Simplify Your Camping Experience with a Blue Mountain Tiny Trailer

Interior, Blue Mountain Appalachian Touring

Tiny trailer camper owners are usually seeking a simple, uncomplicated camping experience, and a new tiny travel trailer company, Blue Mountain Camper Co., is seeking to fulfill tiny travel trailer camping dreams. Their mission statement reads thus: "The Mission of Blue Mountain Camp Co. is to build affordable, simple-to-use, and easy-to-tow campers. There are no dealers or large manufacturing facilities, only handcrafted mini campers designed to last." 

My prior blog article on this company provided background on the company's experience--over 400 little trailers constructed since 2012 (see "Blue Mountain Camper Co. -- a New Company Old in Experience.")

This article focuses on the two tiny trailers the company is currently building, the Appalachian and the Acorn. According to the company's website, the construction of these campers include three features: rot-free composite construction, advanced insulation, and pop-out windows.

• Rot-free Composite Body: "This includes the floor, walls, and roof. No wood structure to rot or decay."
• Advanced Insulation: "All models have a spray foam insulated ceiling."
• Pop-out Windows: "All models feature awning-style windows with shades and screens. These windows are much more effective in the rain than sliding windows."

The 2025 Blue Mountain Acorn is an entry-level travel trailer, pricing beginning at $7,850 for the four-foot-tall model. A buyer can choose from a 4’ tall interior (975 lbs) or a 5’ tall interior (1,090 lbs), which immediately adds $2,085 to the price tag. Since these trailers are built to order, some of the possibilities in a tiny trailer--beyond being a "hard-sided tent"--are available upon request. The unit comes with an efficient air conditioner, and a roof rack is an optional feature. The Acorn's webpage has many more exterior and interior photos available.

The Blue Mountain 2025 Appalachian Touring model, with only a five-foot-tall model, is an entirely different tiny travel trailer experience, providing many more camping amenities, including birch cabinetry, which is why the price tag begins at $13,850. It's easy to see this new company's marketing strategy--feature two models, a simple, lower-priced camper and a more luxurious model. Then potential buyers will have a vision of possibilities. "At 1,570 pounds, the Appalachian Touring is a compact camper that most mid-sized SUVs and vans can tow. It has added safety features, such as standard electric brakes." This model also includes quite a few nice "extras." 

The main thing to remember when purchasing a Blue Mountain trailer is that the ordering process is individualized. The company's webpage has a "Build and Order" tab which takes you to an order page where you can choose the trailer you want and the extras you want. In addition, you can interact with the build team to individualize the process even more. Lead time is 2-4 months prior to pick-up, depending on the model you choose and the time of year you order. 

I've written enough introduction here. If you are interested in ordering a trailer or in just browsing, go to the company's webpage, check out their deals, and feast your eyes on some beautiful tiny trailer craftsmanship. The company hasn't listed a telephone number yet, but the webpage has an email address, so individual questions can be sent and the communication process begun. There are many good tiny trailers available on the market, and Blue Mountain trailers are a welcome addition, providing even greater choice to those interested in getting out there by going small. 

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Blue Mountain Camper Co. -- a New Company Old in Experience

There's a new trailer company on the mountain!

"I just bought a 2013 Rustic Trail that is actually titled as a Leonard, because that was the trailer frame it was built on. The couple I bought it from, bought it new from 'some guy up in Pilot Mountain, that said he was starting a teardrop company.'" This quotation comes from the Facebook group Rustic Trail Teardrops and Friends, and it's the perfect introduction to this article. 

Jonathan wrote, "Might have even been the first [RTTC] Grizzly!"

In 2012, Jonathan Sechrist of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, decided to build himself a tiny trailer camper in his garage. It turned out so well he had a neighbor ask him to build another. Word got around, promises were made, and suddenly Jonathan and his family found themselves busy owners of a travel trailer company, Rustic Trail Teardrop Campers. I owned one of Jonathan's trailers--the Green Goddess, namesake of this blog. It was my wife and my introduction into camping with little travel trailers, and a fun and exciting introduction it was!

