after dark so spots I find can be hit or miss. But I did get a shots of some of the better spots.


Secret campsite, Sierras




Stops to MTB in OR on the way north to BC




Visited my parents in BC then over to the mainland with stops in NVan, Squamish, Whistler




Did some laps with Lee




Got rained on in Squamish




Whistler




Fit some Chilcotins riding in. Camping on Tyaughton Lake




Wasn't in camp much though. Ride all day, finish at dark.




North of Revelstoke, awesome spot right on the lake




Heading up to Keystone Standard basin




Deserted horse CG in Washington




Top of the Entiat Mtns




Took a day off the bike for a long hike in the Enchantments. Amazing place....





After a few awesome weeks in WA, got pushed out of PNW by smoke. Made a stop on the Lost Coast to ride Paradise Royale and visit the redwoods

[AK47bp]

Wow. You won summer. Did you day hike the Enchantments or somehow get an overnight permit? Most beautiful place in the country (that I’ve been to).


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[evdog]

Wow. You won summer. Did you day hike the Enchantments or somehow get an overnight permit? Most beautiful place in the country (that I’ve been to).

I thru hiked the circuit as a loooooong day hike.

I'd heard of the Enchantments before but this wasn't on my radar until I got to Leavenworth and tried to find a camping spot up Icicle Road. Every.Single.Pullout had vans, campers, subarus or other vehicles parked in it overnight. Never seen such a display of "IDGAF, I'm camping here" before. After a bit of research I figured I couldn't not do the hike, since I was nearby. Great decision! No overnight permit though. Although I never saw a ranger so guess I could have pulled it off.

[AK47bp]

^ dang, that’s a nice 20+ mile day hike, not to mention the vert.

Area is overrun by vanlifers unfortunately, pretty sad.


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[evdog]

Area is overrun by vanlifers unfortunately, pretty sad.

They have overrun much of the west. #vanlifers ruin everything

[Dromond]

They have overrun much of the west. #vanlifers ruin everything

What’s the difference between camping out in a van and in a truck with a RTT in terms of impact? Or are you are referring to general practices by a type of camper you typically see using a van.

[evdog]

What’s the difference between camping out in a van and in a truck with a RTT in terms of impact? Or are you are referring to general practices by a type of camper you typically see using a van.

People in trucks with a RTT don't tend to live out of them full time.

#vanlifers on the other hand seem to perpetually occupy an outsize proportion of campsites on public land in their never ending journey of self discovery and/or quest for social media fame.

It wasn't so bad when it was just a few dirt bags and eccentrics doing this. These days when everyone and their grandma is getting into a van, try and find a decent campsite anyplace like Moab, Gooseberry Mesa, Sedona, or like I said most of the west in an area that is "in season".

[simple]

Lol that is some judgemental cunt shit.

I see more roof top tents than dope vans. I see those RTT on anything from an Impreza to giant Jeeps. It's like what a $3000 entry point to the new school glamping life? Low cost luxury.

I see $3000 camper vans also. Most of those folks honestly live out of those beaters. That's fucking commitment. Also see $200k vans. Often a luxury and often they have a house they are renting out that earns then a grand a month. That's some smart investment mentality.

Hard to judge all these scenarios. Different strokes for different folks.

[snowaddict91]

I mean, I had a ghetto trailer before my van, so I was actually taking up more space then. Hell, my truck is longer than my van.

My #vanlife takes up less of the backcountry than I used to, how about that?

[GiBo]

I don't get the RTT thing at all. What exactly is the point?

Did some good camping this year. Couple of weekends ago.

[fastfred]

heres the deal
was going to post this a long time ago but ya know who really cares
just want to tell my story on why I have a van I'll repost this in every thread that shits on sprinters for fun so you all can see the other side
I have been getting lots of shit and being told I need to write more (long story don't need to get into that)

A real good buddy of mine started out with shitty mini vans and has moved his way up in the van world. I don't think I was envious of his hobby, but it had an appeal, other people I know started getting vans. It seemed neat, but doing the math, and spending the money on that kind of silly shit, seemed well like a waste. My health and fitness was the one thing in life that I always had going for me. I could easily out run, out bike, out ski, just plain outlast 99% of everyone else. Three years ago I was given some of the most fucked news in my life. Just seemed to come out of nowhere, even though looking back I saw the signs and just ignored them. My health is declining rapidly from where I once was, the future is bleak in many ways, for someone who was once able to push their body to the absolute limits, well that's over. I'm alive but the medical procedures that are in my future are scary. I'm more of normal sluff these days.

