Look beyond the brown mud. Peer past the packed snow. Squint through the caked bugs. We swear there are actual truck campers in there! And the stories. Oh my, the stories. The winners are….
Every so often I find myself explaining our truck camper rig to folks outside our community. My go to statement is simply this: Truck campers are the Jeep of RVs.
I then explain how our pickup is four-wheel drive with high clearance, and how our camper has a large fresh, grey, and black tank, a large solar panel and battery bank, and a full blooded dinette, kitchen, and bathroom inside a truck bed platform. We can go anywhere and camp anywhere—within reason—for extended periods of time. Next I show them a couple pictures of our rig in amazing places like the Four Corners or the coast of Nova Scotia, with nobody around, camping for free. If I had a mic, I’d drop it.
A huge part of the fun of running Truck Camper Magazine all these years has been both experiencing the incredible and diverse truck camping lifestyle, and being its unabashed champion. When someone challenges us about how small our living space is—it’s not by the way—we clap back with the stunning places we go, the beautiful places we camp, the experiences we have, and the lifestyle that towables and motorhomes only dream about.
And if they push back in a snarky way, I’ll say, “Next time you see an amazing restaurant, storefront, scenic view, or campsite that you’re forced to drive past because you’re too big, think about us, and our small and nimble truck camper.” Ha ha! I’m terrible.
Today we’re announcing the winners of the first ever Dirtiest Truck Camper Rig Contest. Now I know this will sound very “everyone gets a trophy”, but we are all winners of the dirtiest truck camper rig contest. As truck camper owners, we have off-road and off-grid vehicle habitats that are designed to get dirty and have fun while doing it. Dirt road? Bring it. Rocky trail? Rock on. Snowy mountain pass? Go skiing. We don’t worry about no stinkin’ dirt. In fact, the dirtier the rig, the bigger the badge of honor. And you thought my “Jeep of RVs” was just a slogan. No sir—or ma’am. We may not adorn our rigs with ducks, but we’re up for foul play.
And the winners of Truck Camper Magazine’s Dirtiest Rigs are…
Winner: Stu Turner
2013 Toyota Tacoma
2025 Scout Yoho Pop Up
Outside Sand Hollow, Utah
We were attending the Rayco Bash event outside St. George, Utah. It was in the fall and it had recently rained, so there were mud puddles galore.
Sand Hollow, Utah
I went to the car wash in St. George, and spent almost an hour there. Ha ha!
A dirty rig is a happy camper.
Winner: Duncan Crawford
2016 Ford F-350
2020 Northstar 12STC
Our two dirtiest truck camper adventures came on the Dalton Highway in Alaska and, nine years later, the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
On the Dalton, we drove north to Deadhorse and the Arctic Ocean in our 2008 Ford F450 and S&S Ponderosa camper. After a dry trip north, the rain arrived. The road turned to deep mud, and by the time we reached Atigun Pass we were in four-high and sometimes four-low just to keep moving.
Leaving the Atigun Pass, Dalton Highway
At the summit, loud thumping from the rear of the truck revealed that both plastic fender liners had broken loose under the weight of the mud and wrapped themselves around the dual rear wheels. Armed with a folding shovel and utility knife, I dug out enough mud to cut the liners free.
Later that evening, camped near the Yukon River, our entertainment became “excavate the truck.” Some areas had four inches of caked mud that required repeated cycles of shoveling, rinsing, and scrubbing.
Back in Fairbanks, I fed roughly $20 in quarters into a pressure washer while my wife spent about the same amount rescuing our mud-covered laundry. The remaining mud survived all the way back to our driveway in Maryland.
Apparently time heals memories. By 2023 we had developed what I call “protective amnesia” and headed north again, this time on the Dempster Highway in a 2016 F350 with a Northstar 12STC on a Sherptek flatbed.
The trip started with a cracked rear cab window caused by chassis flex on a rough gravel causeway. Cardboard from a cereal box and duct tape became the temporary repair. Then the rain arrived. Construction zones and muddy roads meant frequent use of four-high, constant cleaning of lights, and eventually a windshield washer repair involving hot glue, super glue, duct tape, and a successfully recovered spring that tried to escape into the tundra.
By the time we reached the Arctic Circle, my truck was coated in mud from bumper to roofline.
We still made it to Tuktoyaktuk in time for Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations and spent two nights camped on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.
