ATV Camping
Primitive tent camping has been a great outdoor activity for hundreds of years. ATVs have only been around for about eighty years. ATV stands for All Terrain Vehicle and the first ATV was developed back in the 1930’s. It was a six-wheeled amphibious vehicle with three tires on each side. These first ATVs had no suspension other than what the tires offered and turned by disengaging the drive from one side or the other. The first utility 4 x 4 ATV was developed by Honda in 1986, the FourTrax TRX 350. The other manufacturers quickly followed suit, and the 4 x 4 utility ATV has remained the most popular type of ATV ever since. People quickly realized they could load their camping gear and supplies on the attached racks and head into the deep wilderness for an ATV camping adventure. First it was mainly hunters but soon others realized this exciting new camping adventure.
The first utility 4 x 4 ATVs had very harsh suspensions by today’s standards and very small load capacities. As technology improved, the suspensions got better and with the ability to handle the machine better, the engine sizes started to increase. When the 4 x 4 independent suspension was developed, the “Big Bore” engines quickly followed. The “Big Bore” utility 4 x 4 ATVs range from 500cc up to 960cc. These bigger ATVs have much larger load capacities than the original utility ATVs, enabling more camping gear and supplies including extra fuel. With the extra capacities, campers can go further into the wilderness. As technology has improved, the side by side UTVs (Utility Terrain Vehicle where the riders sit side by side) have improved and these allow even more load capacity.