Our new camper! (actually one just like it) Rockwood A127TH
After some unsatisfactory experimentation with an old Palomino popup TC, with the wife's full blessing we crossed over to the dark side and acquired a hardside A-frame popup camper trailer. It's got enough bells and whistles to work as a boondocker (12v water pump, 23 gallon onboard freshwater tank, outside shower (acquired a popup enclosure, portapotti, and a 4' x 4' nylon "pan" into which the shower enclosure fits like a glove, complete with hose drain attachment for draining shower water into portable gray water tank). Fantastic Fan ventilation, 6 gallon propane water heater, propane grill for outside cooking, 3-burner propane stovetop inside, 3 way refridg, and a microwave oven (!),dual 20 lb propane tanks, single 12v deep cycle (soon to be duals w/isolator switch). Fully laden she'll weigh in at 3,000-3,500 lbs and has trailer brakes. The venerable Ford 7.3 oil-burner pulls her like a dream @ 62-64 mph while still seeing 16-17 mpg while running the truck AC. What's not to love about that?
We purchased the popup for section hiking the Appalachian Trail + trout fishing in the Southern Appalachians and with trips to Montana, Idaho, and Nevada in mind. We are already preparing for Montana in 2015. We're quite familiar with the far southwest corner of Big Sky Country, so we already have good ideas of where we can, and can not, shoehorn the camper/truck combo, which measures out to around 42' nose to tail.
As to Nevada, we have a fair idea of where we can go in Elko County and just west of there (inasmuch as ranchers and outfitters pull gooseneck stock trailers most everywhere we'd want to take our camper). Wholly unknown is how, or if, this long combo may fare in northwest Nevada, basically in the Black Rock/Sheldon Refuge/Denio area, and perhaps Smoke Creek.. The camper is marketed as an "off road" unit, but we elected the "TH" model (toy hauler) and it's got a 5' long x 8' wide platform forward of the camper box (for hauling an ATV, or dirt bikes, or mountain bikes, a gennie + fuel, etc, etc). It has decent to good ground clearance on 15" AT tire/wheels, but the additional TH length ruins the breakover angle. When its length is added to the already ridiculously wide turning radius of the CrewCab longbed F350 single rear wheel truck, there's no way this rig can be considered a highly capable off-roader. The dang truck weighs in at 10,000 lbs fully laden to begin with. I have to do a 3-point turn just to enter a danged McDonalds sometimes.
There is a question in here, I promise.
What I'm wondering is how a fullsize (jumbo sized?) 4WD pickup + 19' high clearance trailer may square with the main roads and some side roads in northwest Nevada? My intuition and experiences elsewhere tell me the great majority of state and county roads, Forest Service Roads, and by extension, BLM roads are all reasonably accessible for full size pickups, if for no other reason than full size pickups and SUVs is what the USFS and BLM normally run themselves. At this point, we don't envision having the camper attached during all explorations, either, instead preferring to establish a base camp and do any "detailed" and difficult off-roading in the "nimble" Ford (Ha!), on foot, and by mountain bikes. That has worked to a "T" in Montana and Idaho in recent years, at least, where we've WTW'd from tent campsites and rented cabins regularly if not frequently since the early 2000s.
So what do the desert rats whose opinions I have come to respect completely since joining these forums have to say about the practicalities, or lack of thereof, of dragging a lightweight hardside popup camper trailer around in northwest Nevada and similar terrains?
Foy
