Where can you go and not go with a 3500-4000lb (dry) overland trailer?

[Romer]

The suggestion above about setting up a base camp and exploring from there is a good one

The trailer could do part of the Alpine loop depending on which way you go. The switchbacks up the Engineer would be a problem and even up cinimmon could be challenging. The alpine loop can be easily done in 4-5 hours so a base camp and then running it would be great.

White rim trail depends on Permits as you need permits for campsites. last i checked trauilers were not allowed. I have run White Rim with the Maze (Dollhouse) which does not allow trailers of any kind

I did the Swell and set up a base camp with friends

I have taken the Karavan up through northern Colorado, through Wyoming and then down to utah. That was fun, but you really need to understand if there are any switch backs or difficult obstacles


The Swell

 

[jim65wagon]

The beauty of a trailer is the ability to park it and run the trails you want, coming back to a nice comfy campsite. When we did Colorado with our teardrop, we base camped near Ironton. This allowed us to spend our days really scouring the area. We did hikes to a ton of mines. Drove Engineer Pass and made a long loop (we didn't do the Alpine Loop but made our own loop using other roads we found and Owl Creek Pass - (that area had a ton of nice campsites, but the elevation made it too cold for us). We drove Ophir Pass and into Telluride one day. One day we even "hiked" the Ouray Via Ferrata.

Our teardrop has taken us over 50,000 miles to many amazing places throughout the US and Baja. I've towed this camper enough years and miles that I know how it "fits" through a trail or rough section of road. It's capable, but I'd never take it over something like Engineer Pass.

But that's where the base camp comes in. A lot of the places we've been, we'll find an area, find an OKish campsite and park the trailer. Then we'll spend the next couple of hours driving the nearby trails to see if a better site is available and if the trailer is capable of the trail to get there. If we deem it's accessible we'll move to the better site. Then we can spend the next few days just exploring by truck and hiking. Whenever we come across a potential campsite, it gets pinned on our Gaia map.

For Utah, we camped on BLM in a forested area, locked up the trailer, and ran Elephant Hill as a one night overnight using a backpacking tent. Other than that, it was day trips out to view Arches or run the Moab trails.

In Capitol Reef, we once again camped on BLM lands and drove the Cathedral Valley Loop without the trailer. After driving that, I know I could get the teardrop around that loop easily enough.

Even with all the precaution and experience, I still wind up backing the trailer for a quarter mile or so to get turned around. As we drive forest and BLM roads, we constantly make note of wide spots (for letting oncoming traffic pass) and those spots big enough to turn around. Get used to backing up on narrow roads and don't be afraid to drop the trailer in a spot you can get turned around in and explore further in just the tow vehicle. Just getting to know the road ahead makes it peace of mind easier to tow a trailer through.

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[Cheapskate'sParadise]

Regarding narrow switchbacks, a long trailer tongue is a worthy modification for an offroad trailer. Our modified tongue has four positions and is removable with one bolt.

Based on our use-evolution, we only use the longest extension unless we are in a royal mess. On-road, the most important advantage is very stable towing in strong winds – no sway bars ever contemplated. Off-road, the most important advantage is the ability to jackknife slightly beyond 90 degrees (important for narrow-trail turnaround and for switchbacks).

If intrigued, here are things to consider before building for *maximum* jackknife potential: a) the rear of the tow vehicle needs to be cleared or modified to avoid obstacles (tires, swingouts) that will interfere with the swing; b) movement of tongue boxes, jockey wheel, etc. may be needed; c) design length of tongue extension can be modeled with accuracy, but this should occur after a) and b) have been addressed; d) a McHitch can be helpful.

[McHitch: the center of rotation of this hitch is further from the rear axle of the tow vehicle than most choices. This is ordinarily frowned upon. However, this is key to going a bit beyond 90 degrees in both directions. When the lady and I get into a self-inflicted mess, we generally use every degree we have.]

Our trailer is 4,000# wet in multi-month mode. If a narrow switchback has loose soil/rock, as is normal, then the rear of the truck can be pulled substantially sideways as we climb. The mechanism is that, as the tires attempt to get traction and spin some, the trailer CG is well below the truck rear axle height. Because the traction tires are slightly spinning, there is little tire-surface friction to overcome the side force. I have learned to hug the wall, as much as possible, with the tow vehicle before/in concert with trying to pull the trailer up any steep areas of the switchback. I would not do this myself without *dual* limited-slip differentials because it’s pretty risky even with them.