For Behind the Shot Part 8, we are featuring photos and stories from Valley of the Gods, the Grand Canyon, Valdez, Alaska, and many more! Click here to participate in the 2026 Truck Camper Magazine Calendar Contest and be considered for a Behind the Shot feature.
Nick Wentworth
Nowhere, Nevada
2014 Ford F250
2018 Palomino Real Lite
Camera Used – iPhone 15
We camped at this dry lake bed every year for 15 years, but have skipped the last 8 years when our kids were small. We finally made it back this year, now that the kids have their own dirt bike and quad to explore on. Old mining towns, springs, and wild burros are never far away.
Dan and Marlene Lin, Mali Mish
Santa Barbara, California
2024 Ford F350 with a Bowen Customs Flatbed
2024 FWC Flatbed Grandby
Camera Used – Sony A7iv
We just dropped off our oldest for college orientation and needed to find a place to camp for the night. Camping in town is difficult, so up in the hills we went. What a view of campus from here!
Charles Lloyd
Drum Inlet, North Carolina
2018 Ram 3500
2021 Adventurer 86FB
Camera Used – Galaxy A15
My wife and I were fishing at Drum Inlet, North Carolina, and caught this sunset. We love staying on the Outer Banks, North Carolina. This is our third truck camper; the previous two were an Adventure 80RB and a Star Craft Pine Mountain pop-up. We have taken three month long west tours staying on BLM land in our 86FB and love the adventures.
Thomas Atwood
Grand Canyon, Arizona
2006 Ford F350
2012 Northstar 850SC
Camera Used – iPhone 16 Pro Max
While visiting the south rim of the Grand Canyon, we sought out a wild campsite in Kaibab National Forest. We were greeted with wild horses in our campsite.
Kevin Mitchell
Baja California Mexico
2013 Ford FX4
1996 Lance Squire 850
Camera Used – Galaxy 12
I found this older Lance in a storage lot and, with hard work, brought it back to life. I am now traveling the Baja California coast, enjoying the beautiful beaches while doing some fishing on the way.
Mike Salem
Sue-Meg State Park, Trinidad, California
2000 Ford F350
2004 Alpenlite Santa Fe 1150
Camera Used – iPhone 15 Pro Max
This was a little over one week after purchasing the truck and camper together. We bought it, packed the next day, then left on a week long camping trip up the California coast. My family has been camping at this park (Sue-Meg aka Patrick’s Point) for 9 years now, it’s like a family reunion of sorts. And this was such a fun new addition! We drove through Avenue of the Giants on the way home though and that was quite stressful when not yet understanding the full dimensions. Lol oops.
Garry Morgan
Columbia River, Arlington, Oregon
2022 Ford F-350
2022 Northern Lite 8-11
Camera Used – iPhone 14
We were on our way to a family reunion in central Oregon and needed a place for an overnight stay. The Port of Arlington allows dry camping on their jetty beside the Columbia River, so we pulled in for the night.
Brian Fulda
Adin, California
2019 Ford F-350
2021 Adventurer 86FB
Camera Used – Phone
I captured this photo at the 2025 Golden State Star Party. Every summer, a few hundred amateur astronomers gather in the remote northeast corner of California to enjoy the night sky. People flock from all over the country with giant telescopes to share the stellar view, which is one of the darkest locations in the United States. This was my first year taking our new-to-us truck camper, and I outfitted it with red lights inside to preserve mine and everyone else’s night vision — a strict rule of the star party.
Matt Pezdek
Valley of the Gods, Utah
2020 Toyota Tundra
2024 Scout Olympic
Camera Used – iPhone SE
An unassuming turnoff in the middle of nowhere, Utah, also known as the Valley of the Gods.
We probably blew past the little sign on a tight bend in the road in southern Utah a dozen times over the years. After all, why would such a beautiful place on the outskirts of Monument Valley be marked by little more than a trail sign? I had heard of this place before while down some internet rabbit hole researching trips.
If you haven’t been, you have probably seen it acting as the backdrop to every Ford Raptor commercial of the last decade. Frankly, it was well known enough to the rental car crowd that I assumed it would be domesticated but not well known enough to differentiate itself from Monument Valley or the parks around Moab. Ultimately, if Forest Gump didn’t run through it, then it didn’t seem worth the time on one of our weekend banzai trips into Utah.
