Most travel trailers are boring white boxes where the most exciting element might be an outdoor kitchen or a new location for a toilet. Off-road campers bring rugged flair to the table, but often do so in a super serious way that makes you want to roll your eyes.
Mammoth Overland is taking a different tack with it’s new XLE ‘Xtinction-Level Escape’ camper – it’s over-the-top ridiculous and silly just for the fun of it. This camper shoots a huge cloud of bear spray, has weapons storage, bullet-proof windows, blast shields, flare launchers, a HAM radio, cameras, a sealed cabin with an air-filtration system, and more. It’s just the right amount of fun in a world that’s way too serious.
The off-road camper world is full of rigs that are earnest in their sometimes exhausting branding and marketing. They use names like “Summit”, “Expedition,” “Roamer,” or “Overland.” These things are huge, often covered in truck bedliner, and cost as much as a house. Sometimes, these trailers aren’t even well-equipped for off-roading.
Upon first inspection, the Mammoth Overland XLE ‘Xtinction-Level Escape’ camper appears to be at the crossroads of the prepper movement and overland campers. But let’s be real here, when will you ever need your camper to have blast shields? Where are you camping, a bomb test site? Unless Mammoth Overland is aware of some impending apocalypse, most of the features of this camper will never be used. Everything about this trailer is absurd, but it’s so unhinged that it comes back to being awesome again.
Built Like A Plane By People Who Build Planes
I’ve been writing about Mammoth Overland since 2023 and even tested the company’s previous flagship, the Extinction-Level Event (ELE) Off-Road Trailer. Here’s a quick review of its origins:
This company is a subsidiary of Vashon Aircraft, which was founded by John Torode in Washington in 2012. Vashon Aircraft’s mission is to make aviation more accessible for everyone who wants to take to the sky. If you’re not tuned into the aviation world, it helps to know that a basic new Cessna 172 can cost you around $600,000. Used ones older than you are may still be more than $100,000. Torode hated that, so his company developed the Ranger R7 Light Sport Aircraft.
This all-metal aircraft is designed to be easy to fly, easy to train in, and far more affordable than the aviation establishment. Vashon does it by cutting out everything you don’t need. A Ranger makes no effort to be pretty, doesn’t try to hide its rough edges, and doesn’t get any unnecessary fluff. The plane is basically a large flight deck with some wings, wheels, and an engine attached to it. As such, a base model Ranger is $159,500.
There has always been a bit of an outdoorsy element to Vashon, too. The company’s founder and its staff love spending time out in Washington’s vast outdoors. As such, they baked in a feature into the Ranger where its seats can fold flat so you can camp out in the plane. But that was just the beginning. The folks who ran Vashon got the idea that there should be a trailer built exactly like a plane, from a company that builds planes. Mammoth Overland was founded in 2021 with a focus on building off-road trailers constructed like the Ranger.
The impetus for a camper that sprays bears happened after Mammoth Overland President Scott Taylor was peppered with questions from prospective buyers about whether his campers would be bear-proof. Apparently, the folks who camp in Washington are so concerned about bears that they want more than just hard walls between them and the curious creatures.
I visited the Mammoth Overland factory in Washington in 2024 and was blown away. Many RV companies have claimed to build their campers like planes are made. Others say their campers are inspired by aircraft design. Mammoth Overland can legitimately claim all of this. The machines that build the wings for Vashon Ranger aircraft pump out the panels for Mammoth Overland campers. The very same rivets that hold Rangers together cover Mammoth Overland campers. Even the aluminum used for Mammoth Overland trailers is the same as that used for Ranger aircraft.
Mammoth Overland made headlines with the aforementioned ELE ‘squaredrop’ trailer, which featured submarine doors, a Geiger counter, a sealed cabin with positive pressure and an air filtration system, weapons storage, a drone launch platform, bear spray cannons, optional bulletproofing, and so much more.
The company then followed it up with the TL Tall Boy (above). This family-oriented camper ditched the extinction-level event theme and gained a bathroom and a ceiling high enough to permit real standing room. Where do you go next when you’ve already crafted some nutty campers? Make the craziest trailer you can.