Back in Dawson City, we finally hit a truck wash and removed enough mud to reveal the truck underneath.
After returning home and repairing the cracked window properly, I made two refrigerator magnets to remind us what these roads can do—and hopefully prevent any future cases of protective amnesia.
Winner: Jason The Traveler
2019 Ford F-350
2006 Lance 951
After driving the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean
I drove the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean. It was part of a six month 33,000 kilometer road trip to northern Canada and Alaska.
I’m writing this from a small plane in the Comoros bound for the island of Anjouan. I’m probably the most remote user submission location.
Tuktoyaktuk
Our three winners will receive truck camper t-shirts in the postal mail. Thank you to all of the readers who participated in our Dirtiest Rigs contest. Here are their entries:
Pat Phillips
2016 RAM 3500
2018 Arctic Fox 1140
Dawson City, Yukon
I drove the Dempster Highway in July 2024. When I returned to Dawson City, I stopped at the first campground with a truck/car wash. It took quite a lot of scrubbing. Dirt was on all sides even though the picture was only of the rear. I didn’t get all the dirt off until I returned to Georgia in September.
Tom and LaNae Frew
2009 Ford F-150
2009 Starcraft Lonestar
Dillon, Colorado after a snowstorm on I-70 out of Denver
We visited family in Denver and were on the way home when a surprise snowstorm hit us on Interstate 70 westbound through the Eisenhower tunnel and into the western slope of Colorado. We hand washed the rig when we arrived home in Arizona.
Steve and Carol Seketa
2018 GMC 3500HD
2020 Lance 1172
Atigun Pass, Dalton Highway
We drove the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay and back to Fairbanks. During that trip the roadway through the Atigun Pass and north was very wet and muddy most of the way up and back.
We spent two days looking for musk ox north of the pass. We met other adventurers who had seen the musk ox, but we were not lucky enough to see any of them.
On the way back, we spent a night at the Atigun Pass. While the road was very muddy, the view from Atigun Pass was beautiful. We stopped at a truck wash in Fairbanks that had a walkway along the side about four feet off the ground so we could start washing from the top. It cost us over $30 to just spray it off.
We would definitely do it again!
The photo above was taken at the Arctic Circle sign south of Coldfoot the day before heading through the Atigun Pass on the way north.
Howard Bisco
2015 Ford F-250
2020 Palomino HS-8801
Engineer Creek campground
We were heading south from the Arctic Ocean and hit rain at Eagle Plains. The trip north on the Dempster to Tuk was just dry and dusty.
After the rain, the Dempster dirt was like concrete on the back of the camper. Nancy took a wet wipe to the door handle so she could open the door.
Thankfully, the campground we stayed at, Dawson City RV Park, had a coin-op pressure washer that worked to remove most of the dirt.
Peter Lewko
2019 Ford F-350
2019 Northern Lite 10-2EX
Dempster Highway sign at the end of our trip to Tuktoyaktuk
We traveled the Dempster from Dawson City to Tuk and back. We had a week of rain during the trip that turned the road into messy, slippery slop.
I gave the truck and camper a quick wash in Inuvik. When we got off the Dempster we headed back into Dawson City where it was $40 at the truck wash to get most of the mud off the exterior of the truck and camper.
When we got home from the trip, I dug out the pressure washer and did a wheels-off cleaning of the underside of the truck making sure that I got the mud off all the brake components.
As a side note, I also had the underside of the truck oiled prior to our trip to protect it from the effects of the calcium/magnesium chloride that they use on gravel roads to keep the dust down. Glad I did that as the mud got everywhere.
It was an awesome trip! I would highly recommend doing it. Tie it in with a trip across the Top of the World Highway if possible. If the weather is good and the road is dry, you could easily do it with a two-wheel drive truck equipped with good tires.
Given the weather and road conditions that we experienced, I am glad that we had four-wheel drive and a new set of KO2 tires. I had two spares with us, but didn’t need to use them.
We had the opportunity to speak with another couple that had attempted to do the Dempster in a rented truck camper out of Whitehorse. Their Ford F-350 dually was equipped with all-season tires and they got turned around at the first ferry due to the muddy road conditions. They also experienced a flat tire and a cracked windshield on their trip up the Dempster, so be prepared.
