Camping trailer handles rugged terrain
Chris Cole has bumped his rugged Campa All Terrain Trailer over more than 60,000 miles of all kinds of road—including the unpaved Red Rock Pass Road across the Continental Divide between Montana and Idaho.
It was last November and Cole, president of Campa USA, was leaving Yellowstone Park and looking for a scenic shortcut west.
“We often take dirt roads,” he says from his office in Ohio. “That is the beauty of this camping trailer—it is intended to handle difficult terrain and road conditions.”
The Campa (Camping Adventure Mobile Personal Accommodation) ATT is a tough, self-contained trailer that is designed to go anywhere a four-wheel drive vehicle can take it.
“It’s a new breed of trailer,” says Gary Greaves, of Credo Media Group out of Boca Raton, Fla.
“When you step back and look at it set up, it just looks like a trailer with a tent on it,” says Greaves, “but when you get close up and look at it, you realize all the bells and whistles it really has. It is a remarkable unit.”
The Campa Web site states its “simple vision is to build the most quality engineered, rugged, durable, practical, comfortable, go-anywhere 4-x-4 off-road camping trailer EVER.”
Cole says the concepts behind this off-road trailer were developed over the past 15 years in South Africa and Australia.
“What we’ve done is taken those concepts to the next level of engineering,” he says.
“Typically what people wanted was something really tough and rugged that could handle the riggers of the Australian outback or Africa bush,” says Cole, who was born in South Africa and raised on a game farm. Much of his life has been spent outdoors, in extreme conditions.
“I’m not a city person,” he continues.
“I like getting out where no one can go and being totally self-contained and independent when I am there,” he says. “That’s my passion.”
Cole boasts that Campa’s superb engineering has resulted in a “well-balanced and extremely light, yet robust trailer” that continues to prove itself in the toughest off-road conditions.
“Now,” he says, “a regular person in a Jeep Cherokee can hook this trailer up to a standard hitch, go wherever they want to go and have a small, self-contained unit behind them that can take an absolute beating and came back for more.”
The basic unit, geared to the outdoor sports enthusiast, has a bathroom, kitchen, roof-top bedroom and storage facility all rolled up into a compact trailer.
The modular stainless steel construction gives the flexibility of customizing units, based on individual needs.
Depending on options, it has a dry weight of 1,600 pounds with a 5,500-pound capacity. The trailer measures approximately 11feet long by 5 feet 9 inches wide. The overall height is around 54 inches.
The menu of optional features includes a built-in kitchen, on-demand hot water shower system and Port-a-Potty, two 10-pound propane tanks, two 22-gallon water tanks, sleeping for two to eight people, water purification system, solar panels, generator, and racks for bikes, kayaks and inflatables.
“Because it is made of stainless steel,” says Cole, “people can hand it down to their children.”
The Campa ATT runs between $10,000 and $15,000.
“We have everything we need right there at the end of a long day,” he says. “We can get to remote places, have it set up in five minutes, and be sitting in our chairs in the shade enjoying a cold beer out of a fridge.”
More information
“ There are two online sites with information and photographs of the Campa All Terrain Trailer: www.campausa.com and www.campa.co.nz (New Zealand). You can also write to Campa USA, 7720 Race Road, North Ridgeville, OH 44039 or call (440) 353-1917.
“ Information on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is available at http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov/redrocks/index.htm.
Reminder
The five-day RV Life on Wheels educational conference begins Sunday on the University of Idaho Moscow campus.
If you have the time and want to learn more about the RV lifestyle, stop by the campus and follow the signs to registration.
Cost is $249 per person which covers courses, an Idaho Repertory Theatre ticket and evening entertainment. A $130 RV fee includes 30-amp electrical hookups and water services. People who wish to dry camp (no power or water) on campus pay a $25 parking fee. Attendees without RVs stay at nearby motels.
For detailed information about courses, check www.rvlifeonwheels.com.