New North Bay Member - Need Advice

[Zlaayer]

Hi Folks,

I have heard great things about this community. I briefly met the PullKitchen guy about a year ago before he moved to Coeur D’Alein. I think his name is Dave. I got my Tacoma all kitted out and ready for adventure. Now I just need to know where to go! I tried using OnX Off Road and it isn’t super intuitive. I’m trying to plan a trip with some friends for the Fourth of July somewhere in NorCal. Lost Coast is on my RADAR but I’m open to suggestions.

I’m a retired San Francisco firefighter/paramedic. A U.S. Navy vet of the Iraq was. 39 years old and about to be married in June. The lady is on board with overlanding!

Here are some of the details of my rig.
2022 Tacoma DCSB Off-Road
ARB front locker
Icon CDEV shocks w/stage 3 leafs
Full steel skids and plates from BAMF
35” Toyo AT3’s on 17” Relations Race Wheels beadlocks
Equipped with a Diamondback and Yakima rack for camp mode

Thanks,
Carson

 

[DintDobbs]

gaiagps.com

Gives you a map with all sorts of dirt, gravel, and unmaintained roads marked. Look on there, pick a direction, and let it rip. I found lots of forest service roads in my area that way.

If you're so inclined, you can check the RP's and see what's going on in your region, as well as browse other 4x4 forums to see what's going down where. Some national parks are friendly to wheeling; if you have time to travel, you could attend group runs in nearby states.

Others in your region will undoubtedly chime in soon. I'm sorta on the opposite end of the nation, so I can only give general advice.

 

[Kent R]

Hi Folks,

I have heard great things about this community. I briefly met the PullKitchen guy about a year ago before he moved to Coeur D’Alein. I think his name is Dave. I got my Tacoma all kitted out and ready for adventure. Now I just need to know where to go! I tried using OnX Off Road and it isn’t super intuitive. I’m trying to plan a trip with some friends for the Fourth of July somewhere in NorCal. Lost Coast is on my RADAR but I’m open to suggestions.

I’m a retired San Francisco firefighter/paramedic. A U.S. Navy vet of the Iraq was. 39 years old and about to be married in June. The lady is on board with overlanding!

Here are some of the details of my rig.
2022 Tacoma DCSB Off-Road
ARB front locker
Icon CDEV shocks w/stage 3 leafs
Full steel skids and plates from BAMF
35” Toyo AT3’s on 17” Relations Race Wheels beadlocks
Equipped with a Diamondback and Yakima rack for camp mode

Thanks,
Carson

Welcome to Overland Bound Carson
A great local contact is @Speric
You can use the Member Map to find other members and events in your area. You can also send a message directly from the map to other members. There is a very active meet-up in Rohnert Park that meets monthly, they can be found on the map and calendar.
RESOURCE MAP
U.S. West (HI CA NV)
App Tutorials
Overland Bound One App Adventure and Expedition Tutorials
Take a try at adding a track or point of interest to the app.
Check the forum calendar and Meet-Up page for events, and the Trip
Planning page for trips being planned by members. These pages can be filtered by region.
Overland Bound Meetups
Overland Trip Planning
Quick adult & youthTread Lightly online awareness course.
Online Courses - Tread Lightly
Tread Lightly! Youth Online Course
Check out Overland Expo About WEST — Overland Expo®
If you have any questions don't hesitate to message me, hopefully I can get you going in the right direction. @Kent R or Kent@OverlandBound.com

 

[genocache]

Hi Carson, Welcome to the forum. Mendocino National Forest if it isn't burning. Otherwise, I'd say get out of California, Nevada has great scenery, awesome trails and history, geology to wonder at. Higher elevations give heat relief. I like going to an area and exploring, so many dirt roads.
Here's a blog link to one of my trips prior to covid: Roving Nevada, Oct 2019, Day 1

 

[Zlaayer]

Hi Carson, Welcome to the forum. Mendocino National Forest if it isn't burning. Otherwise, I'd say get out of California, Nevada has great scenery, awesome trails and history, geology to wonder at. Higher elevations give heat relief. I like going to an area and exploring, so many dirt roads.
Here's a blog link to one of my trips prior to covid: Roving Nevada, Oct 2019, Day 1

Yeah I used to live in Reno and there are certainly some beautiful places in Nevada. I agree, that's a good place to explore. But I live in Silicon Valley and would like to try overlanding in California. I think it will be cooler if we go along the coast. So any recommendations for overlanding non the California coast would be great.