The Green Goddess at Red Rock Lake, Iowa

Jonathan headed the young company, Rustic Trail Teardrop Campers, from 2012 to 2020. The Green Goddess, a Polar Bear model, was trailer 285, or somewhere in that range. Then Jonathan sold the company in 2020, and then it sold again in 2022. RTTC is currently moving from Pilot Mountain to the Raleigh area, and Jonathan Sechrist and his family are taking the opportunity and their experience to start a new Pilot Mountain tiny travel trailer company, the Blue Mountain Camper Co.

Western North Carolina flooding victims

Before getting into more specifics about the company, first let's talk a bit about the heart-value of this North Carolina company. Recently, North Carolina experienced horrific flooding from Hurricane Helene. Blue Mountain shifted their efforts from promoting their company to gathering donations and building camper pods for families swept from their homes by the flooding. This post on Blue Mountain's Facebook group page said: "This is how some people are currently living in Western NC. Being an NC-based company, we want to help some of these victims by providing campers before really cold weather hits. For about $3,000, we can build a very basic camper and provide them with shelter from the weather. As a small startup company, we cannot afford to do this alone. We will donate the first one; would you be willing to help with more?" This campaign, although it is no longer continuing, is representative of the company's sense of community.

The Blue Mountain team

The Sechrist family and crew have the expertise that comes from having constructed more than four hundred tiny travel trailers. As the Blue Mountain Camper Co. says on their website, "Having an experienced team build your trailer is critical to reviving a quality, long-lasting tiny-camper. Blue Mountain Campers may be a new company, but the crew is far from it! Comprised of four skilled and dedicated build team members, our crew has been in the business for over 12+ years and has constructed over 400+ teardrop style campers." They go on to say that their company has "no big fancy buildings, large marketing budgets, or distant, hands-off owners. Blue Mountain Campers is a true small family-owned and operated business. When you buy from Blue Mountain, you support our families and allow us to do what we love—creating unique, long-lasting mini-campers."

Part of the Blue Mountain expertise is their goal of building tiny campers that last, "lightweight, easy-to-tow, no-fuss" campers, "simple to maintain campers that will last and last. Thanks to our all-composite rot-free body (floor, walls, roof, inside ceiling), the Appalachian is a teardrop camper alternative that is designed from the ground up to get you on the road to adventure with ease." 

On a recent Blue Mountain Camper Co. group Facebook post, Jonathan Sechrist said: "We are the original founders and builders of The Rustic Trail Teardrop Campers. We sold the company in 2020 right when Covid hit. We have started this new company because we still believe that people deserve a good product at a reasonable price! There are a lot more builders on the block now but many are very expensive. Our hopes are to see quality and affordable pricing prevail in the coming days and months ahead. We are doing everything we can to see customers satisfied and keep our campers affordable."

Jonathan is also about to release a new model tiny trailer called the "Acorn," which will come in four-feet and five-feet tall versions, with the starting weight being less than one thousand pounds. and starting at less than $10,000. The article that follows this one will focus more on what tiny trailer models Blue Mountain is offering, details and specifics. If you can't wait, though, follow the Blue Mountain Camper Co. link and do some browsing on your own! I'm still browsing and researching myself, and will post more soon.

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Camping After Winterizing Your Rig

First of all, there are a lot of tiny trailers that don't require any winterizing because the trailers don't have water systems--not water lines to blow out or needing the pink RV anti-freeze. Many trailers do need protection for the water systems, though, and when those rigs are winterized--guess what? Then you have a larger version of many tiny trailers, a "hard-sided tent" with, hopefully, a heating system. 

Early camping with the Green Goddess

Front shelf space, electric "one at a time" appliances

Our first travel trailer, the Green Goddess, an RTTC Polar Bear, was a standy version of a hard-sided tent. There was no water system in the trailer, therefore, no winterizing was necessary. The trailer did have a 110V electrical hook-up with 12v lights, and because of the 110 capacity, we brought a portable oil heater when we camped during the fall. (With no battery, there was no electrical winterization neede.) It worked well, even though we had to "juggle" electricity by turning off the heater before turning on the induction cooktop burner or Instant Pot. The rule was one electrical activity at a time. We also had a portable toilet system that we could use if we didn't want to hike to the campground's pit-vault toilets, awkward in a tiny, one-room space. It was really an emergency system. Later we bought a little tent to use outside for the toilet. Almost all of our cooking was outside, using either our old Coleman propane stove or an induction burner.

