Most van gatherings are a field, a stage, some vendor booths, and whatever you brought to eat. VanWild is a different animal: four nights in Montrose, Colorado where breakfast, dinner, drinks, and a guided adventure every single day are all included in one ticket.
The fifth annual VanWild runs September 17–20, 2026 at The Camper’s Hub, and the format is worth understanding even if you never go — because it points at where van gatherings may be heading.
Images courtesy of Adrenaline HQ / VanWild
What You Get for the Ticket
General admission is $700 per person. That is a lot more than a typical van festival gate ticket, so here is exactly what it covers:
- Four nights of camping at The Camper’s Hub
- Access to the coworking space, kitchenette, showers, and restrooms
- Daily breakfast, dinners, and beverages
- One guided experience per day
- Wine tasting and live music
- A limited-edition VanWILD t-shirt
Premium camping with full hookups is a $350 add-on. Those sites are limited and, per the organisers, “typically sell out very quickly.” Standard dry camping is included in the base ticket.
Check-in opens Thursday at 4:00 p.m.; checkout is Monday at 11:00 a.m.
The Daily Experience Menu
This is the part that separates VanWild from a standard expo. Each day you pick one guided activity from a menu:
- Guided trail drives — the reason half the field shows up in a 4×4 rig
- Fly fishing with Montrose Anglers
- Golf at The Bridges
- Mountain biking at Electric Hills
- Yoga
Image courtesy of Adrenaline HQ / VanWild
The guided trail drive is the headline. Montrose sits in southwestern Colorado near the San Juans, which is some of the best high-alpine four-wheeling in the country. Running those passes in convoy with people who know the routes is meaningfully different — and safer — than picking a line off a forum thread and hoping your rig clears it.
Why Montrose
Montrose is not an accident of scheduling. It sits at the mouth of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, within reach of the Uncompahgre Plateau and the San Juan Mountains, and it is far enough from the Front Range crowds that mid-September is genuinely quiet.
The venue address is The Camper’s Hub, 18265 US-550, Montrose, CO 81403 — right on the highway that runs south toward Ouray and Silverton.
The Real Trade-off
Be clear-eyed about what $700 buys and what it does not.
What it does not buy: a huge field of vans to tour. This is not the event for comparison shopping or walking through forty layouts. If you are trying to decide between builders, an expo serves you better and costs a fraction as much.
What it does buy: four days where the logistics are handled and the activities are booked. No cooking, no scrambling for a trailhead, no figuring out whether your rig can handle a pass. For people who already own their van and want to actually use it in good company, that is a genuinely different proposition — closer to a small guided trip than a festival.
Image courtesy of Adrenaline HQ / VanWild
Priced per person, a couple is looking at $1,400 before the hookup upgrade. Judged as a festival ticket, that is steep. Judged as four nights of lodging, eight meals, drinks, and four guided outdoor activities in southwestern Colorado, it lands differently.
Who Runs It
VanWild is organised by Adrenaline HQ. Five years in, the event has a settled format and a returning crowd — which is part of the appeal and part of the caution. Gatherings with a strong core of repeat attendees can be warm and easy to join, or they can feel like arriving at someone else’s reunion. Worth asking the organisers what the first-timer ratio looks like before you commit.
The Details
- Dates: September 17–20, 2026 (check-in Thursday 4 p.m., checkout Monday 11 a.m.)
- Venue: The Camper’s Hub, 18265 US-550, Montrose, CO 81403
- General admission: $700 per person, dry camping included
- Premium camping upgrade: $350, full hookups, limited and sells out early
- Edition: fifth annual
Learn More
- VanWild by Adrenaline HQ — tickets and full details
Related Stories
- Van Life Gatherings: What’s Left in 2026 and What’s Ahead in 2027
- Adventure Van Expo: Three Stops Left on the 2026 Tour
All-inclusive gathering or classic open-field van festival — which format would you rather spend a weekend at? Tell us in the comments.
This post may contain affiliate links and/or sponsored content.
Alex
Latest posts by Alex (see all)
- Van Life Gatherings: What’s Left in 2026 and What’s Ahead in 2027 - July 31, 2026
- VanWild Colorado: An All-Inclusive Van Gathering in Montrose - July 31, 2026
- New Zealand’s Tiny House Expo Returns to Hamilton This October - July 31, 2026
