Chevy Colorado Camping Guide: Bed Sleeping, Space and Setup

The Chevrolet Colorado is a capable midsize camping truck that flies a little under the radar next to the Tacoma, but offers much of the same recipe: a modular truck bed you sleep in rather than a cab, weatherproof topper or rooftop-tent options, and - in the right trim - serious off-road hardware.

The honest numbers: the current Colorado comes only with a short bed of roughly 61-62 inches, while older versions offered a long bed around 74 inches. On a modern short bed, sleeping flat means dropping the tailgate with an extender or building a platform that reclaims length - the same approach most midsize trucks use.

That short-bed-only reality is the single most important thing to know before buying. It does not stop you sleeping flat; it just means a platform or extender is part of the plan, not optional.

This guide covers bed dimensions, sleeping and topper setups, storage, power, ventilation, cooking, and the off-road capability that the Trail Boss and ZR2 trims bring. If you are still choosing a platform, our camping-vehicle overview frames where a midsize truck fits.

Plan your Colorado build around the bed. The current-generation short bed measures roughly 61-62 inches long, with width around 57-58 inches at the floor and about 51 inches between the wheel housings; depth is near 21 inches.

Older long beds ran about 74 inches, which fit most adults flat without any extension - worth seeking out on the used market if interior-flat sleeping without a platform matters to you.

The length number drives sleeping: 61-62 inches is short for adults, so a tailgate-down extension or a platform is needed to lie flat, while an older 74 inch long bed fits most people.

A platform built above wheel-well height reclaims full rectangular width - the same trick every truck camper uses to beat the wheel-well pinch. To turn these into a pad choice, our guide to sizing a sleeping surface applies directly. Confirm the figures for your exact year and configuration, since Chevrolet changed the bed offerings between generations.

The standard Colorado sleeping setup is a platform in the bed - a low deck across the wheel wells that yields a flat, full-width surface with storage beneath. On top goes a custom-cut foam pad, a truck-bed air mattress, or a self-inflating pad.

The platform does double duty on a short-bed Colorado: it flattens the sleeping surface and, built to the right length, it reclaims usable bed length toward the tailgate so a six-footer can stretch out. Our DIY platform guide maps directly to this bed.

There is a tailgate decision to make. Sleeping with it up keeps you to the bed's 61-62 inches and lets you lock the topper fully; sleeping with it down unlocks the extra length most adults need but means your feet extend over the open gate, so the platform and any extender have to bridge that join. Decide which before you build, because it sets the deck length you cut.

For weather, a topper encloses the bed into a dry, lockable sleeping room - low and all-weather - while a rooftop tent gives a comfortable off-ground bed that frees the bed for gear.

The choice shapes the whole rig. A topper keeps you low and stealthy and lets you build the platform beneath it, which suits a year-round daily-driver build. A rooftop tent gives a more comfortable, better-ventilated bed but adds height, cost, and a nightly setup, and it suits campers who prize sleeping comfort and a fast camp over a low profile.

Pick the surface with our sleeping-pad guide, sized to the Colorado's bed.

On a current short-bed Colorado, plan to sleep with the tailgate down or on a platform that reclaims length - that is how you turn 61-62 inches into a flat adult bed.

A Colorado bed organizes best with a drawer system under a sleeping platform: slide-out drawers for kitchen and tools, flat deck above for the bed. Our truck drawer-system guide is written for this exact use.

The drawer-under-platform layout is the heart of a good midsize truck build - it turns the bed into a two-level system, sleeping on top and organized storage below, without sacrificing either.

Because the bed is open, keep gear dry and secure with a topper or sealed drawers, and add a roof rack with a basket or box for bulky overflow within load limits.

Packing in labeled bins inside the drawers keeps camp setup fast and tidy, and means you can find the headlamp without unpacking the whole truck after dark.

Think about access from the start. The kitchen and the most-used gear go in the drawers nearest the tailgate; sleeping gear and rarely-touched items live deeper or up front. A drawer that needs the whole bed cleared to open defeats the purpose, so plan the slide direction and the bin layout around how you actually move through a camp evening.

• Drawer system under a platform = organized gear + flat bed
• Topper or sealed drawers keep an open bed's gear dry and locked
• Roof rack handles bulky overflow within rated limits

Colorado camping power needs are modest for weekends and scalable for longer trips. The cab's 12V outlet and USB ports charge devices while driving, and some trims offer bed-mounted outlets useful at camp.