The Great Escape
The XLE combines the two concepts for an apocalypse-ready bunker that you can actually stand in.
The Xtinction-Level Escape trailer, or XLE, starts with the basic design of the Tall Boy. That means it has a body made out of riveted aluminum with R5 insulation and a ceiling so high that a 6 foot, 3 inch tall person will have no problem fitting inside. It rides on a chassis featuring a dual Timbren 5200HD independent suspension, 33-inch BFGoodrich tires, and 22 inches of ground clearance.
But the XLE departs from its Tall Boy bones quickly. The Mammoth Overland team started by bringing over the ELE’s air filtration system. The XLE features a reinforced vault-style door with multiple locking pins. This seals the XLE from the outside world. To keep the outside from leaking in, the XLE is given a slight positive pressure. Dual medical-grade HEPA does its best to keep the air in the camper clean against whatever’s going on outside.
That filtration system is perhaps the mildest part of this camper. The XLE is equipped with thick bulletproof windows, and if things get really grim, you can cover them with the camper’s included blast shields. Apparently, the idea is that if you need to lock the XLE down to protect its occupants from whatever’s in the air in Washington, or that really annoying in-law, the camper can turn itself into a mini bunker.
Oh, it gets even wilder from here. Attached to the camper’s exterior is a laundry list of toys. Several night vision cameras dot the camper’s exterior, making for a sort of camper version of Tesla’s Sentry Mode. If you’re all hunkered down in your mobile bunker and see a bear, an insurgent, or just your neighbor trying to steal your lawnmower again, you can hit them with a sonic defense system, which appears to be a pair of horns meant for a semi-tractor.
If the threat keeps on encroaching on the perimeter of the camper, you can then remotely fire one or all of the four bear spray cannons, which douse the perimeter of the camper in the stuff. Bear spray – largely something like Capsaicin – is highly effective against bears. But don’t use it against humans. The stuff is about three times as potent as typical self-protection sprays and can cause horrifying effects like blood clots and strokes.
If whatever is bothering you gets past the bear spray and you now want to notify people nearby of potential trouble, a new feature of the XLE is a 37-millimeter flare launcher that can be reloaded from inside the camper. You can also hit the camper’s strobe lights to make more of a show.
The amusingly overkill features don’t end there. The XLE also sports storage for dual long rifles, a separate gun safe, a medical kit, another safe under the bed, a HAM radio, a weather station, and a Geiger counter. Some wilderness experts recommend being armed to stop a bear when spray doesn’t work. Finally, the camper has a rooftop observation deck with two standing platforms plus an escape hatch.
The rest of the XLE’s features are just standard camper fare. There’s a 1,200 Ah lithium battery, 400 W of solar, two propane tanks, a generator, a water filtration system, and integrated Starlink. Comfort features include a 12V air-conditioner, a 45L refrigerator, a shielded Truma VarioHeat system for hot water and cabin heat, a propane cooktop, and a 50-gallon water tank. Being built on the TL also means a king bed, bunk beds, a shower, and a cassette toilet, features missing from the ELE.
Of course, like any proper vehicle with “overland” in its name, the XLE has all sorts of mounts for traction boards, shovels, water jugs, fuel jugs, spare tires, crates, or whatever else you want to stick on the side of your camper. There’s even a spice rack. Allegedly, the camper can carry more than enough supplies to last a full week in the wilderness.
All of this comes in at a length of 18’4.2,” a height of 9’5.5,” and a width of 7’4.1.” The trailer has a dry weight of 4,500 pounds and a loaded weight of 5,200 pounds.
Expensive, But Looks Like So Much Fun
The biggest number is the price, which is $123,994, or $54,494 more expensive than the Tall Boy it’s based on. The only options are the smoke and flare launcher at $8,000 and a custom wrap for $7,500. The XLE’s price seems to be as wild as the rest of it is. Orders are open now for deliveries later this year.
Mammoth Overland sees the XLE as being a bit of a mobile operations center for the end of the world. Again, as far as I know, the world isn’t ending. Most of these features won’t even make much sense in a real-world emergency because you’ll have to leave the camper at some point. There’s a reason why real bunkers are underground.
