Home Built Teardrop Trailer: Our First Camping Trip With Bear

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce another member of our family. His name is Bear and he is our home built teardrop trailer. Clayton has been working on Bear off and on since July 2014. The initial plan was to build Bear and take him out on his first road trip through Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. In December of last year, we decided to move to Colorado which in turn halted our road trip plans and the continuation of building Bear. While making our move to Colorado in February of this year,  unfinished Bear made the trip from Arizona and his finishing touches were put on hold due to the cold Colorado winter. When the weather began to warm up, Clayton started slowly working on Bear again. This past weekend, we put Riley’s full size mattress inside, loaded it up with sleeping bags and food, and took Bear on his first camping trip.

After this camping test run, Clayton fitted Bear with bigger tires and a diamond plated sheet on the front area. Bear looks a bit more aggressive now, but we still have a lot of work to do. The walls need insulation and Clayton is currently working on building cabinets for the kitchen area. Even though Bear is unfinished, we had an amazing time camping and we’re incredibly excited to bring him on more adventures. Here is a look at our camping trip outside Woodland Park, our mini hike to Rampart Reservoir, and our night primitive camping outside of Deckers with Bear!

We made our way towards Woodland Park Friday night after Clayton got off work. With no plans on where we were going to camp, I figured we’d just wing it once we pulled into town. Since Woodland Park is only 20 minutes up the road, it didn’t seem too difficult to figure out a place to park and camp in the woods nearby. Once we got into town, we turned onto highway 67, headed about 10 miles north to Rainbow Falls Rd and found ourselves among other people who were primitive camping. We maneuvered our way through the dark road and eventually found an open spot not too far away from a small RV. We settled in as quietly as we could and for the first time in our lives, we jumped out of the truck and straight into the trailer. Since we’ve become pros at setting up our tent in the dark, it was kind of cool to just jump in the trailer and go straight to bed!

Before we fell asleep, we talked about how awesome the trailer is and how there was a slight downside to not being able to see the stars like we do from our tent. As I dozed off, I thought about how impressed I was with my husband. What started out as an idea has now become reality, and we were spending the night in something that he worked so hard on. This trailer was built from the ground up and I couldn’t help but be proud of him.

We woke up that morning during golden hour. I’m not sure what time it was exactly, but I can still picture the golden light shining on the pine trees and the mountains. In a nearby field, we saw several deer walking through the grass. We stayed in our sleeping bags while staring at the pine trees and taking in the fresh air. Riley woke up smiling from ear to ear. He told us how happy he was and how much he loved the trailer. We headed back to Woodland Park to grab a quick breakfast then headed to Rampart Reservoir. Rampart Reservoir is one of our favorite places to spend the day since it’s beautiful and so close to home.

After relaxing by the lake, we quickly rushed back to Colorado Springs since Clayton had to return to work. After dropping him off, Riley and I headed back home where we showered and grabbed some clothes and food for another night of camping. At around 11, we headed back to Clayton and made our way past Woodland Park. Once again, we had no idea where we were going. We continued to drive on the 67 until we reached the town of Deckers. It was pitch black and there was no one around this tiny town with only one store and one restaurant. We pulled over to the side of the road and looked around for any signs of a campground, but had no luck.

As we continued to drive, we saw a sign for Lone Rock Campground. Thinking we had finally found a place to rest for the night, we were quickly disappointed to find a sign that said “campground full”. Feeling completely exhausted, I suggested we keep driving up the road, and before we knew it, there was a marvelous brown sign on the side of the road with a tent on it.

We turned on a dirt road and saw a sign for Flying G Ranch and several other sites. I honestly can’t remember the names of everything because it was so dark and I started to feel a bit anxious. We slowly made our way up this bumpy dirt road and the pure darkness started to make my imagination run wild. I thought about everything from Big Foot to ghosts to a big cliff waiting to pull us down on my side of the road. My fears started to creep into nagging comments towards Clayton reminding him to drive carefully. Finally, I felt a bit of relief when I saw a campfire in the distance. We eventually reached a fork in the road where we encountered other campers enjoying the night. Once again maneuvering our way through the dark, we found a spot to camp and quickly fell asleep.

I woke up around sunrise to find that Clayton had been up since dawn taking pictures of the view. My most favorite thing about finding a campsite in the dark is not knowing what the view will be like when we wake up! As I expected, the view did not disappoint. After waking up and getting ready, we decided to make our way back to Deckers to check out the little restaurant that we passed the night before. We ended up having breakfast and beer on the patio right by the highway. It was such a cool little town, and the mountain air and scenery was perfect.

We were thrilled with our first camping trip with Bear. This mini camping trip reminded us of how lucky we are to be living in Colorado and how cool it is to have the wilderness so close to home. I was also reminded of how amazing Clayton is and how as a family, whenever we focus on accomplishing something, we’re always able to reach our goals. As I’m typing this right now, we are getting ready to leave for another adventure with Bear. This time we’re going a little further and we’re so excited to leave tonight! I can’t wait to share it with you all on the next post!