Contemplating retirement activities lately.

Anybody do off the grid atv camping in NFS land?  By retirement comes around, I'll be too beat up for backpacking my ruck miles into no mans land, but hopefully not too complacent to settle down with the old fucks at a KOA campground.  ATV camping seems like a fun inbetween.

Any thoughts?  No idea where to start researching, what gear to look into, conditions to consider ect.  The only ATV experience I have is my few years in Iraq and Afghanistan as .mil using our old grizzlies.  Had a blast!

What say the hive?  Any thoughts?

I suggest you look into the legality of operating ATV s on USFS roads.  It's not legal in my area, even though they're part of a snowmobile trail system.

There may be some government land that has ATV trails (I know of two in Missouri) but the vast majority don’t allow public vehicles. That said, I have had the same thought as there are miles and miles of old logging roads through some dense forest in SE Missouri.

A compromise could be a float/boat and camp. That can get you to some really secluded places. I want to do some island hunting/camping next deer season.

street legal plated side by side and you can go anywhere

Plenty of places you can do that in Colorado on BLM and National Forest land.

Get a note from doctor for handicapped plates

Google hammock camping.

Dutch  Chameleon or Warbonnet XLC are two good choices. Light and comfortable.

Even if you live in one of the Rocky Mountain states which is the best place for this, the list of places where you can get to by ATV, but can't get to by 4wd truck, is incredibly short.

When i went elk hunting in the Gunnison Basin area of Colorado, we set up a base camp and then road four wheelers while hunting. There was miles and miles of open land to ride. I have often thought about going back out there just to ride. You just have to buy a ATV permit as far as I know.

Do it. Out here we can drive on all county roads, paved or not, and endless primitive camping opportunities. Ohv (ATV) travel is promoted and encouraged here.  I can hop on my atv and drive from my driveway to Moab Utah if I’d like.

The poster above me knows how amazing it is out here.

Where to ride in AZ

I don't live in AZ, but it is on my short list for retirement. This is one of the reasons why.

If I can, I will!  I'd love to do this kind of thing in the uncompahgre national forest area, maybe take it around the alpine loop too.  It'd be a blast to load it up with prospecting gear and see what I can find (avoiding claims, of course).  There's a lot of places I'd be better off exploring in an atv VS a half ton truck.

As far as the rig itself goes, I'm not sure where to start.  Decent 4x4 with spare gas cans, cargo box, winch, flat patch kit and compressor I'd imagine, but not sure what else I should consider.  Obviously my usual camping gear as well.

Every year we elk hunt out there, we ride 100 miles or so on ATVs.  Plenty of places to run off where no one is around.

This.  Incredible for off-road motorcycling too.

I spent a little over 2 weeks riding in your great state last summer.

I’ll definitely be back.  

Like others above me have pointed out, it's pretty easy to do here in Colorado. What state do you live in?

Anywhere in a state that allows street legal plated side by sides. I can ride a plated dirt bike on USFS roads, but not an ATV.

just depends what area you plan on doing it... in 3/4 of Michigan's UP you would be good to go.  The wife and I have found some beautiful camp sites overlooking superior while trial riding in our sxs.

Tons of trails in Maine. Mostly across private land.
Camp where you wish but leave no footprint.
Land owners are generally pretty cool about it as long as you take what ya brought.
Landowners have the right to close the trails if abused.
Do the right thing...

My job took me to new yawk, but I sure as hell won't be retiring here.  Moved from Idaho Springs, so I'm not a stranger to the rockies.  To be honest, I was planning on being a rubber tramp for a few years after retirement before settling down.

The only thing that will take some logistical planning will be where I can actually take an atv.  It seems that every state/national park, forest or recreation area has their own rules regarding atv usage.  Big brother always makes freedom confusing.   FML.

We used to do it in WV during deer season (1st week anyway).  We had trailers (brother-in-law made them) with ATV tires on them that were anywhere from 28" wide X 48" long to 36" wide X 48" long.  We pulled them behind the Kawasaki 3 wheelers (KLT 200's).  We took the stuff to the drop off point in his truck so we could make short quick trips from the truck to the camp area.  We could have done it all by ATV but that would have meant going several more miles of trailer pulling and a much longer set up time.

We had a 10X14 ft. canvass tent with tarp floors.  We built no fires, for anything.  We parked the ATVs and trailers around the tent.  We walked from the tent to the area we intended to hunt that morning or that afternoon.  We used the ATV and a trailer to haul the deer back to the house where we could load them in the truck to take to the game checking station.

All our food was cold/dry food, we drank water, we slept on the tarp in sleeping bags.

We dug a "shitter" off to one side of the tent (dug a hole between two trees and tied two saplings one low = seat and one higher = back on the two trees).  We'd shovel some dirt back in the hole as needed to cover up the "stuff".

We kept a bag tied up high in a tree for the trash.

Only had a bear come by the camp once in 3 or 4 years.  About 3 o'clock in the morning my buddy woke me up to ask me if I could hear "that?"  That was very heavy breathing bear walking up the trail above our tent.  It kept going and I took my hand off the M29 and went back to sleep.

It was fun.

Only did it once during spring gobbler season.  Went about 8 or 10 miles pulling the trailers, used a couple tarps for a shelter, slept in sleeping bags and only spent two nights out there.  Set up not too far from a creek of very cold very clear trout water.  We put our 6 packs of pepsi in the creek to keep it cold (man, was that good coming back from a morning of sitting out there waiting on a gobbler.)

Left Saturday afternoon in a hell of rain storm and had a hell of time getting the 3 wheelers, with the attached trailers of gear, up some of those muddy trails/old roads.  Won't forget having to unhook one trailer so we could pull the other trailer up the hill with two 3 wheelers, then unhooking the trailer up on a level spot and going back down the hill to hook up two 3 wheelers to get the second trailer up there, and then repeating it every so often till we got out of that big holler and on top of the mountain.

You might want a TW200.
-It's practically an ATV but takes up half as much room in your truck
-It won't have the capacity of an ATV, but can carry enough gear for camping
-50 state street legal, so you can go into any National Park that a car can

Ahh, the good ol plateau! Perfect place to explore and explore and explore...
I’m not sure where you’re  at now but atv’s are plentiful around here. Supply and demand ... good prices on used machines.

You mean like this?

There is lots of riding areas across the US. South Dakota, Colorado, Utah.....and plenty in between.

Wife and I are doing an ATV trip to the Alpine Loop in CO next year. Also check out Mosquito Pass in CO.

Southern Utah is supposed to be great for ATV trips. Very ATV friendly state. Thousands of miles of riding and you can ride into some towns for food and fuel.

Research your area. There is also a few web sites that will have info on riding areas in your area.

I've been doing ATV riding and camping and really been enjoying it.

Not ATV but you may enjoy this link OP

https://advrider.com/f/threads/your-bike-by-your-tent-lets-see-em.483325/

Nice, that looks like a great time.