Well, while trying to escape the crowds of Moab, we finally took the turn one evening. What we discovered was much different from the deep canyons a couple of hours north. The skies are huge here. Interrupted only by weathered monoliths from which the area gets its name. The depth of the valley allows the sun’s rays to pick up speed and turn all the colors into high definition. And, the simplicity of the features gives watching a distant storm role in that almost meditative mental calm we all get staring at a campfire.…. Until you see the lightning and realize your aluminum camper is the tallest thing for a mile in every direction, and start wondering if it’s true, the vehicle will direct the electric shock around you.
One of the beautiful things about truck camping is how it simplifies life by regularly putting you into the mindset of necessity. “Is it a necessity that I pack this, after all, it adds weight and takes up space?”. “It’s 10 pm and we need a place to park, is a campsite with a view a necessity?”. We took the turn into the Valley of the Gods out of necessity and landed in a place that has become a go-to spot for us whenever we are in southern Utah.
Jeff Gao
Hanksville, Utah
2014 Toyota Tundra
2025 Homemade Partial retired HMWVV bed cover
Camera Used – iPhone SE
The photo was taken at The Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) in Hanksville, Utah. This is a homemade camper, partially from a retired military HMWVV bed cover which was constructed by honeycomb aluminum panels. The whole weight is about 1000 pounds, and it is a perfect fit for my Toyota Tundra pickup. Since it is hard to find a slide-in camper that fits a Toyota short bed with both light weight and large size (sleeps 4) so I made my own. Just completed a 12,000 miles trip from east coast to west coast and back. It worked like a dream!
Frances Yohannan
Ferryland, Newfoundland
2019 RAM 3500
2018 Bigfoot 25C10.4
Camera Used – iPhone 13 Pro
After planning the trip for at least two years, we finally made it to Newfoundland/Labrador! This was a memorable stop on the Avalon Peninsula in Ferryland, Newfoundland, at the Colony of Avalon, established in 1621 as the home of the first Lord Baltimore. There is an archeological dig in progress, but since the weather was so cold, we had the place to ourselves. Nearby was a cute little grocery next to a community par,k where we bought some supplies and stayed the night.
Jonathan Gudroe
Athabasca Glacier and Icewalk, Alberta
2024 Ram 5500 flatbed
2024 Citation 10-2
Camera Used – iPhone 16 Pro Max
My partner and I have been traveling full-time in our Citation truck camper for the past 2½ months, covering a huge stretch of road—from Colorado to Maine, and then from Maine all the way to Banff and Jasper National Park in Canada via the Trans-Canada Highway. We made that cross-continent drive in just a month and a half, which meant a lot of miles and not much time to truly soak in the places we passed.
That’s why this stop felt different. Parking our rig right in front of the glacier—completely free—and taking in the view reminded us exactly why we chose this life on the road. After weeks of nonstop driving, finally slowing down to experience something so breathtaking made it feel like we were officially living the adventure we set out for in the first place.
Erwin Namoc
Near Goblin Valley, Utah
2019 Ford F150
2021 FWC Project M
The Epic backdrop of a spot near Goblin Valley provided a shot I couldn’t resist taking. Sunrise made the lighting perfect.
Ashleigh Miller
Valdez, Alaska
2019 Ford F350
2022 Adventurer 80RB
Camera Used – DJI Air 2s
This photo was taken on top of Thompson Pass, the only road leading in and out of the town of Valdez, Alaska. Although we traversed this pass over 20 times, the views never got old. We finally stopped at this location and crawled out to this spot we had been eyeing. A little sketchy, but you can do anything with a truck camper, right?
David Wightman
Parks Highway outside of Cantwell, Alaska
2012 Chevy 3500HD
2008 Bigfoot 9.6
Camera Used – Motorola Raze 2024
Taking a lunch break on the way back to Fairbanks along the Parks Highway during an Alaska winter sunset in December.
Isaiah Goodreau
Cheyenne Crossing, South Dakota
2015 GMC 3500
2022 Arctic Fox 990
Camera Used – iPhone 11
I was traveling to Minnesota to work for the summer. Since I spent the last 15 years living in the Rockies, I was really sad to leave them for the summer. I decided to get one more mountain camp in the Black Hills before it went to being all flat. It was going to snow that night, so I split some wood and fired up my cubic mini wood stove inside. Kinda magical for me.
Click here to see all of the photos entered so far in the 2026 TCM Calendar Contest. Enter your truck camper photos today!
