After nearly 50 years of tent camping, last year I purchased a squaredrop trailer. My intent is to be able to take it wherever my Jeep goes. I have taken traveling with the trailer slow and easing it into precarious situations. Last spring we spent a week taking the trailer into Roosevelt National Park on our first "real" off-road adventure. There was plenty of rock, narrow trails, and water crossings. The trailer handled as well as expected.
This past fall we spent two weeks in southern Colorado and Utah. The first night we pulled the square drop up the Medona Pass in Colorado. The next morning we crested the trail and departed on the other side of the mountain. Many steep switchbacks and water crossings, again the trailer handled as expected. Once in southeast Utah, we spent a few days in the Snow Flats. This trail contained lots of sand, switchbacks sandstone, and small ledges. We planned on taking the trailer to a campsite on Hurrah Pass in Utah but by the time we arrived it was dusk and I did not want to take the switchbacks in the dark. We ended up at Behind the Rocks for the remainder of our time in Moab.
On our return home, I found a dispersed campsite in White River National Forest north of Glenwood Springs, CO. The trail leading to the site is called Transfer Trail. The 2.75-mile trail, rises 2000 feet vertically, to the campsite is very steep, single-track with many tight switchbacks with absolutely nowhere to turn around, which I would have after the first mile but was unable to due to the circumstances. Once arriving we were greeted by an emergency fire helicopter. First thought was to turn around, unfortunately, the sun was already setting. I called the forest department which was closed, so I called the non-emergency policed department. While the current fire was just beyond the ridge we were on, it was all but distinguished and no longer considered active. Needless to say, we did not get the best sleep that night.
The way down was completely nerve-racking. We were fortunate to meet a local returning from a week-long getaway on the top of the mountain behind us. He guided us down taking the steep slopes and switchbacks slow, extremely slow, and easy. We averaged 2 mph to finally arrive at the entrance to the trail.
It was quite a learning experience. Definitely take your time researching and discovering as much information about the trails you wish to travel. There are plenty of great apps to find campsites and trails but do not take them for granted. While I found the campsite in White River National Forest, which by the way was absolutely breathtaking once we were able to calm down, I did not research the trail itself. I used Google Maps to take me there, bad decision. Apps like GAIA, BackCounty nav, AllTrails, OnX Offroad do a tremendous job detailing many trails. There are plenty of great books as well as plenty of message boards to gather details.
We are planning on returning to Moab in the spring. I am currently researching the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands. 95% percent of the 100-mile trail is fairly easy, but the remaining 5% may be the difference whether or not we decide to take the trailer with us. I would greatly appreciate any and all opinions on whether taking our trailer through the White Rim Trail is viable.
). My type of overlanding is usually with a group (ROF - retired old farts) and with certain destinations and activities in mind. On a recent trip we took into the 
