The Marin Mountaineer

Hey world.

It’s time to welcome the Marin Mountaineer to the van rental game.

[Insert deep blissful sigh] What a weekend. Two weeks ago Luke and I had the incredible privilege of taking out one of GoCamp‘s San Francisco-based campervans, the Marin Mountaineer. It had been months (yes, months) since we’d hopped inside a van and getting to drive around in this bad boy was pure joy.

We’re here to share some of the features of the MM, but first, a little backstory: a few weeks ago Luke and I met up with Deborah- the glorious human behind GoCamp. GoCamp is a van rental company similar to AirBnB throughout parts of Oregon and Northern California. After an evening gabbing about the beauty of the Great American roadtrip, she let us know she needed photographers, and we clued her in on our desire to get back on the road. Enter: the perfect partnership. We’ll be taking out some of GoCamp’s Bay Area camper vans, snapping dozens of photos and then sharing our trips with all of you. Our van build probably would have gone pretty differently if we were given this experience prior to starting. A good test drive goes a long way.

During our trip in the Marin Mountaineer Luke and I drove up and down the Northern California coast through those great and powerful redwoods then fell asleep to the sounds of the ocean. We happened to pull over to the most insane picnic spot for lunch and wound up camping out for a few hours to snap some photos and drink wine. Read on to hear more about this rad van!

QUIT SEARCHING, THIS IS YOUR VAN IF :

You’re a group of 2-4! There are two backseats with seatbelts and a pop-top bed.
You like secret club houses. We’re only two people but you better BELIEVE I spent half the weekend chilling in the pop-top bed, pretending I’m a cat.
You’re into photography and want those moody driving down that lush deep dark road shots. The body of the Marin Mountaineer is a classic.
You dislike that “RV” feel. This van feels authentic, like yes you’re sleeping in a car but you’re probably still a badass and climb v9s (y’know, just as we all do, right?).
You have a lot of clothes. Excellent storage space in this dude. Truly a surprising amount.
You’ll be doing some city driving. This baby is nice and compact, there will be no stressing over finding a parking spot you can squeeze yourself into.

TRY BACK ANOTHER TIME IF :

You’re a group of 4 and the weather isn’t great. It can easily sit and sleep 4 but in terms of hanging out inside, you’ll want some outdoor space to stretch your legs.
You’re over 6’2″. Luke’s a tall drink of water (in the figurative sense but he’s also actually pretty tall) and could fall asleep atop a busy highway median so he was fine but it might be a tight squish for a tall light-sleeper.
You can’t drive stick. Sorry Charlie.

Hit us up with any questions you may have about this van or any other! Maybe we’ll see you out there on the road one day 😊.