So, I work my balls off, I'm miserable at times, the stress is brutal, but the money is the payoff. I struggled for months after having open heart surgery with my place in life. The actual physical rehab was pretty easy I was mtn biking 10 weeks later. But the mental part was brutal. After months of internal and on the therapists couch questioning I saw no reason not to go buy a van. Being a cheap ass bitch is not a reason. Some how I timed the purchase out well with covid and bought myself a van. Yes my parents did give me some money but it came with these words from my Mother, "we rather start to give you some money now, so we can see your happiness, we can't see that when we are dead."

I love building things and tinkering. So I am doing my build out myself, two years in I'm close but not there, might be another year, might be five. I'll probably never be done because I want every bell and whistle I can imagine. The van was 65k, I put some money down, I make monthly payments that are more than my mortgage. I did the math before purchase and expected to dump around 20k into the build for all the things I wanted. My build is well over 30k at this point and I'm expecting to dump 40k or more once I'm done. I've done all the labor myself and have paid cash for the materials, racks, bumpers, fridge, power system, you name it. I used to get nauseated thinking about the money I was going to dump into it, but who gives a fuck became my attitude eventually. My goal in life is to live to 55, yet hopefully much longer. I don't get a choice in that matter. I can only do so much.

This past weekend was another four day trip, as usual it was the best ever. I mean every time I get into the damn thing something awesome happens. The weekend started out a little rough with the rain in the mountains. I ended up in my top secret location in the west slope desert. Hit over 75 miles of dirt roads most of them in good shape, although at one point I realized I needed to turn around cause the road was not in good shape anymore and the dry washes I was crossing were getting sketchy. One night there was one other person camping a mile away and not many other people around. The second night the nearest camper was 3 or so miles away and the only other person I saw that day was a lone mountain biker passing by. Did a bunch of hiking, didn't plan on it, just happened, ended up getting 20 miles in over two days. Just tripping out with no one around and no phone signal. So whoever is driving that sprinter van, you don't know their story, my van has brought me so much adventure and freedom. An escape from work and the rest of the world while opening up new places that are far away and remote. And yes I love to laugh and eat up all the ripping and ragging on sprinter vans, it is pretty funny stuff, but I just wanted to share my story.

[MakersTeleMark]

I think it would be funny if someone slapped a one less sprinter sticker on their promaster.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

^ dang, that’s a nice 20+ mile day hike, not to mention the vert.

Area is overrun by vanlifers unfortunately, pretty sad.


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The area is overrun by everyone, if they’re complaining they’re part of the problem

[babybear]

I think it would be funny if someone slapped a one less sprinter sticker on their promaster.

i’d do that except my husband has in the past few yrs pivoted to 0 stickers on the vehicles after a decade + of more stickers on the vehicles.
i’m confused

[snowaddict91]

I think it would be funny if someone slapped a one less sprinter sticker on their promaster.

I'll run it by the wife. She might go for it.

[Dromond]

Well evdog you seem to really get around in your rig and ride some amazing places. I bet having secure storage in the back for your bike and the ability to pop the tent in 10 seconds really helps for that kind of travel where you are going trailhead to trailhead. Sounds awesome!

I’m always a little suspect when people start ragging on others for doing seemingly the same thing they are. Maybe you sort of have a point with people setting up shop at prime locations and basically living there vs an occasional visit. But I would ask: if there is no rule on how long to stay, then who determines that? Crowds can be a bummer for sure, but I always try to remind myself that I don’t have more right to the access than others do. It is what it is I guess. This excludes obvious bad behavior like trashing campsites or whatever.

Camper vans seem awesome and if I had plenty of spare money and time I’d probably have one. One trend however I do not appreciate is people driving their XXL van to the local busy mtb trailhead on a Saturday at 9am with one driver. Parking is limited, and these rigs (and many large trucks/SUVS) fill up a ton of space. The other day we saw this insane Vanzilla thing on some off-road chassis taking up legitimately 1.75 marked parking spots. I feel there is may be some trailhead etiquette which needs to develop for busy times and locations.