Selling the Green Goddess and entering the Airstream travel trailer world, even though we bought Airstream's smallest trailers, first a sixteen-foot Basecamp and then this year a sixteen-foot Bambi, was certainly a step up in convenience and luxury. However, once the rigs are winterized, the similarity between our original "hard-sided tent" camper and the fully equipped Airstreams narrow considerably. We lose the shower/toilet and sink; however, we keep the heater, the cook stove, and the tiny room that houses the shower/toilet. Right now I'm camping in my winterized Bambi, so let me share a few photos to illustrate what it's like to camp in cold weather in a winterized little trailer. 

Bambi cooking area

Here is our cooking area. We always bring our own drinking water, and the cook stove and refrigerator are not impacted by the winterizing process. I've been using the Instant Pot quite a lot this trip. I combine my ingredients for a one-pot stew at the counter, cook in the camper, but take the pot outside to release the steam to keep condensation to a minimum. Often I'll wipe utensils with a paper towel before going outside to wash dishes. Sometimes I set up our aluminum table outside, but it's been windy the last couple of days. I like cooking on the stove, but have been lazy this trip. Having prepped most of my ingredients at home, making my "eternal stew" in the Instant Pot is so easy and "stick-to-the-ribs" flavorful in the colder weather that I just go with what's easy. What's for lunch? Stew!

Toilet materials: bags, cedar chips, kitty litter, and gel

We're lucky to have the small bathroom (or "shoilet") in our Bambi. After winterizing, we've converted it to the dry, "bag system" for our toilet, although we also use the campground's pit-vault toilet as much as possible, a not-so-terrible option now that it's cold enough that the insects and smells are gone. The bag system in our camper works well, even if it is definitely more primitive than the water toilet. However, it is nice to have the option in the middle of the night or whenever we don't feel like taking a hundred-yard hike in the early morning when the temperature is maybe a couple of degrees above freezing. Trying to be as environmentally- and health-conscious as possible, we use compostable bags and decomposable materials. 

Diswashing set-up, water bucket hidden on bench opposite

Finally, we use campground water for all our needs except for drinking water. We have a small plastic tub for heated water to use for sponge baths, and we also fill a bucket of water to use for dishwashing at the campground table outside. Sometimes I use our induction burner on a table outside to heat water for dishwashing if there are a lot of dishes and pots and pans. Since we are camping locally, we usually just head home for a shower, drinking water refill, and clothing change when we need to. 

The heater in the Bambi is a propane heater which works well. It is an adjustment from our Basecamp, which had a Truma heating system that allowed for either propane or electric heating. We almost always used the electrical option to save propane consumption. With our Bambi, my wife and I have gone back to our Green Goddess heating system and brought in a portable electric heater. We do, however, sometimes turn on the propane heater in the morning to warm up the camper before getting out of bed. With the electric heater, not only do we save propane, but the system is quieter and provides a steadier heat. In the photo above are two electric heaters, a radiant heater and an oil heater. We especially bought the small oil heater for its compactness and steady, quiet heat, but the 700-watt radiator heater just didn't produce enough heat when it got colder unless we cranked it up on high all the time. We brought a Walmart Pelonis quartz radiant heater from home, which heats more efficiently. We are still careful when using several appliances to not over-burden the electrical system, even though the Airstream is wired for 30 amps. We also turn off and unplug the heater whenever we leave the camper for a walk or an errand.

Camping in the winter means paying attention to moisture in the air inside the camper. Our bodies exude moisture naturally, a propane stove can create moisture in the air, and certainly our electric hot water pot produces moisture. Luckily, even though our Bambi is little, it's not as tiny as some, which reduces condensation problems a bit. I researched and wrote an article about condensation in tiny campers a few years back, so I'll just link to that article for anyone with further questions. Link: "Minimizing Condensation in a Teardrop or Tiny Trailer."

