Can we now just go back to just calling it “car camping”?

[Sparksalot]

Oh
My
God.

Columbia with an overlanding apparel line. Next thing you know, Jeeps will have a designation for those of thier vehicles that are more capable offroad and on trails...oops.

I mean, Jeep shouldn't have a Trail Rated badge because back in the day, Jeep MEANT Trail Rated.

Columbia doesnt need an overlanding line of apparel, because overlanders are already wearing that kind of stuff

Oh no, no. Columbia notes roamerlanders need greater range of motion in their appearal. Because, you know, sitting behind the wheel is more strenuous than simply walking.

 

[bgenlvtex]

LOL, lots of angst in this thread holy shit.

I think some of y'all care way too much about what somebody calls something, anything.

"Overlanding" is marketed of course it is. Overlanding by any other name regardless how ambiguous or unambiguous it may be will be marketed in a similar fashion to basically the same people.

And that marketing too, will be successful until it reaches the bounds of the available marketplace.

 

[Sea Diamond]

well....in my younger days I used to call it "Vannin' down by the River"...now it seems I just call it Priceless

 

[Winterhawk]

I personally think the name "Overlanding" is a very good all encompassing word. It can be car camping, off highway expedition, off road adventure, boondocking, etc. If it wasn't called Overlanding it would be called something else that's marketed to death. Just understand that it's only a word, and and as long as you do what you do and enjoy it, then who cares what you call it. That being said, I personally can't stand the word "Wheelin'", but that's just me.

 

[Mr_Mnml_Engnr]

I personally think the name "Overlanding" is a very good all encompassing word. It can be car camping, off highway expedition, off road adventure, boondocking, etc. If it wasn't called Overlanding it would be called something else that's marketed to death. Just understand that it's only a word, and and as long as you do what you do and enjoy it, then who cares what you call it. That being said, I personally can't stand the word "Wheelin'", but that's just me.

I agree with this. Part of the beauty of Overlanding (the adventure, not the word) is that it doesn’t require a certain set of things to happen. You just have to have a vehicle, you need to depend on it for food, water, and shelter, and you need to be going into your trip (regardless of duration) to explore. Adventures are fluid. For a toddler, a trip to a new mall is an adventure. Camping in your back yard is an adventure. Overlanding, which I consider to be a type of adventure, is also fluid. It can be a couple of days exploring a new National Forest. Or it can be exploring the various stops on the TAT over the course of months. I think what makes Overlanding what it is is the spirit of exploration. The rest is up to the explorer.

Just my two cents for what it’s worth. I spend more time researching the various opportunities near me to go on a trip than I do looking for things to buy.

 

[grubworm]

I spend more time researching the various opportunities near me to go on a trip than I do looking for things to buy.

dont feel bad...i used to be like that, too

 

[DintDobbs]

@ThundahBeagle The problem is that "overlanding" means different things to different people, and the marketing exists to sell products kind of akin to what the average "overlander" might need, and the products are bought by internet dummies who make reviews of said products for the payouts. They all follow the money, but they don't follow the usage, because seeing how cool it is makes a bunch of dummies want to buy it, just to stay trendy. This is the problem. Just like the teenagers who watched Fast & Furious put spinners and stickers on their stock Civics back in the early 2000's. Was it cool? The ones spending the money on it sure thought it was...

Point being, it's just not an all-encompassing term. And I don't care whether you get a $12 one-piece rain jacket or a $12,000 modular overlanding poncho with waterproof thermal lining and an integrated GPS tracker compatible with iOS and Android with life-support and vital sign monitors, which automatically contacts the local law enforcement and E-mails a copy of your will to your ex-wife and kids when you die - neither one will keep you dry in North Carolina.

@Winterhawk Wheelin was just overlanding before it was called overlanding. You can now "wheel around" even on foot. The term became largely meaningless, much like "overlanding" has now become largely meaningless. Both are just alternatives for "move around, however aimlessly", these days.

 

[Mr_Mnml_Engnr]

Marginally relevant, but a potential tangent:
I consider Overlanding/car camping/whatever you want to call it significantly different than WHEELING. Perhaps this is just from personal experience, but I associate wheeling with technical off roading and rock crawling. That can be an element of Overlanding if you find a trail that’s hard enough (or literally go off the trails entirely), but I don’t consider the two terms synonymous.

 

[Sparksalot]

…or a $12,000 modular overlanding poncho with waterproof thermal lining and an integrated GPS tracker compatible with iOS and Android with life-support and vital sign monitors, which automatically contacts the local law enforcement and E-mails a copy of your will to your ex-wife and kids when you die - neither one will keep you dry in North Carolina.

LMAO! That would be something to see.