Fastfred: be well, man.

[MakersTeleMark]

i’d do that except my husband has in the past few yrs pivoted to 0 stickers on the vehicles after a decade + of more stickers on the vehicles.
i’m confused

I thought of you when I posted this. Uncannily, I have migrated the same way. The only stickers on my car are on my rack. Except for the US Flag sticker that Punani bombed me with while I was out of camp.

[This End Up]

Cloudy morning at Turquoise Lake

[evdog]

Lol that is some judgemental cunt shit.

I see more roof top tents than dope vans. I see those RTT on anything from an Impreza to giant Jeeps. It's like what a $3000 entry point to the new school glamping life? Low cost luxury.

I see $3000 camper vans also. Most of those folks honestly live out of those beaters. That's fucking commitment. Also see $200k vans. Often a luxury and often they have a house they are renting out that earns then a grand a month. That's some smart investment mentality.

Hard to judge all these scenarios. Different strokes for different folks.

Haha, true, sure.

But like I said the RTT people usually go home at the end of their long weekend while the vans still seem to be...everywhere. Can be hard to judge, sure, but the most insufferable #vanlifers love nothing more that to tell you their whole story and how amazing and carefree their mobile life is...if they don't have to jump on a work call right then, of course. They have no particular need to be in this area except it has good cell service so they can work remotely or upload to their youtube channel. Nevermind there's a popular MTB network here and all those people circling around looking for scraps to camp on are actually here to ride.

My #vanlife takes up less of the backcountry than I used to, how about that?

golf clap

[evdog]

I don't get the RTT thing at all. What exactly is the point?

Its camping for people who weren't really into camping, but saw something that looked really cool, and everyone else was getting one - so they had to as well. Now they're driving around with a big blocky thing on the roof of the subaru that is just as hard to set up as a ground tent, and kills their fuel economy but is too heavy to take off when they're not using it. And it cost $1500 (or possibly a lot more,) but...they don't have to sleep on the ground!!! Then there's the tacoma bro. Same RTT but he had to drop an extra $800 on a bed rack to mount it to. He's smarter though, he got the low profile bed rack so the tent doesn't stick up above the cab and kill his fuel economy. It only kills the utility of his bed for doing truck things. No problem though, he's got a half dozen expensive overland bins back there to keep his gear dust free. And the other gotos gear gets mounted to the bed rack or his rear swing out bumper. He can tell you the brand name of every piece of gear and every part he's modded on his truck. Camping for people who are more into camping gear than the actual camping. LOL.

Its kind of ironic I bag on people who have RTTs when I have one myself. But I think they're really not the best camping option for most of the people who bought them.

So whoever is driving that sprinter van, you don't know their story, my van has brought me so much adventure and freedom. An escape from work and the rest of the world while opening up new places that are far away and remote. And yes I love to laugh and eat up all the ripping and ragging on sprinter vans, it is pretty funny stuff, but I just wanted to share my story.

Thanks for sharing. You don't sound at all like type of sprinter owner that I get annoyed at.

I think it would be funny if someone slapped a one less sprinter sticker on their promaster.

That's been done...many times.

[evdog]

Well evdog you seem to really get around in your rig and ride some amazing places. I bet having secure storage in the back for your bike and the ability to pop the tent in 10 seconds really helps for that kind of travel where you are going trailhead to trailhead. Sounds awesome!

Thanks, yeah my camper has been a game changer for me. I typically move places every day or two and often show up to the next spot late at night, so quick setup and tear down is important. With the RTT integrated into the truck canopy I can push the floor out of the way so I can hang out or stand up inside. That's been very nice in winter months when it gets dark at 5pm and is too cold or windy (or buggy in summer) to hang out outside for long.

I’m always a little suspect when people start ragging on others for doing seemingly the same thing they are. Maybe you sort of have a point with people setting up shop at prime locations and basically living there vs an occasional visit. But I would ask: if there is no rule on how long to stay, then who determines that? Crowds can be a bummer for sure, but I always try to remind myself that I don’t have more right to the access than others do. It is what it is I guess. This excludes obvious bad behavior like trashing campsites or whatever.