All in all, the best aspect of camping in cold weather with a winterized trailer is that a warm, dry, cozy environment is available for shelter when there is too much wind, temperatures drop too much, or it rains or snows. Excessive cold can be draining, even dangerous, and having a safe environment to shelter from inclement weather is a definite plus. Often I'll go out for an hour or two hike and then return to my trailer. I built a fire this morning and read for a while outside beside the fire, drinking my tea. I washed dishes outside this morning with cold water--a couple of spoons and a mug. Right now, though, I'm inside our Bambi, typing this article. Across the dinette table is my wife, getting ready for a conference call for her consulting business. Our Starlink connection works well even here at Lake Darling State Park, which is pretty much a black hole of internet connectivity. I believe there is one other camper in the park, up the hill and hidden. "Shoulder season" camping is great--no bugs or humidity, few campers, and great fall colors. Camping after winterization is an adjustment and sometimes a little funky, but I'm looking out my window right now at the lake and the autumn leaves, my wife and I sharing our little camper home-away-from-home, and honestly, I'm just as happy as a bug in a rug.

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Evolution of a Camping Lifestyle

The Green Goddess, RTTC Polar Bear

My wife and I began our travel trailer camping lifestyle in a little 5 x 10 "hard-sided tent" camping trailer, the Green Goddess a Rustic Trail RV camper, a Polar Bear model. Then we bought an Airstream 16-foot Basecamp, and then after three seasons, we have traded that in for an Airstream Bambi 16. 

If now you're thinking, "Oh, their evolution as travel trailer campers has been from one trailer to another," then you'd have it wrong! Our evolution as campers has little to do with our travel trailers but a great deal to do with how we learned to live with all three travel trailers as we hit the road. Yes, our campers have changed and our camping style has changed, based on the possibilities each of our campers presented. 

However, many of our attitudes regarding camping and being out in nature have remained the same, with our choice of campers allowing us to become the campers we have always dreamed of becoming. As the saying goes, it's not the tool or equipment; it's the person using them. Keeping that in mind, here are a few things I'd like to share with you after six years of camping with little travel trailers and writing this blog. 

Essential Activities 

My first idea about buying a tiny travel trailer was to make it easier to camp with my wife. I wanted to get away and be in nature with my wife. However, she owns a consulting business, so we needed access to electricity and the internet--and a place to work without bugs and humidity. After owning three travel trailers, we think we've found our best configuration for our family's needs: a small, easy-to-pull trailer that still allows for comfortable working environment. 

Airstream Basecamp 16

Our 5 x 10 RTTC Polar Bear standy allowed us to get out, but it was just too tight a space. My snoring and my wife Zoom-conferencing at the same time in the same space was awkward! The Airstream Basecamp 16 was a big step in establishing an environment for both work and for my retirement, but the actual living/sitting/sleeping space was still one space--the rear of the trailer, necessitating changing the working/eating/sleeping space, perhaps several times a day, and also still clumping retired teacher and working consultant in close proximity. The Bambi configuration seems to be a real game-changer for us; the dinette table up front and the bed in the back allow for differentiated spaces for different activities. 

Not everyone needs discrete living spaces in a little trailer, but we do--and the Bambi has finally given us a livable travel trailer floor plan for our lifestyle. Remember, our goal was to find a way for my wife and me to camp together as much as possible. "Third time's the charm," and our new 2024 Airstream Bambi checks those boxes regarding our essential activities to spend time camping together. Rather than thinking that "bigger is better," we held onto our "little campers are best" philosophy (for us) and didn't buy a Bambi 20- or 22-foot model. 

A Philosophy of Downsizing 

Within the constraints of providing a camping space for us to engage in essential activities, my wife and I have always adhered to the philosophy of minimalism in camping. OK, a sixteen-feet-long and eight-feet-wide Airstream isn't exactly minimalism in camping; however, park a tiny or little travel trailer next to a thirty- or forty-foot rig, and it seems pretty darn small! It's pretty easy to fall prey to the notion that an item is essential and then say, "We need to get a bigger rig and/or tow vehicle!" We've done a pretty good job of avoiding that perspective . . . or should I say "black hole" of camping philosophy?

How we avoid the pitfalls of "essentiality" is that whether in our camper or in our home, whenever we begin to wonder where we're going to put all our stuff, we help one another shift to "what do we take to Goodwill" mode and determine what we can get rid of. Having gotten back into camping via bicycle camping, it's not super hard to focus on essentials only when there was a time when my camping gear was around 40-50 pounds packed in bicycle panniers! 

