You're welcome to define overlanding however you think it suits you best, but if it doesn't meet at least the minimally-accepted definition then you're going to confuse people or people are going to think you don't know what you're talking about, IMO.
To me, the minimal definition of overlanding is "self-reliant, vehicle-dependent travel to remote locations." Are remote locations and pavement mutually exclusive? No, not necessarily. You could travel through Death Valley and be remote while never leaving pavement, but overlanding is more than whatever someone decides to define it as. There's also the spirit of overlanding. I feel like someone that wants to include any vehicle-based travel as "overlanding" doesn't get the spirit of what overlanding is about. The point isn't to exclude anyone, but to set expectations. If someone asks me if I want to go on an overlanding trip through Utah and they told me they'd be staying on pavement and camping at commercial campgrounds filled with large RVs, trailers, loud/obnoxious people, etc then I'd suggest they may want to reconsider calling that overlanding as that doesn't fit the basic definition or spirit of overlanding.
The term "overlanding" is already viewed as a poser/fad thing by a lot of people, expanding it to include any vehicle-based travel diminishes the meaning even more.
Overlanding is "car camping" but "car camping" isn't always overlanding. If you never leave pavement then just call it car camping, that is a much more general term and it doesn't imply you will or won't be going off-pavement.
excellent post and makes sense.
ive camped and backpacked most of my life and never heard the term "overlanding" until 4 yrs ago when i was looking for a small compact travel trailer. i immediately saw online where "overlanding" was being used as a marketing term to explain gear and equipment for remote off-road and off-grid use. i live east of new mexico and colorado, so 99% of the land is private and there is NO off-road or off-grid places to go (yeah...yeah...there are
some, but very few) so a lot of trips are restricted to campgrounds. we do get to do a good bit of boondocking when we go out west, so there are times that the wife and i get to participate in the "overlanding" style of adventure.
as
@DRAX so eloquently stated, there is the
SPIRIT OF OVERLANDING. now THAT is what is so appealing to me. i can use that even here at home. the self-reliant part of "overlanding" is actually very useful beyond just exploring and having fun. having an "overland" camp trailer that has solar and off-grid capabilities for cooking, shower, charging phones, etc is great to have when we get hit with our regular rounds of hurricanes every year. IDA hit us directly 18 months ago and we were without power for a month and my property looked like a war zone. the only road going to the highway was covered in downed power lines and oak trees...we were trapped at home. having the "overland" camp trailer right there in our driveway was great.
not only did i not leave pavement to "overland"...i never left the driveway!
the whole spirit of overlanding thing is about us like-minded-folk wanting to unplug from the structured society we live in and live outside of that bubble...even if just for a few days ever so often. how we go about doing it will inherently be up for debate, but the feelings and enjoyment we get from it and the desire to share that with others is what makes us a community.