Jason Bullard
1995 Ford F-250
2017 Eureka
Dalton Highway on June 14, 2023
My wife, my son—who was thirteen at the time—and I drove from North Carolina to Alaska. We drove over 12,000 miles in thirty days.
The nastiest was from the Dalton Highway where we drove to Prudhoe Bay to do the arctic swim. On the way there, we drove in rain, snow, and mud.
Once we were back in Fairbanks, I spent $80 at the car wash. I still occasionally find grime in my truck frame from that trip.
North Carolina the day before starting the road trip
Marcus and Cindy Larson
2019 Ford F-250
2020 Capri Retreat
The weather got bad on the return trip on the Dempster Highway making for a muddy mess. It was still an epic trip.
We found a car wash afterwards that seemed to be used for all the Dempster dirt. We still found evidence of the Dempster dirt for a long time after our trip ended, but that was okay. Our rear camera on the truck never did work again after the Dempster.
John Mladjenovich
2022 Chevy Silverado 3500
2016 Bigfoot 25 10.6
After a visit to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site in South Dakota, my wife pulled up directions to the Badlands on her phone. Moments after leaving the highway, we turned onto a road where we sank nearly to our rims in the slurry.
The slurry, made of mud and small gravel, packed up quickly in our wheel wells. It was imperative that we kept the rig moving until we reached a more stable roadway. While slipping and sliding in the mud was kind of fun, we did hold our breath as we passed through some areas of the road.
Black Hills, South Dakota
That evening, as my wife did the laundry, I washed the truck in the town of Wall. It took forever to remove the muck from the bottom of the truck. Now I wish I had taken a picture of the mounds of mud I left at the car wash!
Jo Mladjenovich
2022 Chevrolet Silverado 3500
2016 Bigfoot 10.6
Our truck is black. Waiting for the CM Abraham Francis Ferry on the Dempster Highway.
We took these pictures as we sat at the first ferry on the Dempster Highway for 48 hours waiting to cross. That’s another story in and of itself.
The Dempster Highway is regularly treated with a calcium chloride solution in an attempt to keep the dust on the dirt roads under control. When the calcium chloride solution is wet, which it usually is, it creates a matter that sticks to all rig surfaces.
This is a rock of calcium chloride and road slurry that fell from under our truck while waiting for the ferry. The whole undercarriage of the truck was coated with this matter.
These pictures depict our rig along that road. In retrospect—and after looking at pictures of other rigs—our rig looks pretty clean. We attribute that to the fact that John waxes the camper at least twice a year and the truck more often. This seems to have made it harder for damp grime to adhere to those surfaces.
Rick Wilkey
2021 RAM 3500
2021 Northstar Laredo SS
Dempster Highway, NWT
This is from a trip to the Arctic Ocean on the Dempster Highway in September 2024. We had rain and mixed snow for most of the trip. Just opening the truck camper or truck doors was a major undertaking.
We removed the worst of the mud at an RV wash facility in Whitehorse. The facility had to shut down as the volume of sticky mud from our camper clogged the drainage pipes. This mud was like a mixture of chocolate pudding and Portland cement.
Upon returning home to Colorado, it took a full day with a pressure washer to remove most of the dried mud from our camper. We’ve saved a container with more than twenty five pounds of Dempster mud from that cleanup.
Nooks and crannies on our truck frame still contain dried mud that can’t be accessed or removed by a pressure washer. The clay content of this mud is extremely fine grained and very adhesive.
If one travels the Dempster in wet weather, an onboard pressure washer is needed and a sack full of cleaning rags. A patient and understanding spouse or travel partner is also essential.
Les Gyug
2016 Chevy Colorado
2017 Four Wheel Camper Fleet
The Arctic Circle Crossing on the Dempster Highway
This is from August 2019 with snow on the Dempster. They closed the road later that day just north of the Arctic Circle crossing because apparently a tanker truck went off the road in one of the worst gumbo locations.
That was shortly after we had gone through. We were barely able to stay in the center of the high-crowned road. It was a gritty mess from end to end because of the snow and rain.
I would have enjoyed a bit of dust (if it had been dry) but the road mud was so full of grit that we could not open any door without getting slimy grit all over our hands. We couldn’t even open a window because you could hear the grit grinding away at the window seals.
By the time we got back to Dawson on pavement, it took at least an hour to power wash away most of the grit. However, even that was not entirely successful and the grit was so deeply embedded in the rear disc brakes that they were ground to nothing shortly after. That was expensive!