Airstream Bambi 16

Essential to packing minimally, though, is the perspective that ultimately it's better to keep things small--better for the camping experience, better for expenses, and also better for the environment. I will be seriously amazed and confounded if I ever own a recreational travel trailer larger than our 16-foot Airstream Bambi. I remember, to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau in his "Economy" essay, that the problem with owning stuff is that eventually you have to purchase a place to put all that stuff. Relative to camping, you own a lot of camping equipment, buy a trailer to house your "necessities," and then you also have to buy a tow vehicle to pull your camp trailer! At a certain point (and not the same point for everybody) it's best to let go of that tiger's tail.

Put It Away

This point may sound obvious or trite but, believe me, putting things away immediately when finished with the item is an essential habit for those who camp in little trailers. It takes just a moment for suddenly all places to set something (including yourself!) are filled with objects used . . . just a moment ago. I have to discipline myself, but putting things away immediately has allowed me to turn around in all our campers and see a fairly orderly space. If I wanted to put the case more intensely--putting things away in my little campers has allowed me to just . . . turn around!

I worked my way through high school and college by earning money working in kitchens, from cafeterias to restaurants to fast food establishments. One basic survival rule of professional cooking is to learn the skill of cleaning while cooking. Rinse out that pan and put it away while you've got thirty seconds. Don't think, "I'll get to it after I've put the casserole together." Otherwise, after finishing up with the lunch menu and starting on the dinner menu--you've first got an hour of cleaning to have space to cook.

First there is the intention, then the routine, and finally the practice. Like I said, perhaps my training works for me. However, I am willing to accept that others follow a different routine that works well for them! This is camping and recreation, not company policy. I just personally enjoy not having to wade over and through dirty clothes to make it out the door. Putting things away is simply, in my opinion, the optimal use of space, and space is a precious commodity with little trailers. ("Keeping Organized in a Tiny Trailer" is another article I've written about this.)

The Big Backyard

One personal camping option that my wife and I have adopted--at least for now--is that we are camping more locally. Because my wife is still actively engaged with her successful consulting business, and because all three of our children live nearby, and because many younger families are facing challenges in our present day reality, we are staying closer to and finding ways to be available if necessary yet still having time for ourselves and getting out in nature. 

We are lucky to have three state parks within forty miles of our house, multiple county parks, and a few fine city campgrounds. This gives us choice and variety while still camping less than an hour from home. Would we like to travel to Yosemite and to the Cascades or to camp at an ocean campground? Of course--and someday we hope and plan to do just that! But for now, we've included the needs of our children and grandchildren within our plans and are still pleasantly surprised at the opportunities and beautiful outdoor experiences available to us locally. 

I suppose our lesson has been that beauty is not just something a far and fatiguing drive away, nor are all great campsites far off the beaten track. I write this in all seriousness, even remembering as I write these words that I've written travelogues on this blog about fellow tiny trailer owners who have been places that are incredibly beautiful, vistas that are tantalizingly more exotic than the Iowa Midwest. However, Iowa does have its beauty, and as I get older, the concept of "drive less, camp longer" does have its logic. 

Compromise as Perfection 

The final concept that we have embraced with our little trailer camping lifestyle is to embrace the compromises that camping with small trailers entails. We agree to have less living space, to take less equipment, to have fewer cooking options, to have to climb over one another in the middle of the night because of the tiny bed, to have the tiniest concept of a bathroom--the "shoilet"--possible. 

Lake Darling State Park, Iowa

Why do we make all these compromises for less? For us, it's because of the sense of freedom these compromises give us. When we simplify our camping, camping is so much simpler! Easier to buy, to tow, to pack, to maintain; easier to find the great campground and the great campsite in that campground; easier to store, to stow, probably even easier to sell, and if sold at a loss, a smaller loss; easier to set up camp and to break camp.

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation," Thoreau wrote in "Economy," and he set the cause of that desperation at the amount of time--the amount of our life force--we spend just accumulating and maintaining our stuff, possessions. Camping with a little trailer is a compromise, a negotiation with ourselves, a granting ourselves more time to experience by choosing fewer possessions to keep track of and maintain.

