Alaskan Campers

Alaskan Campers has been building the same iconic telescoping truck camper in Winlock, Washington since 1958, and the fundamental idea has never changed: rigid aluminum walls that raise on a hydraulic lift for full standing room at camp, then collapse back down to a low, aerodynamic profile for the drive home. Don and Irene Hall invented the design after a challenging wilderness trip, and the camper that came out of that experience became a fixture on North American overland rigs long before the term "overlanding" existed.

What makes an Alaskan different from every soft-wall pop-top on the market is that the raised walls are hard panels, not fabric. When the camper is up, you have four solid walls around you, better insulation, and no concern about zippers or canvas degrading over time. The hydraulic system does the lifting in seconds, and owners typically run the same pump for decades without issues. Alaskan builds every camper to order at the Winlock facility, and the lineup runs from the compact 630 that shuts a tailgate on a modern short-bed truck to the long-bed 1000 SI for crews or families who want the most living space a slide-in can deliver.

The trade-off is weight and cost. These are full-featured, full-size campers with a furnace, large fresh-water tank, and cabinetry standard, so they land in the 1,550 to 2,250-pound range and require a 3/4-ton or heavier truck for most models. For buyers who want a true four-season self-contained unit with hard walls that pop up, Alaskan is effectively the only option in its category and has been for 65-plus years.