 

[CR-Venturer]

I keep musing over the idea that I need to start a youtube channel called "Ghettoverlanding" because everything I use is so ghetto. Thrift store, dollar store, free store, stuff I had lying around the property when I bought it, old gear I've had since grade 10 in highschool is basically the vast majority of stuff I use. I drive a $4200 truck from 2006, and before that I drove a 23 year old Honda. To me, Overlanding is a useful term that is different than both "car camping" (which I also sometimes do, just did with two kiddos actually) and wheeling (which, as some have said, is an aspect of overlanding, but not the main point) in that it's vehicle based adventure travel. The adventure part is the key, I think. In any case, I don't care about the hype, but I love overlanding. I just came back from an overland trip that covered 1100+ kms of Alberta rocky mountain back roads and tracks, finishing up in the Devil's Gap in Ghost PLUZ, and it certainly was an adventure!

My 06 Dakota, along with the Suburban my buddy was driving:

I don't get bent out of shape about the "Boys from Marketing" and their shenanigans. I ain't buying what they're selling anyhow, and I'm not going to let them sour the awesome "overlanding" adventures I've had and plan to have in the future.

 

[DintDobbs]

@Mr_Mnml_Engnr I agree wholeheartedly, these are how I use the terms as well. However, the public's point-missing common (mis-)use has rendered a lot of words meaningless (consider the word "awesome" - once reserved for sights like the Grand Canyon or the Taj Mahal, now reduced to a casual meaning synonymous with "cool" or "nice"), and "wheeling" and "overlanding" are just more of those words...

Anyhow, I also understand how some words are just annoying to hear people use. "Off-roading" or "four-wheeling" are more general terms inclusive of all such activities as rock crawling, mud bogging, winching, driving along the beach, and the like. "Overlanding" means traveling reliant upon your own vehicle and the equipment you take with you, as opposed to "drive" (simply to operate a vehicle) or "travel" (you could use public transportation, or stay in a hotel) or "tour" (visiting attractions in a particular location)...

Words when used correctly have much meaning and nuance. It's obnoxious when people take a good, meaningful word and abuse it and spread its abuse around until nobody knows what it actually means.

@MiamiC70 I think the line between "overlanding" and "car camping" is drawn at the point where car camping is an activity done with the intention of immediately returning home afterward, whereas overlanding requires traveling, whether regularly or as a one-time event. Overlanding does not necessarily involve car camping, as it can be done with a trailer or a ground tent, or other sleeping accommodations.

You can "car camp" in the Wal Mart parking lot (but you shouldn't), but you can't "overland" in the Wal Mart parking lot.

Per the forum's definition, overlanding includes all "vehicle-reliant travel", which includes all forms of personal transportation, with or without the practice of staying overnight anywhere by any means... and it is on the fringe of this loosest definition of "overland" that I participate. I just like to drive.

 

[genocache]

EXCUSE ME! Excuse me, can you show me to the Overlanding Tactical clothes aisle? Yes, all black, mebbe dark blue.......

 

[Mr_Mnml_Engnr]

EXCUSE ME! Excuse me, can you show me to the Overlanding Tactical clothes aisle? Yes, all black, mebbe dark blue.......

Preferably with a topo pattern

 

[Sea Diamond]

I'm thinkin' many are getting too caught up on what to call "what we do". I think you "can" Overland in a Walmart parking lot and anywhere else for that matter. We're a few days short of 4 months since we left our cozy little home...and our camps have been a like a patchwork quilt. Some camps required 4x4 low to get into while some were parking lots to replenish supplies and whatnot. Whatever you call "what we do"... it is the journey that matters. It shapes who we are afterwards...our perspective...and gives us lifelong memories.

 

[grubworm]

you "can" Overland in a Walmart parking lot

you mean there's other places???

 

[Sparksalot]

I'm thinkin' many are getting too caught up on what to call "what we do". I think you "can" Overland in a Walmart parking lot and anywhere else for that matter. We're a few days short of 4 months since we left our cozy little home...and our camps have been a like a patchwork quilt. Some camps required 4x4 low to get into while some were parking lots to replenish supplies and whatnot. Whatever you call "what we do"... it is the journey that matters. It shapes who we are afterwards...our perspective...and gives us lifelong memories.View attachment 266007

Cool camp

 

[dasmi]

Whatever, as long as people are getting outside.

 

[North American Sojourner]

Whatever, as long as people are getting outside.

Exactly. And I'm seeing more and more young people out here. That's very encouraging.

 

[slumpychuck_]

Whatever, as long as people are getting outside.

Exactly. And I'm seeing more and more young people out here. That's very encouraging.

27 yo and finally out on my first trip! I like the term “car camping,” I’m going with that from now on!

 

[Vickycc_3ef47a]

interesting