For most owners, that plus a portable battery covers a weekend without any thought - you rarely need to modify the truck for lights, phones, and a small fridge.

For lights, a fridge, or off-grid charging, the clean answer is a portable power station stored in the bed or a drawer - no wiring, movable, recharged from the truck, solar, or a wall outlet.

Size it with our guide to power-station runtime while camping, and see the broader case for a station over a wired system - a dual-battery build only earns its place on heavy, daily, off-grid loads.

Think in terms of real loads rather than a big round number. A mid-capacity station running LED lights, a few phone charges, and a small 12V cooler overnight asks far less than people expect, and it recharges on the drive between sites from the truck's 12V socket. Step up only if you add a compressor fridge or run a CPAP, and consider a folding solar panel to top off at a longer stay.

Under a topper, the Colorado faces the usual condensation problem: warm breath meets cold metal and glass overnight and fogs the windows. The remedy is airflow, set up before you sleep.

It catches new truck campers off guard because a separate bed feels like it should breathe - but a sealed cap traps moisture exactly like a closed cabin does.

Crack the topper's sliding side windows on opposite sides for cross-flow, run a small USB fan, and use a roof vent where fitted. Keep wet gear out of the sleeping zone and never cook under the topper.

Cold nights are the worst, because the gap between your warm breath and the cold metal and glass is largest - and that is exactly when people seal up tightest and wake up wettest. Vent anyway; a slightly cooler bed beats a damp one every time.

Our explainer on managing condensation covers the physics and fixes. If you camp in consistently cold, damp conditions, a rooftop tent with mesh panels breathes much better and avoids most of the problem.

The Colorado's camping ceiling rises sharply with its off-road trims. A standard 4WD Colorado handles dirt forest roads and dispersed access comfortably, but the Trail Boss and especially the ZR2 add the hardware that opens up real backcountry.

That means extra ground clearance, off-road suspension, skid plates, and on the ZR2 front and rear locking differentials plus terrain modes and, on capable versions, position-sensitive dampers that soak up rough trails.

That makes a ZR2 genuinely capable on rough, rutted, and rocky trails far beyond a crossover or a milder truck - true midsize body-on-frame capability with low-range gearing. For campers who want to reach remote, hard-access sites, an off-road-trim Colorado is a serious tool.

The Colorado's range is wide: a base 4WD reaches most dispersed sites, while a ZR2 tackles technical trails that stop nearly everything else.

For a camper, the clearance and the locking diffs matter most on the approach roads, not the trail photos. The washed-out, rocky forest-service road that leads to a quiet dispersed site is exactly where a milder truck turns back and a ZR2 simply continues - which is the whole point of buying the capability.

With that reach comes the need to plan remote trips well - our trip-planning guide covers the fundamentals that scale to the backcountry.

Like any pickup, the Colorado hosts a camp kitchen naturally. The tailgate is a waist-height work surface, and a slide-out drawer in the bed puts your stove, pots, and food at exactly the right height to cook standing up.

The classic layout runs a stove on the folded tailgate or a slide-out drawer, with a water jug and a cooler within reach. You cook facing out the back, sheltered by the open topper hatch in light rain.

Never run a stove inside a closed topper - the carbon-monoxide and fire risk is real, and the moisture worsens condensation in the space you are about to sleep in. The kitchen belongs at the open tailgate, full stop.

Keep the whole kitchen in one drawer or bin so it is self-contained and the sleeping platform stays clear. A rear awning extends the cooking zone in rain, and an LED strip lights the counter after dark. Our car-camping essentials checklist covers the cookware and water setup for a bed galley.

The Colorado's trim ladder spans easy daily-driver versions and serious trail trucks, so the choice shapes where you can camp.

If you stick to graded roads and campgrounds: a base or mid 4WD Colorado is plenty, rides comfortably, and saves money over the off-road trims while still giving you the full modular bed for sleeping and storage.

If dispersed access matters: the Trail Boss adds clearance, off-road suspension, and skid plates at a reasonable premium - the sweet spot for most backcountry campers.

If you tackle genuine trails: the ZR2 is the one to chase, with its locking differentials, more clearance, and trail-tuned suspension. It costs and drinks more, but it reaches places a milder truck cannot.

The bed and sleeping reality is the same across trims, so choose for capability and ride, not for sleeping space - every Colorado is a short-bed truck that needs a platform or extender to lie flat.

