Shipping container turned camping pod

If you visit a campground this weekend, you’ll likely see tents and trailers, yurts and cabins. And coming to a campsite near you, the latest in outdoor comfort direct from Seattle’s working waterfront. The big, rectangular metal enclosure looks a lot like something you’d find at the Port of Seattle, which is exactly where they got it.

“This is actually a shipping container that was donated to us by Matson Shipping,” said Sujata Goel, a program manager for the county parks department, of the container on display outside King County Parks headquarters in Seattle “It’s been cleaned, scrubbed, the lead paint’s been taken off and now it’s been painted,” she explained.

Goel calls this a green conversion using soy-based spray foam insulation with leftover and donated materials. “The cabinets were actually salvaged from a tear-down that we did on one of our properties so [floor] boards were salvaged out of that same tear-down, all of this great paneling on the walls is old pine board that we had sitting in our yard from old projects.”

Ammenities include LED lighting, big windows and a sliding glass door. Everything you want on a camping trip. “I know nowadays, most people can’t wander away without their smart phones so there is power and heat inside. We also have beds for four so you just really need to bring a pillow, a sleeping bag and some cereal and you’re all set,” said Goel.

For now, King County has just the one camping container. It’ll be installed at Tolt-McDonald Park, near Carnation, by Labor Day. That park already has yurts for rent. Goel thinks the converted shipping containers will prove popular and more durable, too.

“If you have a pocket knife, you can get inside a yurt whereas with something like this, because of the integrity of the shell, you do have to be very industrious to break in,” Goel said.

The freshly painted shipping container turned camping pod drew some surprised looks when it was plopped down on the street in downtown Seattle for a show and tell.

“I think it’s actually really cool,” exclaimed one passerby. “It’s a heckuva idea, it’s a reusable item,” said one man.

The shipping container is a way to promote the county’s 26,000 acres of park land. It’ll rent for about $45-to-$50 per night, by reservation.