Leslie Wilks
2021 Ford F-350
2021 Bigfoot 25C10.4
End of Highway 4 Watson Lake to Carmacks on route to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
This was the start of the trip up the Dempster Highway to the Arctic. I took Highway 4, which is a gravel road. As you can see, it rained.
On the outskirts of Dawson City is a campground with a wash bay. It was $20 to wash the mud off our new truck. After the trip up the Dempster, it was another $20 to wash the Dempster dirt off. This was the dirtiest our rig has ever been.
I have no before and after shots, but I’m sending a picture of leaving home on the start of Yukon trip in the new truck. That’s all folks!
North end of Highway 4 Yukon before pavement
Tom Warren
2013 Ram 3500
2008 Adventurer 104DSS
September 2025 Dalton Highway Alaska hunting trip
This is from a week-long September trip up the Dalton Highway. We went all the way up to Deadhorse, refueled and made our way back.
All it did was rain most of the way. The trip back south was wild as the highway completely fell apart. Atigun Pass had a snow storm and there were sections where locking in four-wheel drive was absolutely required. Tractor trailers were sliding off the road due to the mud. It was the worst I’d ever seen the highway and I have traveled it six or seven times over the years.
Joe Shafer
2018 Ford F-350
2016 Cirrus 800
Somewhere on the Dalton Highway, Alaska
It rained for a couple of days while my wife and I traveled to Prudhoe Bay and back. To this day, I swear I could feel the extra weight of all that mud. It was a little slippery and soft, especially when we had to make room for the big rigs to pass.
We saw spectacular scenery, watched as two grizzly cubs suckled on their mama, caught fish, panned for gold and just plain explored. I even got within ten yards of a musk ox.
Somewhere on the Dalton Highway
After we returned to the civilized part of Alaska and before we washed the highway off our rig, several people asked if we’d been to the Haul Road. Obviously, we’d been spotted!
Since I am too cheap to spend frivolously on a car wash, I don’t think we ever washed our rig.
After retiring and our second cancer diagnosis and treatment, we finally were able to complete our bucket list item of driving to Alaska. We drove from New York state to Alaska, drove most of the paved roads in Alaska, caught all of the salmon species we were allowed to catch, backpacked, boondocked and had a spectacular time. We even saw Denali (Mt. McKinley).
You know, just about everyone we met in Alaska was kind, friendly and gracious. We spent all summer there and we spent only one night in a campground. Boondocking is great.
Erik Christiansen
2005 Toyota Tundra
2020 Northstar TC650
Death Valley, California, photo taken by my friend, Tyler Cameron
We were exploring Death Valley and headed to the Racetrack Playa in the middle of the night. All of a sudden we found ourselves in a giant silt pit. There was nothing we could do but keep going. There were ruts up to the doors and silt billowing up over the hood for what felt like an entire mile.
If I had stopped, we would have been majorly stuck. I had to keep the revs and speed up just to make it through. The next day—on the way back out—we stopped to drive through a little side section and get some photos of the silt clouds.
The first photo above is probably ten-percent of what the deep section looked like, but I had no interest in going back through it. We found a detour around the road we had taken that night and made it out. The dash cam footage (photo below) from that night is my all-time favorite.
Some rain on the way home took care of a good portion of the cleanup, but I was still finding pockets of silt for the next ten car washes.
Hidden Valley, Death Valley, California
Matt Nelson
2017 Ram 3500
2007 Arctic Fox 990
Minnesota bugs
Let’s just say, I’m not planning on driving through Minnesota in the middle of summer bug season again any time soon.
Somewhere above the Arctic Circle, Northwest Territories
My rig stayed reasonably clean on my way to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories on the Arctic Ocean. I ran across rain on the way back south. You’ll pick up just a little bit of mud driving 500 miles on a muddy gravel road.
Well, $60 in loonies and toonies later, and I got the worst of the mud off. But I think I was still finding mud in random places for six months after the trip was over!
Somewhere above the Arctic Circle, Northwest Territories
Michael Anderson
2017 Ford F-350
2018 Alaskan 10′ CO
We drove the entire length of the Dempster Highway to Tuktoyaktuk and back, in snow, rain and sleet. Parts of the highway get very slick in these conditions.