Match the trim to your roughest access road: base for graded roads, Trail Boss for dispersed access, ZR2 for technical trails.

Living out of a Colorado is comfortable once the bed is set up thoughtfully. Privacy and darkness under a topper come from window covers - our privacy-curtain options adapt to topper glass so you can change and sleep in.

Those covers do double duty: they keep prying eyes out at a busy trailhead and block the early light that otherwise wakes you at dawn through a cap's many windows.

Insulated reflective covers add a third benefit — they cut heat gain on sunny mornings and slow heat loss on cold nights, which makes a meaningful difference to comfort in an uninsulated topper. Cut them to each window and store them flat against a side wall when you are driving.

The separate, enclosable bed handles rain well, though the deliberate gear-management habits in camping in the rain keep things dry.

In cold weather, an enclosed topper holds heat reasonably, and a good cold-weather blanket plus a properly rated bag keeps you warm without powered heat - the safest approach in any enclosed space.

In summer, the same enclosed bed traps heat, so park in shade where you can, vent both ends of the topper, and run a small fan off the power station for airflow. The payoff for all this attention is a midsize truck that doubles as a capable, weatherproof basecamp, ready to move to the next spot in minutes.

Picturing an actual trip makes the build choices concrete. Here is how a typical Colorado camping weekend runs with the short bed, a topper, and a simple platform.

The platform stays in the bed permanently with drawers below for kitchen, tools, and clothes; built to the right length it reclaims usable space toward the tailgate. You load food and a cooler, top off the power station, and drop a pad and bag on the deck - the truck is camp-ready in minutes.

At the site, setup is almost nothing: open the topper hatch, slide out the kitchen drawer at the tailgate, and crack the side windows for airflow. The bed is already a bed, so you are cooking before a tent camper has staked a corner.

• Arrive: park reasonably level so you are not sleeping on a slope
• Kitchen out: stove on the tailgate or slide-out drawer
• Vent: opposing topper windows cracked, fan on
• Sleep: the platform is the bed - roll out the pad and bag

The morning reverses just as fast: bag and pad stow, drawer slides shut, hatch closes and locks. The Colorado drives away as a normal truck with the whole camp secured and dry inside the topper - that speed and security is the payoff for the build cost.

For a multi-day trip, the same system just repeats: you can move camp to a new site in minutes because the bed never has to be unpacked and repacked, only opened and closed. That mobility is the quiet advantage of a built truck over a tent setup that takes half an hour to strike each morning.

Most Colorado camping frustrations come from a few avoidable errors, and they are worth knowing before you build.

The first is buying the current short bed expecting to lie flat without a plan. At 61-62 inches it is shorter than most adults - budget for a platform or tailgate extender from the start.

The second is leaving the open bed unprotected. Without a topper or sealed drawers, your gear is exposed to rain, dust, and theft; cover the bed before you call it a bedroom.

The third is sealing the topper against condensation - crack opposing windows and run a fan, even when it is cold.

The fourth is over-buying trim for the camping you actually do: a ZR2 is wasted money if you never leave graded roads, while a base 4WD with a good build camps beautifully. And the fifth is cooking under a closed cap - always a tailgate job.

• Short bed, no plan: add a platform or extender to lie flat
• Uncovered bed: a topper or sealed drawers make it a bedroom
• Sealed topper: vent it against condensation
• Over-buying trim: match the truck to your roughest road

The Colorado balances real capability and modularity against the size and thirst of a midsize truck. Weigh it honestly against both crossovers and rival trucks.

The takeaway: the Colorado is a capable, modular midsize camping truck that scales from easy dispersed access to serious trails in ZR2 form, at the usual truck cost in size, fuel, and build budget.

The Chevy Colorado is an underrated midsize camping truck. You sleep in a modular bed, not the cab, with topper or rooftop-tent weather protection and drawer-and-platform organization, and the off-road trims - especially the ZR2 - bring real capability for remote backcountry access.

Plan around the current short bed's roughly 61-62 inches: sleep with the tailgate down or build a platform that reclaims length to lie flat.

Add a topper or rooftop tent, a drawer system, and a portable power station, set up ventilation to beat condensation under a topper, and run your kitchen at the open tailgate.

For campers who want genuine 4WD capability, carrying capacity, and a weatherproof separate sleeping space - and who can live with a truck's size and fuel use - the Colorado is a strong, capable choice. Finish your kit with our camping essentials checklist and compare platforms in our camping-vehicle overview.