When we bought our Class A Newmar New Aire earlier this year we knew we would need to purchase a car that we could flat tow (4 wheels on the ground) behind it.

In addition to serving as our “toad” – we wanted a car or truck that would be suitable for use on gravel roads and off road trails that are present in some of the national parks in the western part of the United States.

We looked at both a Jeep Wrangler and a Ford Bronco – two common vehicles that are often seen behind Class A motorhomes on the highway. At the end of the day the Bronco drove a bit better and was a quieter in the cabin – and importantly I loved the blue-gray color.

Score the Bronco for the win.

Our first real opportunity to use the Bronco off road in a National Park came during our recent visit to Olympic National Park. We decided to drive the 8-mile long gravel and dirt Obstruction Point Road from the top of Hurricane Ridge to the Obstruction Point trailhead and back.

The Bronco has a variety to driving modes that we don’t use during regular city and highway driving. For this road we were able to utilize some of the “4-High” modes traversing the rutted roads and steep inclines.

Overall the drive was very scenic. The road varied between being relatively smooth in some places and teeth jarringly rough in other places.

In short – we loved the experience!

Along the drive we saw a variety of wildlife and since there was little traffic we were able to stop and take our time taking pictures.

After only seeing a car or two during our drive to Obstruction Point (a good thing on a one-lane road) we found a small parking lot full of cars for hikers using the Point as a trailhead at the end of the road.

Of course – one of the downsides to this type of trail is that the Bronco got a bit dusty! But if it can’t take a little mud and dust – it really isn’t much of an off-road vehicle!

We were treated to some spectacular views along the drive – including watching clouds swirl around the mountains as we watched.

The road was relatively easy to navigate and it was fun to do something that we simply could not have done on previous visits as taking an RV or trailer down the Obstruction Point Road is not recommended by the NPS. After driving the Bronco on the road I am glad that we never attempted this in the Airstream Atlas.

This was so much fun we are already looking for some more off-road drives to take next year on some of our planned camping outings in 2027!

Stay tuned for several more stories from our recent Olympic National Park trip!