Everyone does road trips and overlanding differently. Some go the bigger-is-better route, with massive live-in trailers perfectly suited for going off the grid for a few days or even weeks; others prefer the minimalist way of life, bringing along only what they need to live comfortably outdoors for a day or two. The new Taxa Outdoors Woolly Bear off-road trailer? Well, it’s firmly in the latter camp.
Kickass name aside, the Woolly Bear tips the scales at just under 990 pounds, which is light enough to tow with a base-level 197-horsepower Subaru Outback. And, at just under 11 feet in length and nearly five feet tall and wide, it’s compact enough to fit in the average garage. But while it’s compact, it’s also capable; the Woolly Bear can carry up to an extra 710 pounds of gear, food and supplies — more than enough for two people going camping for a few days. (Seriously, way more than enough.)
Past experience with off-road trailers may have led you to realize they tend to be in same price range as the gigantic trucks that tow them. The Woolly Bear, on the other hand, starts at $9,200. That said, you can throw on options like a two-person rooftop tent, an accessory hitch for mountain bikes, NATO fuel cans and a portable two-burner stove to go with the integrated kitchen and cooler storage if you don’t mind pumping up the price beyond that.
If you’re not one for towering SUVs or you don’t want to worry about trailering a camper so enormous that you probably ought to have a commercial driver’s license to tow it, good news: the number of compact and well-designed lightweight off-road trailers on the market is on the rise. But like anything gear-related in the outdoors adventure space, price tags tend to expand along with the market — so it’s nice to see a new overlanding trailer like the Woolly Bear that comes in below the $10,000 mark, while still offering plenty of features.
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