 

[WTSMatt]

I'm going to hit the Shasta-Trinity NF discovery trail in early/mid July. Looking like the Sierra is going to be out of the picture until late summer. Heard that HWY 108 wont be plowed until late July, there's still 11' of snow at the Leavitt Lake turn off!

 

[genocache]

Yeah I used to live in Reno and there are certainly some beautiful places in Nevada. I agree, that's a good place to explore. But I live in Silicon Valley and would like to try overlanding in California. I think it will be cooler if we go along the coast. So any recommendations for overlanding non the California coast would be great.

Not much along the coast, Big Sur has some nice areas, go up old coast rd. The North Coast has great scenery and campgrounds everywhere. Santa Cruz County where I live used to have side roads off HWY 1 that had campsites, but homeless and RV'rs trashed them so now there posted no overnight camping. I saw the same thing happen up at Humbolt Lagoon. Inland down south is the Carrizo Plains NM, if you look on goooooooooogleearth there are campsites off the beaten track.

 

[Speric]

Hi Folks,

I have heard great things about this community. I briefly met the PullKitchen guy about a year ago before he moved to Coeur D’Alein. I think his name is Dave. I got my Tacoma all kitted out and ready for adventure. Now I just need to know where to go! I tried using OnX Off Road and it isn’t super intuitive. I’m trying to plan a trip with some friends for the Fourth of July somewhere in NorCal. Lost Coast is on my RADAR but I’m open to suggestions.

I’m a retired San Francisco firefighter/paramedic. A U.S. Navy vet of the Iraq was. 39 years old and about to be married in June. The lady is on board with overlanding!

Here are some of the details of my rig.
2022 Tacoma DCSB Off-Road
ARB front locker
Icon CDEV shocks w/stage 3 leafs
Full steel skids and plates from BAMF
35” Toyo AT3’s on 17” Relations Race Wheels beadlocks
Equipped with a Diamondback and Yakima rack for camp mode

Thanks,
Carson

Welcome! We have a small but active group here in the North Bay. They are actually on their way to Usal Beach and the Lost Coast this weekend! I, unfortunately, couldn't make it this weekend. We have monthly 3rd Saturday meet-ups on Rohnert Park. Check out the Rally Points for more info.

Eric

 

[Big G]

Welcome! We have a small but active group here in the North Bay. They are actually on their way to Usal Beach and the Lost Coast this weekend! I, unfortunately, couldn't make it this weekend. We have monthly 3rd Saturday meet-ups on Rohnert Park. Check out the Rally Points for more info.

Eric

Hello Carson. Welcome to the OB community. There is a lot to like about being a part of the Overland Bound community and I hope you find it beneficial. Thank you for your service as a Navy vet, and for your service as a fireman. Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

 

[roots66]

Hi Folks,

I have heard great things about this community. I briefly met the PullKitchen guy about a year ago before he moved to Coeur D’Alein. I think his name is Dave. I got my Tacoma all kitted out and ready for adventure. Now I just need to know where to go! I tried using OnX Off Road and it isn’t super intuitive. I’m trying to plan a trip with some friends for the Fourth of July somewhere in NorCal. Lost Coast is on my RADAR but I’m open to suggestions.

I’m a retired San Francisco firefighter/paramedic. A U.S. Navy vet of the Iraq was. 39 years old and about to be married in June. The lady is on board with overlanding!

Here are some of the details of my rig.
2022 Tacoma DCSB Off-Road
ARB front locker
Icon CDEV shocks w/stage 3 leafs
Full steel skids and plates from BAMF
35” Toyo AT3’s on 17” Relations Race Wheels beadlocks
Equipped with a Diamondback and Yakima rack for camp mode

Thanks,
Carson

Hello and welcome to the OB family.

 

[FishFam_logs]

Welcome from the East Bay.
We have done a couple trips to Mendocino. Good for quick trips.
Sierras looking like a late open, June-July. And already getting warm down south, Death Valley/Anza. I know we are going to be hunting for new spots, likely north/east, IDK, Nevada?