A lot of places have rules on how long you can stay, typically 14 days in many national forests and BLM areas for campgrounds and dispersed camping. Some busy areas now have seven day limits and I've even seen three day limits near Sun Valley. Some areas like Sedona and Gooseberry have become such a shit show that land managers are planning to allow dispersed camping only in designated/numbered spots, or are putting other restrictions in place. Or they're at least enforcing the length of stay limit. Time limit or not its kind of a douchebag move to occupy a spot for weeks on end in a popular area when there are tons of other people wanting to stay there.

[Bobcat Sig]

Me, I'm the Cousin Eddie of camping.




Regarding camping - remember these words: the last person in wants to build the biggest fence.

[hutash]

One of the best camp sites I have ever had, and I have been camping 60 years. It is somewhere in Banff NP I believe.

As for the vanlife haters, haters are gonna hate. I started camping in a loaded family. station wagon as a kid. Went to a 1973 Fiat 128 (my first car) and camped with whatever fit in the trunk., mostly a. Coleman ice chest, beach chair and my backpacking gear. Moved up to an FJ 60 Landcruiser with a roof rack in the 80's before Overlanding was even a term. We got tired of dealing with tents and camp.stoves when the kids came along and moved to a trailer. I hate pulling trailers, so switches to a '93 Sportsmobile when the kids headed off to college. We had to take a few years off after the van (and house) burned up, but just picked up the VanDOit Transit van pictured.. So, I have run the whole gambit of camping except for the full RV thing, and that may still happen if I get to old to camp.

Which brings to to the one issue I have with vanlife. Too many of them are really just little RVs. The problem I have with the RV crowd is they want to live in their rig just like the do at home and have all the modern conveniences. It is not camping when you roll into a site, turn on the TV and A/C and never step outside. What I like about our new rig, and many of the more modest vans, is that you are still camping for the most part, but can escape inclement weather when the need arises. I can cook inside if necessary, but it is gar better and easier to cook and eat outside. Pretty much the only thing we do inside is sleep since I have set up a tent way too. many times in my life, and sleeping on the ground is just getting too hard on old bones. I still do backpacking, but given the chance, a bed makes me (and my wife) much happier.

[Dromond]

We got out for our second backpacking trip with our ten month old. Went with friends and their two little girls who are 6 and 10. Also took a friend who had never even camped before so lots of new things all around, but really thankful for the perfect weather. We and our gear got impressively dusty because it hasn’t really rained here in months! Fall has arrived but without the deluge. We camped in a popular area but all the dog walkers and Instagram models were friendly and enjoying the outside together. The new normal doesn’t have to be bad!

[GiBo]

Its camping for people who weren't really into camping, but saw something that looked really cool, and everyone else was getting one - so they had to as well. Now they're driving around with a big blocky thing on the roof of the subaru that is just as hard to set up as a ground tent, and kills their fuel economy but is too heavy to take off when they're not using it. And it cost $1500 (or possibly a lot more,) but...they don't have to sleep on the ground!!! Then there's the tacoma bro. Same RTT but he had to drop an extra $800 on a bed rack to mount it to. He's smarter though, he got the low profile bed rack so the tent doesn't stick up above the cab and kill his fuel economy. It only kills the utility of his bed for doing truck things. No problem though, he's got a half dozen expensive overland bins back there to keep his gear dust free. And the other gotos gear gets mounted to the bed rack or his rear swing out bumper. He can tell you the brand name of every piece of gear and every part he's modded on his truck. Camping for people who are more into camping gear than the actual camping. LOL.

Its kind of ironic I bag on people who have RTTs when I have one myself. But I think they're really not the best camping option for most of the people who bought them.

Sorry if my post came across as snarky, but I really was asking. I've have this running debate with my son's buddy who would be full-on GOTOS if he could afford it.

I could see for like what you were doing on your road trip - going to multiple spots- crashing for the night and then moving on. But my son's buddy is doing what most people do- going to a camp spot and staying for multiple days using the camp spot as a basecamp. It just seems like to do your day stuff, you would have to take all of your shit out, put the tent down, then put it all back in the evening. I just saw this on my last trip. Couple comes in in the evening and set it up (it was raining). Next morning, the guy took all their bedding out and put his wet tent down and left for the day. Just seemed like a PIA.