Burnt Trekky- Fred and Amanda

Burnt Trekky

Mod List

• iKamper Skycamp Mini + Annex • Front Runner Slime II Roof Rack • Thinkware Q800Pro Front and Rear Dash Camera • F44 Offroad Front Bumper and Skid plate • Diodedynamics SSC2 Led Pods Driving Combo

Ditch lights • Baja Designs SAE Squadron Amber Fog lights • LP Adventure 1.5 lift w/RA kit and light brackets • Rallitek Front and Rear Overload Springs • Primitive Racing Mid and Rear skid plates • Method Race Wheels 15 x 7 Methods 502 Vt-Spec • BFGoodrich Tires 235/75/R15 BFG KO2 • Rally Armor Mud Flaps • Detours of Maine Custom Spare Tire Carrier • WeatherTech Floor Mats • Wet Okeole Hawaii Seat Covers

I’m Amanda, and my husband is Fred. We love to spend our time camping and exploring new trails around Oregon in our modified Subaru Crosstrek, not only to get outside to be together as a family, but also to be with our friends. Neither of us is from Oregon, so that’s another reason why we explore. This whole area is so new to us and we want to see all of the beauty that it holds.

Our journey started off in Michigan with a Toyota Tacoma and a ground tent. That didn’t last long because we hated the set up and take down of the ground tent, not to mention the struggle of fitting it back into the tent bag that’s two sizes too small. Through an online forum, we discovered the rooftop tent. The ease of the set up intrigued us, which led us to pull the trigger on a CVT rooftop tent.

After moving to Oregon a few years later, we decided to move to a smaller vehicle. We wanted something that was better on gas but still capable of going on the trails. In February of 2019, we bought our Subaru Crosstrek and started our Instagram page. To us, our page was just something to do for fun. Neither of us had experience in social media. I liked the creative side of photography, but I didn’t know how to use a camera. For the first year, I actually took all of our photos on an older Android phone. After that, my husband learned how to use a DSLR camera. He currently uses a Sony A7iii.

We began exploring just around the coast. We’d pick a dirt road and use Google Maps to guide us around. We quickly learned that the Subaru community was large and very supportive. This led us to attending our first car meet that spring, where we met a ton of amazing people. This is how we met IG:pnw_crosstrek and IG:overlandandspeed, who are now our closest friends.

Our first dispersed camping trip was at a small, local mountain. I was honestly terrified. I grew up camping at campgrounds, so, naturally, that’s where I felt safe. Being out in wilderness with no one around for miles seemed crazy to me. My thoughts were, “What if a bear or cougar attacked us?” For the record, the only things we’ve ever seen at camp were a rabbit, a few deer, and some mice. So, I put my fears aside for one night to humor my husband’s dispersed camping dreams. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It was so peaceful out there and we saw an amazing sunset, but the best part was when we woke up the next morning. We woke up above the clouds. It was the most magical thing I have ever experienced. In that moment, I fell in love with dispersed camping and with Oregon.

After that, we began exploring the trails around Bend with pnw_ crosstrek. We camped by a cliffside overlooking a lake, other spots with a view of the mountains, and a few places that were river/lake side. The views never disappointed, but it wasn’t always picture perfect like Instagram makes things look. We’ve camped in some pretty bad winds which isn’t fun. This other spot was next to a small lake and it looked absolutely beautiful, but it turned out that the entire mosquito population lived there. It’s a funny story now, but at the time it was pretty rough.

We built out our car pretty quickly, in my opinion. Since we knew we wanted to camp, we first bought the Slime II roof rack from Front Runner and a tent. We ended up going through a few rooftop tents because we really didn’t know what we wanted in a tent and it’s hard to judge something before you actually use it. (The other tents we had weren’t bad, they just didn’t fit our family’s needs). We now have an iKamper mini and we love it! We love that the outside has the characteristics of a hard shell, but the inside is a hybrid of a soft shell. The small, half flip out gives more room inside the tent than a standard hard shell normally would. The world map inside is pretty cool, too.

Next, we really wanted to invest in things that protected the car and kept it in good shape. To protect the underside of the car from rocks and other trail hazards, we bought skid plates from Primitive Racing. Since we have a child, we also wanted to keep the inside of the car well protected. We decided to put in seat covers from Wet Okole Hawaii and floor mats from WeatherTech.

Lastly, we bought a front bumper from F44 Off Road. This decision came about because we kept hitting our front end on the trails. It didn’t happen every time, and there was never any serious damage, but it was enough for us to want that high clearance in the front.

With our daughter growing up fast, we don’t really know what the future holds for us. All I know is that we will find a way to continue to explore the wilderness, camp, and leave things better than it was when we arrived.

Fred and Amanda

www.instagram.com/roaming_onward