Cheers

 

[ScotiaJeep]

Welcome to Overland Bound Carson
A great local contact is @Speric
You can use the Member Map to find other members and events in your area. You can also send a message directly from the map to other members. There is a very active meet-up in Rohnert Park that meets monthly, they can be found on the map and calendar.
RESOURCE MAP
U.S. West (HI CA NV)
App Tutorials
Overland Bound One App Adventure and Expedition Tutorials
Take a try at adding a track or point of interest to the app.
Check the forum calendar and Meet-Up page for events, and the Trip
Planning page for trips being planned by members. These pages can be filtered by region.
Overland Bound Meetups
Overland Trip Planning
Quick adult & youthTread Lightly online awareness course.
Online Courses - Tread Lightly
Tread Lightly! Youth Online Course
Check out Overland Expo About WEST — Overland Expo®
If you have any questions don't hesitate to message me, hopefully I can get you going in the right direction. @Kent R or Kent@OverlandBound.com

Thanks for this info!! Are there any active meet ups in the San Jose, Calif area you could point me to? Thanks again.

 

[Kent R]

@ScotiaJeep
Your closest meetup is in Livermore, it is probably one of the most active meetups we have.
@TrailHawkGuy is the organizer

East Bay Monthly Meet Up – Pleasanton Ridge regional park CA – AUGUST MEET up moved to Aug 20- OLD THREAD

LOOK FOR THE NEW THREAD NEW Rally Point is here: https://www.overlandbound.com/event/new-east-bay-monthly-meet-up-pleasanton-ridge-regional-park-ca ------ Every 2n

www.overlandbound.com

 

[TrailHawkGuy]

Welcome to Overland Bound Carson
A great local contact is @Speric
You can use the Member Map to find other members and events in your area. You can also send a message directly from the map to other members. There is a very active meet-up in Rohnert Park that meets monthly, they can be found on the map and calendar.
RESOURCE MAP
U.S. West (HI CA NV)
App Tutorials
Overland Bound One App Adventure and Expedition Tutorials
Take a try at adding a track or point of interest to the app.
Check the forum calendar and Meet-Up page for events, and the Trip
Planning page for trips being planned by members. These pages can be filtered by region.
Overland Bound Meetups
Overland Trip Planning
Quick adult & youthTread Lightly online awareness course.
Online Courses - Tread Lightly
Tread Lightly! Youth Online Course
Check out Overland Expo About WEST — Overland Expo®
If you have any questions don't hesitate to message me, hopefully I can get you going in the right direction. @Kent R or Kent@OverlandBound.com

Thanks for this info!! Are there any active meet ups in the San Jose, Calif area you could point me to? Thanks again.

Hi, we do have a meetup which many folks from San Jose participate in regularly in Livermore/plesanton - next is on 6/11 - see the calendar for details.

Looking forward to meet you at one of those

 

[picknpluck]

Hi Carson, welcome to the group. I'm part of the East Bay group and pretty new to this myself...we just did a trip to the Mendocino N.F. this weekend and had a pretty good time. If you're looking for other areas of NorCal to explore, the northeast corner is pretty remote and has tons of possibilities. I went out to the tri-corner memorial a couple of years ago (intersection of CA/NV/OR borders). I had to hike out to the spot, which is also a geocache site. There's lots of roads out around Goose Lake and extending north into Oregon. And to answer your question about route planning apps, I've had good luck with GAIA GPS. You can plan routes on your desktop and when you pull up the GAIA app on your phone, the route is right there for you. And you can easily send a link for that route to others via a text or email. I use it religiously when I plan motorcycle trips.

 

[Michael Golden]

Hi Folks,

I have heard great things about this community. I briefly met the PullKitchen guy about a year ago before he moved to Coeur D’Alein. I think his name is Dave. I got my Tacoma all kitted out and ready for adventure. Now I just need to know where to go! I tried using OnX Off Road and it isn’t super intuitive. I’m trying to plan a trip with some friends for the Fourth of July somewhere in NorCal. Lost Coast is on my RADAR but I’m open to suggestions.

I’m a retired San Francisco firefighter/paramedic. A U.S. Navy vet of the Iraq was. 39 years old and about to be married in June. The lady is on board with overlanding!

Here are some of the details of my rig.
2022 Tacoma DCSB Off-Road
ARB front locker
Icon CDEV shocks w/stage 3 leafs
Full steel skids and plates from BAMF
35” Toyo AT3’s on 17” Relations Race Wheels beadlocks
Equipped with a Diamondback and Yakima rack for camp mode

Thanks,
Carson

Welcome to the overland bound community from another vet.. Glad to have you join us.

 

[Steph_ Adventures]

hello and welcome to overland bound.