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In the end, our evolution as little travel trailer campers has been to ask ourselves a question: What really makes us happy? Right now, our answer is a quick pack, a quick drive, and a nice, long, quiet camping experience. We'll find the beauty because we have included the time to look for it. We'll find relaxation because we've scheduled the time for it to find us. We'll find happiness because it's always there if we just take the time to notice. It's like gardening: prepare the soil and plant the seed. When we open the door on our little Bambi as morning dawns on the lake we've camped beside, it's like that seed bursting the tiny husk of its existence. There's nothing tiny or little about camping in a small trailer, not with the whole wide world an open door away. The ultimate recreation is re-creation, and for us, the best recipe for happy camping is "less is more."  Call it a small secret, a little secret, a tiny secret, but it's the perfect size for us.

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From Basecamp to Bambi: First Time Out

Lake Darling State Park, Iowa

Even though it was time consuming, packing our brand new 2024 Airstream Bambi 16 with our stuff from our 2021 Airstream Basecamp 16 was an illuminating experience--thoughtfully fun, I would say. Loading up the Bambi was concrete proof that the two rigs, even though both sixteen feet in length, aren't the same in their configuration. That's the reason that we traded in the Basecamp for the Bambi--to have a permanent bed in the back and a dinette up front. Both units have about the same storage space, but how the storage is accessed is different, neither better or worse, just different. Packing and camping for the first time was the fun challenge of asking ourselves, "Now where did we put that . . . or did we even bring it?"

Our first trip out with the Bambi was to Lake Darling State Park in southeast Iowa, the first place we had also taken out the Basecamp in January 2022. This time with the Bambi, the September weather was much warmer, of course! (Basecamp first trip link.) Also, rather than camping alone, this time we were camping with my wife's daughter, partner, our two grandchildren, and their three dogs, so the experience was pretty lively. The little Bambi provided us with our sanctuary, though, and was our happy little camper. 

All the essentials worked just fine: heater, air conditioner, sink and toilet, stove, and awning. The trailer pulled easily, although I'm still getting used to the wider Bambi (8 feet to the Basecamp's 6.5) and also to the back-up camera that has a rearview mirror function. Although I've heard the descriptor "cozy" so many times regarding tiny trailers that I almost cringe when I hear it, I have to admit that the Bambi is cozy in the truest sense of the word; the Bambi provides a comfortable, secure, relaxing experience.

Comparing the Bambi and Basecamp camping experience, I would say that the Bambi with its separate bed, dinette set-up, and cupboards is more settled in its floorplan, whereas the Basecamp with its rear bench, table, bed floorplan, and with its netting storage and rear door is more fluid in design, more ready to engage in different activities. Actually, I think that's pretty much how Airstream markets the two trailers; the Bambi is the farmhouse, and the Basecamp is the hunting lodge.

Our weekend out with family was, therefore, a chance to adjust to the new trailer. We found the bed none too big, but still manageable, "cozy" in less sweet definition of the word. The front dinette that provides a permanent table (yet can convert to a bed) was a significant game changer. We are still adjusting to the smaller kitchen space--and where to put our toaster oven and Instant Pot, which fit into a cabinet in the Basecamp. We're still learning how to use the cupboards for food storage; the Basecamp really has a huge kitchen area. However, packing for the weekend, we hardly touched the under-the-bed storage area of the Bambi. Thinking into the future, I think perhaps next year we might have Airstream incorporate an axle lift kit to raise the Bambi up around 3.5 inches to provide better clearance and to also raise our Ford Ranger's hitch height.

As I write this article, my wife and I are camping again locally. Last night's rain is drying, the clouds are burning off, and the maple trees are starting to turn to their fall colors. Our Starlink wifi is working well as I work outside and my wife uses the dinette for her consulting business. If I get tired, I can go lie down, fall asleep, and not have to worry about interrupting my wife's work with snores. The Bambi floorplan fits our needs better than the Basecamp, even though the Basecamp has many positive qualities. The Bambi may very well be the last travel trailer we ever buy . . . unless, of course, someday I decide to buy a micro trailer just for the ever-loving fun of it!

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