Things I wish I knew then

[Salty4Life]

Post your biggest overland related mistakes. This could be purchases made, or bad lines off road, or terrible camp food. Post one thing that you could back and do over.

 

[billum v2.0]

When pulling a trailer, pay attention to turn around options before you need them. Backing a half mile uphill, with a short wheelbase trailer, etches this wisdom permanently. Dammit.

 

[MedfordChris]

Water is ALWAYS deeper than it looks.

 

[CSG]

I've made three mistakes that I recall - 1) driving our truck camper (2x4) on a mucked up Canadian road and getting good and stuck. A friendly Canadian road crew fellow finally gave us a tow with a bulldozer. 2) driving the same rig onto a lake bed and getting stuck. A fellow camper helped get me dug out. 3) driving our 4x4 truck towing a 5th wheel onto an Oregon beach and finding out that weight matters on sand. Didn't know a thing about deflating tires in those days. A fellow gave me a tow.

You know what I don't do anymore? Things like the above.

 

[old_man]

Remember to take the TP

 

[old_man]

Its as easy to fill the top half of the tank as it is the bottom half.

 

[Craftman2]

If you didn't make it up the hill and you're sliding backwards, hitting the brakes doesn't help you - it just makes the slide backward uncontrollable.

Ask me how I know ;-)

 

[avgjoe624]

a 9500lb rated winch on a rusted bumper is not rated at 9500lb.

10 mcdoubles is not a weeks worth of food

a hot engine submerged in cold water make for an expensive surprise

baby wipes are better than toilet paper, and 1 ply toilet paper is only good for starting fires

if handling a cast iron skillet, make sure your leather gloves dont have holes in them

never try to run from a spider inside of a closed tent

always put a tarp over your tent if expecting rain

snakes CAN bite underwater

bushes on a river often offer free rooster tails, some are probably mine

going down steep hills is more dangerous than going up

i could go on for days.