Dempster Highway near Inuvik, note the clean pop-up part of the Alaskan
I experienced a blowout and then had a tire repair at the wonderful Oasis of Eagle Plains. Once off the highway, we were able to find a self-serve car wash in Dawson City. Needless to say, we left a pile of Dempster Highway mud when we pulled out.
Self-serve car wash in Dawson City
Brady Peter
2026 Ford F-250
2025 Scout Olympic Pop-Up
Saskatchewan, Canada
After trekking from Saskatchewan to Texas and back, our rig got dirty on the last stretch of dirt road between our house and picking up our dog from the kennel.
We were blessed with beautiful weather all the way to Lubbock, Texas and back. While we were stateside, there was a spring snowstorm at home and the roads were a mess when we got back.
Since we were exhausted from the drive, I waited a few days to clean the truck and my Scout. I had to drive it to work for a day or two before I washed it off.
Rouleau, Saskatchewan, Canada
Lynn Kabella
2023 Ram 5500
2022 Host Yukon
This was during our journey to the Arctic Ocean
This was in 2025 when we drove the Dempster Highway to the Arctic Ocean. It was the trip of a lifetime.
The photo above is the result of our adventure down the Dempster Highway. It was an awesome trip. We experienced rain and shine.
The combination continued to build up the dirt all over the rig. When we returned from Tuk, she got a good scrubbing. When we arrived back in Dawson City, we found the first car wash to start all over.
Alex Blasingame
2007 Ford F-250
2002 Lance 815
Dempster Highway south of Eagle Plains, Yukon
We were on our way to Tuktoyaktuk, Canada (July 30, 2018), on the Dempster Highway as part of our 2018 journey. Later that afternoon, it started to rain, and the road turned into a muddy mess. Since it was late enough in the afternoon, we found a spot to stay overnight. The rain didn’t stop all night.
In the morning, we almost didn’t get back on the road because slick mud had filled the tires at our overnight camping site. Mud was flying everywhere as we plowed our way out. Thankfully, our truck had four-wheel drive. Otherwise, I believe we would have been stuck there.
Somewhere south of Eagle Plains, we took a break (July 31, 2018), and that was where I took the photo of our very muddy truck. Even the roof-mounted solar panels were coated with mud.
It wasn’t until we got into Fairbanks, Alaska that we could clean the mud off our truck. The Dempster Highway wasn’t the end of our truck being muddy. In fact, while in Canada and Alaska, our truck was very dirty more than not!
Kevin Hasch
2013 Ram 5500
2013 Lance 1172
We went with a caravan group on the Top of the World Highway in Alaska in the rain. From Dawson City to Chicken we traveled on a dirt road in the rain, and then on to Delta Junction. The campground there had two pressure washers which we could use. There were two lines with about twenty rigs in total. Everybody was helping to wash rigs.
Our rig leaving the ferry at Dawson and beginning the Top of the World Highway
Jim Sosiak
2006 Chevy Silverado 2500
2006 Adventurer
Blackstone Territorial Park, Northwest Territories
We drove on wet muddy roads for over 200 kilometers.
Saundra Schmitt
2010 RAM 3500
2019 Cirrus 820
The Dalton Highway, Alaska
We were on our way to the Arctic Circle on the Dalton Highway. It was wet and muddy with potholes the size of small boulders. We made it back to Fairbanks to a car wash.
Corey Humphrey
2018 Chevy 2500
2000 KZ Sportsman
Bolivar Peninsula, Texas
This was our first trip in our brand new truck. Being from Michigan, we had never driven on the beach before and were thinking it was about the coolest thing ever. Then we came to this river outflow.
We stopped and a truck on the other side stopped. No one knew what to do. There were tracks going through it, so it seemed safe enough. The truck on the other side finally had the courage to cross. We thought, “If they made it, surely we should.”
Luckily my wife hopped out to take a picture while my son and I drove through. What a rush! It’s probably not the dirtiest, but the water was deep and it was fun for us.
In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have driven my new truck through deep salt water, but I was having so much fun. Besides everything rusts in Michigan no matter what you do so it was totally worth it!
Norman Botwinik
2022 Ram Warlock
2022 Northstar TC650
Above: Eagle Plains, Arctic Circle via the Yukon
This was actually somewhat clean compared to what actually happened. We traveled the Dempster Highway and the Dalton Highway going to the Arctic Circle in Canada and Alaska. We have never spent so much on a single car wash in our lives.