The Mammoth Overland team knows this, however. Mammoth’s Scott Taylor told me that you aren’t supposed to take these campers totally seriously. The company doesn’t actually think that the world is ending. Some of the bits are serious, like the bear sprayers, which were a legitimate request by customers. The air filtration system might also be beneficial if you’re camping somewhere with terrible air quality, and it’s nice to have that water filtration system. The rest of it, though? It’s all fun.
It would be easy to hate the XLE as prepper bait, but I can’t help but smile. Like the ELE, the XLE will turn heads, get people talking, and make people laugh. It’s a camper that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but should also just be a great place to sleep. In a world where seemingly everything carries tremendous weight, I like silly ideas like this. Will you ever need a gun locker and a Geiger counter while camping at a state park? No, but the idea is funny. I’m going to need to see one of these rocking a Vault-Tec wrap.
Top graphic images: Mammoth Overland; Hanna-Barbera
If you need something like this you probably shouldn’t nor actually enjoy camping.
Cringe, masturbatory shit. I hope all the people who buy these move into the woods and stay there.
Perfect for that particular new subset of of human. The paranoid ‘alpha’ male.
I was going to get mad but then I saw it had a Geiger counter, Geiger counters are so cool.
I’ll allow it.
I’d love to own one of these. It’s so wildly, gloriously crazy! 5200 lbs loaded isn’t that bad. The rooftop observation stand would definitely be a used feature.
Just a thought? Has anyone ever added a small low HP motor to a travel trailer that could act as a trolling motor to center the trailer in the camp area or allign the hitch over the ball?
Frankly if this happens I want royalties
Yes. You can also buy little battery-powered tank things that will drag an ordinary trailer for you.
The trailer from The Lost World.
Probably better, the articulated RV they had in that one seemed like sort of a piece of crap
The movie one was kinda trash, but the one in the book was rad AF with an electrified skin for scaring off bears.
I barely remember the book at all, other than the river part and the bit in the beginning with them failing to wipe the computer hard drive sold at InGen’s bankruptcy auction
The book made me want to make an electric Ford Explorer. The cars that they brought to the island were really neat.
Oh yeah, didn’t they have solar panels fitted to them? That was Michael Crichton trying to give a sort of hat tip to the movie, since Spielberg had changed the electric Land Cruisers to electric Explorers
Those cars were pretty badass. I have to admit that I grew up with an unhealthy amount of hero worship for the character Dr. Thorne in that book.
So good thing when you are in and “xtinction” level event. Either you want be able to eat or you will have to hire pawns to make your food since the kitchen is outside with zero protection.
Mercedes don’t be so quick to dismiss the practical applications of this vehicle. Sure regular door locks and a vehicle with a motor are all you need to outsmart your average bear however this mobile unit, not very mobile since it is only as effective as the vehicle pulling it doesn’t have the real needs.
But a little marketing magic you have the world’s first tiny house cheaper than anything house you can purchase in LA where every feature mentioned would be needed on a day to day basis. Bulletproof windows? Overkill for a bear but needed in LA. Bear spray? Let’s teach them ICE son of a bitches about tear gas. I would love to see what it has for theft detergent and tire theft.
But is there a backup escape hatch out the bottom, in case a family of Sasquatches decides to roll it over onto its roof (or down a big hill), just for fun? Seems like that would be a major oversight if it doesn’t have one.
With enough ammunition you can make an escape hatch out of whatever side you want.
Just needs some anti-alien and anti-Argentinian coup purple duct tape all over the windows.
Nobody who has used this special purple duct tape has ever been abducted by aliens OR caught up in the 1976 Argentine Coup d’Etat.
I saw one of these a nearby business that usually has nothing but Tesla sedans and Cybertrucks in the employee parking lot. I wondered what it was.
Fun publicity stunt, but that’s about it.
If you want to pretend you’re a victim needing to hunker down from attackers in a mobile bunker, then I can’t help but to pretend that I’m the attacker. I’m just saying that to clarify that I don’t mean anyone harm; we’re all just living in the land of make-believe here.
