When I feel the need to disappear into the bush and get away from the city the areas I go to can vary from camp sites with designated camping areas, through to overnight on the beach, all the way through to sustained camping in the bush. A normal day trip of 400km round trip and camping of further than this means that the transportation of myself, my gear, and sharing the load across the group when relevant is key. I’ve camped with both a jeep and a ford ranger and wanted to share the pros and cons that I’ve seen so far.
The 2006 Jeep TJ Wrangler that I had went everywhere that I pointed it whilst laden down with all the gear mentioned, typically with additional bags of firewood and jerrycans of petrol as well. This was definitely the most capable 4wd I’ve owned, however ran out of space as soon as you looked at it hard.
Skip forward a couple of years after selling the TJ and I’ve bought a 2016 ford ranger. After starting my new job I’ve only had a couple of opportunities to take the new wheels off road and what I’ve seen so far has impressed me from a capability point of view. The storage inside of the canopy has been amazing, to the point where I can carry more gear from other people in the group as well.
I’m keen to make a couple of modifications to the ranger, starting with clearance, tyre size, and potentially adding a new rooftop tent and shade cloth. The rooftop tent and shade cloth would be handy for long range touring trips so this may wait a while.
Once out of the car and hiking the gear becomes simpler, specifically how to get there is via this pair of boots, with storage provided by an old and gold backpack.