It’s true – the vast majority of four-wheel drive SUV’s and trucks will never wander off the pavement. Sure, they might jump a curb from time to time or splash through a puddle en route to an extra tall whipped mocha latte, but they’ll never drive down a dirt road just because it’s there. If you’re reading this, that’s not your truck. Your rig proudly wears dented skid plates and a thick coat of dirt or mud. It takes you deep into the mountains to hike, camp, fish or hunt. My truck, a 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser with Expedition One bumpers front and rear, is a tool. As a professional landscape and adventure photographer, I need a reliable rig with capability to spare. And because I live out of it while I’m on the road, I invested in a Maggiolina roof top tent to make setting up and tearing down camp a quick five-minute process. Over the last few years the FJ has taken me to some amazing places. At a few of those spots I’ve found campsites that, to me, are so much better than any 5 star hotel. In the following photo essay I’ll share a few of those spots. Camping at Medicine Lake When the summer heat in Moab becomes unbearable we head into the nearby La Sal Mountains. Medicine Lake, which lies in a meadow at over 10,000’ below a chain of high peaks, is the perfect place to cool off. Overland Camp in Sawtooth Mountains Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains offer national park worthy vistas but without the crowds. A seemingly endless network of dirt roads penetrate the Sawtooth’s and the nearby White Cloud Mountains, offering spectacular campsites alongside alpine lakes and roaring creeks. Overlanding Campsite Near Capitol Reef National Park Utah’s least visited national park, Capitol Reef has a lot to offer anyone willing to drive long dirt roads into the middle of nowhere. We discovered this campsite just outside the park boundary and we had the whole area to ourselves. Overlanding Campsite Overlooking the Sawtooth Mountains A Stanley, Idaho local recommended that we drive the Nip-Tuck Road for expansive views of the Sawtooth Mountains. We took their advice and found this campsite, which offered a view of the entire mountain range right out the door of our tent. Toyota FJ Cruiser at Camp in Valley of the Gods Utah’s Valley of the Gods offers a Monument Valley-ish experience without the fees and restrictions of the Tribal Park. Drive the dirt road, find a flat spot with a view you enjoy and set up camp. Night skies are so dark that it seems as though every star in the sky is visible! Toyota FJ Cruiser at Camp near Moab One of the best things about living in Moab is that we’re able to go camping on a school night and still get our son to school the next day. For these quick overnight trips we like to drive up Sand Flats Road and camp at one of the BLM campgrounds. It may not be a true wilderness experience but anytime you’re roasting marshmallows over a campfire a good time is being had by all! Toyota FJ Cruiser with Rooftop Tent at Clear Lake After twenty years of exploring Colorado’s San Juan Mountains they remain one of my favorite places to hike, mountain bike, camp and off-road. A short 4-wheel drive road ends at Clear Lake, where you can literally park right next to the water’s edge and fall asleep listening to fish jump. It’s truly heaven on earth.

A Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Maggiolina roof top tent deployed is parked near Medicine Lake in the Manti-La Sal National Forest near Moab, Utah.

A Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Maggiolina Airlander roof top tent deployed is set up at camp in a grassy meadow in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

A Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Maggiolina Airlander roof top tent deployed is shown at a ridgetop campsite overlooking the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho.

A Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Maggiolina rooftop tent deployed at camp in Valley of the Gods, Utah.

A Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Maggiolina rooftop tent deployed reflects in the calm waters of Clear Lake on a crisp summer morning in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado.

A Toyota FJ Cruiser with a Maggiolina Airlander roof top tent at campsite near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.