Clearly the answer is to approach from directly ahead (where there are no windows) and to build a fire under the trailer.
Forget the fire it can be defeated with a tarp or a car cover. I wonder how effective that helps air filter is against concentrated bear spray sealed in a few inches between the body and tarp?
You could also unhitch it from the vehicle it’s attached to and roll it down a hill like the grand tour
Did anyone else think (for a moment) HAM radio had something to do with Salami data storage?
And why does everybody want to write “ham” all-caps? It’s not an acronym, it’s just a word.
Not so fast the term HAM was used by commercial radio operators as a derogatory term for Amateur radio operators where 2 HAMs could actually block out most commercial radio operators in a specific area.
I am no expert I just googled it.
Not questioning the term “ham” (I was one once long ago). Just why some feel the need to write it all-caps. I doubt that 2 hams could “block out most” commercial radio unless a) the locations were very close, 2) the frequencies were adjacent, or harmonic multiples of the ham’s, iii) the hams were running much higher power (2KW was the costly ham limit, far higher than your average taxi radio), D) the commercial ones had crappy receivers. (The last did happen with consumer gear like TVs, because that tends to have poor electronics and shielding, and the ham’s antenna might be very much closer than the station’s.)
Had to do some “desktop research” on that:
The term ham was originally a pejorative, used in professional wired telegraphy during the 19th century to mock operators with poor Morse code-sending skills -“ham-fisted”. The use of ham to mean amateurish or unskilled survives to this day in another discipline— i.e. ham actor.
The amateur radio community subsequently reclaimed the word as a label of pride.
Although not an acronym or initialism, it is occasionally written as “HAM” in capital letters.
Ham Adjacent Meat-product (HAM).
It’s a mechanically separated, fully processed, simulated meat product.
Well, if you need a trailer for the Zombie Apocalypse, this looks like it.
I could see the air filtration being useful if you end up downwind of a wildfire and have the time to consider if you should just leave or what. Obviously if a big wildfire is bad and/or close enough, you’re just going to leave.
Could be useful for dusty conditions, or allergies too.
Nice camper. You can sleep till noon but before it’s dark, you’ll have every picnic basket that’s in Jellystone Park. The ranger isn’t going to like it.
Oh, you mean “Pic-A-Nic basket?”
But will it save you from a rabid Torchinski?
Bears maybe, but will it protect you from rabid attackers demanding answers to deep-dive automotive trivia questions? Apparently that’s a big problem in the Carolinas.
“HEY YOU, WHAT’S THE LARGEST 3-CYLINDER VEHICLE!?!?”
**Sonic blast from horns**
**Bear spray**
**Blast shields up**
“The trailer has a dry weight of 4,500 pounds and a loaded weight of 5,200 pounds”.
Am I missing something, you only get 700 pounds of cargo of which 400ish is a 50 gallon water tank?
Once the average prepper packs the MREs and Tannerite, that’s not much room for ammo. Bullets are heavy!
Don’t worry most of it is packed in the outside cubbies where the average LA THIEF will break in and steal it before you leave your driveway
Is anyone else disappointed this thing doesn’t spray bears at zombies?
Or zombies at bears? I mean PETA will screw you if you have a vacuum that sucks in bears and shreds them before spray the zombies. However the Far Left hasn’t created an acronym or protest group to protect zombies. People Opposing Zombie Ingesting Engines. Send your donations to PONZIE care of Blue Sky
Looks hard to turn around on a tight trail.
I am not afraid of much, but I am afraid of this camper.
Finally a camper to protect against all those bear arms the Constitution keeps talking about 🙂
Never want the bear arms apparently women prefer them over men at arms.
This is the camper for the person afraid of everything.
If you experienced the horrors of the Simon and Garfunkel riots in Central Park, you’d be afraid too!
The only thing it’s missing is a rocking chair with a shotgun rack on it
How about a shotgun chair instead? Gotta save room where you can.
Except huge Monthly payments that go on forever
And, for that, they have Stellantis’ 96month financing for their Ram Hemi pickup.