Last month I met up with Chris from the YouTube channels Tiny Home Tours and Chris and G Travels. He did a very complete tour of my SUV camping setup, and it’s embedded below (or you can check it out here on YouTube if you can’t see the video below). Let me know if you have any questions!
All posts by Tristan
Boondocking Tips: What Makes a Good Boondocking Campsite?
In this video I talk about a handful of things to keep in mind or consider when looking for a dispersed camping campsite out in the boonies (aka boondocking). Let me know what other things you look for in a good boondocking spot. Also, sorry for the weird camera focusing issues. My camera may be broken… (Click here if you don’t see the video below.)
Amazing Finds in the Middle of Nowhere
In this video—the second of a two-part series of a two-day trip I went on—I continue to explore some extremely remote and rarely visited areas in the desert west of Salt Lake City, Utah. I promise you haven’t seen this stuff before. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
GPS COORDINATES & INFO
- My new camp mattress (If you’re reading this via email, you may not be able to see this link. Click here if you can’t see it.)
- Big Spring: 40.7399, -112.6471
- Hastings Cutoff
- Lincoln Highway
- Lake Bonneville
- Places where a modern dirt road crosses the line of wagon tracks that you can see on Google Earth but can’t really see in person: 40.728897, -112.651851, 40.7181, -112.6566, 40.7119, -112.6595
- Horseshoe Springs: 40.613968, -112.708105
- Wagon tracks you CAN see in person (near Horseshoe Springs): 40.612662, -112.709017
- Iosepa: 40.542020, -112.733776
This Was WAAAY Off the Beaten Path
This is the first of a two-video series of a two-day trip I did last November. The goal was to visit some very obscure places that are surprisingly close to civilization, and it was probably the best 2-day trip I’ve ever done. (Click here if you don’t see the video below.)
GPS COORDINATES & INFO
- Timpie Valley: 40.700154, -112.600947
- Arch: 40.69510, -112.59259
- Lakeside, Utah: 41.220934, -112.881006
- Lake Bonneville
You’ve Got to See These Mountains!
This video contains footage from two big dayhikes I went on a week apart in September 2017. Both hikes involved climbing a couple of the 11,000-foot peaks in northern Utah’s Wasatch Mountains. These were very long days in some of the most beautiful mountains in Utah. The scenery is incredible. Enjoy! (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
GPS COORDINATES (FIRST HIKE)
Stats: ~11.8 miles round trip with 5,000 feet of elevation gain
- White Pine Trailhead (trailhead for the Red Baldy/White Baldy hike): 40.575383, -111.681242
- White Pine Lake: 40.5400, -111.6792
- Red Baldy (11,171 ft/3405 m): 40.5402, -111.6671
- White Baldy (11,321 ft/3451 m): 40.5329, -111.6812
- Red Pine Lakes: 40.542978, -111.692240
GPS COORDINATES (SECOND HIKE)
Stats: ~13 miles round trip with 7,600 feet of elevation gain
- Lone Peak Trailhead: 40.4828, -111.7598
- First Hamongog: 40.4970, -111.7522
- Second Hamongog: 40.5062, -111.7534
- Lone Peak (11,253 ft/3430 m): 40.5268, -111.7561
- Bighorn Peak (10,877 ft/3315 m): 40.5226, -111.7442
- South Thunder Mountain (11,154 ft/3400 m): 40.5328, -111.7350
Cost of a 2-Week Car Camping Road Trip
This quick video goes over the cost breakdown of the 13-day SUV RVing trip to southern Utah and western Colorado that I went on last October. (The trip is chronicled in this series of YouTube videos.) Let me know if you have any questions, and click here if you can’t see the video below.
Yes, this week’s video is super short, but next week’s is 45 minutes long to make up for it 🙂
Why I Prefer Wearing Pants (Instead of Shorts) When I Hike
I get asked several questions each week about various aspects of camping, car camping, and hiking, and I think I’ll start posting my answers here to the blog. Shoot me an email if you have a question you’d like me to answer.
Here’s a question I received a few days ago:
So I was wondering if I could ask a clothing question. I notice you always wear pants even when it’s hot out and was wondering why.
There are a few reasons:
1. When I wear shorts and my legs sweat, the dirt/dust I kick up on the trail sticks to my sweaty legs and makes my legs super dirty. Pants keep the legs cleaner. The cleaner I am on my SUV RVing adventures, the less often I have to shower and use up my precious water supply.
2. The bottoms of the pants cover the tops of my hiking shoes and help keep pebbles and sand from getting into my shoes. Not only is it uncomfortable having dirt and rocks in your shoes when you hike, but they wear holes in your socks faster.
3. I can bushwhack or walk through overgrown vegetation without worrying about my legs getting scratched.
**UPDATE MARCH 17**
I got a great email from my friend and fellow SUV RVer Robert who had this to say about wearing pants while hiking:
“I too wear long pants primarily to prevent my legs from getting burned to a crisp by the sun which is inevitable at high elevations. They are also the ultimate mosquito repellent. But they’re uncomfortably heavy and hot for summer hiking. The solution? Pajamas! They’re super light, breathable, and cheap. You can wash them at night and they’ll be dry by morning. But can they take the kind of beating the backcountry will dish out? After nine days in the John Muir Wilderness one summer, walking for miles cross-country and climbing over high passes, I emerged with not one tear, not one thread out of place. Pack a second pair for sleeping in.”
Available at:
Minivan Camper Conversion and Tour
In this video I go through my friend Dennis’s Toyota Sienna minivan camper build. He’s got a great little setup that works well for him both when he’s hauling his kids around town and boondocking out in the middle of nowhere. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
Finishing on a High Note
In this video I finish up this road trip by climbing a big, beautiful desert mountain that only a couple of people climb per year. I see some more slithery wildlife, ford a river on foot, and find a perfect campsite, all while never seeing another soul. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
GPS COORDINATES
* Trailhead/Campsite: 39.2491, -110.2656
* Summit: 39.1827, -110.3002
Solar, My Upcoming Trip & More
In this video I update you on my hip surgery, talk about an upcoming monthlong trip, talk briefly about my recently acquired solar setup and rooftop cargo box, and ask for you input on a project I’m thinking of putting together. (Click here if you can’t see the video below.)
(Also, a few Cargo Hammocks are now back in stock in the online store.)