What kind of overlanding do you do?

[ptgarcia]

Haha, I heard about that fiasco. She’s accompanying a friend that is taking her son and his friend for his birthday so her friend has handled all the arrangements. I heard rentals were as much or more than $750 per day!

 

[leeloo]

I like driving. For me it’s about putting on the miles. Im up with the sun and try and do 8 or 10 hours on the road. With quick pull overs for lunch and dinner. And I usually just pass out across the bench eat of my truck and dont even set up a tent unless im staying in one spot for a couple nights. Im really lucky living in British Columbia. I can get lost on back roads and trails for days and days and never cross a paved road or highway. But that jas its own challenges. I usually have to carry 200lbs of fuel with me. And there’s absolutely no help coming or even a chance someone will come along if i need a hand. So I usually pack a pit bike in the summer and skis and dog harness in the winter. The other downside of BC is most off roaders stick to the lower mainland and its hard to find people that want to drive 500 miles in a weekend. So im usually alone.

I get what you say "And there’s absolutely no help coming or even a chance someone will come along if i need a hand". For me is strange that most advice is never do a trail alone and so on. This might work in on week-end in a a popular spot, but for me this type of travel is about going to see the remote places, and, since I live in the city, to be as far as people as possible, the fewer the better. For someone who has a job, family etc, it is almost impossible to find some other people who want to go in the same place, same time for a trip that lasts more than week-end. It is hard enough to coordinate with my wife and the kid's school schedule, and I guess this is valid for many people who actually do this.
I do meet people even in some remote places from time to time,, and I enjoy that, but most overlanders I met accidently on trails travel alone. And it is fine.

 

[Cypress]

It doesn't matter to me what you call it, but I don't consider myself an overlander, I just like to explore. Sometimes it's a multi-day multi-state or country camping trip. Sometimes it's a day trip to a road I've never traveled. Sometimes it's in a 4x4, sometimes by car, boat, or (gasp) even RV. Some trips are as much dirt as possible, some of them never leave the asphalt. Some trips are to a local state park for the weekend. I've had just as much fun camping in a local state park for the weekend as I have circumnavigating Lake Superior on a boat. I've even been known to stay in a hotel or a lodge on occasion.

Getting pinned down by a name like "Overlander" is way too limiting. I prefer to leave it undefined and do whatever looks interesting.

 

[Apoclapedia]

@leeloo yeah but theres alone, and then theres alone. When i used to live in LA id head for the mountains for the weekend. And i might see a few people, but id definitely see a lot of sign that people were in fact around.

BC is the size of Washington Oregon California Nevada and Idaho. But it doesn’t have 55 million people. It has five million and over half of them live in one city. Ive spent weeks out there and not seen even a sign of another person. No tracks, no garbage, no noise, no camp fire. You make a mistake and no ones even going to find your truck. Radio and cell doesn’t work. Theres no towers and you’re surrounded by steep mountains. Its pretty awesome. But definitely not the safest place to be alone.

 

[RoarinRow]

Haha, I heard about that fiasco. She’s accompanying a friend that is taking her son and his friend for his birthday so her friend has handled all the arrangements. I heard rentals were as much or more than $750 per day!

It's true. We're going in July at the car rental was/is $700+.

 

[RoarinRow]

Tonight will be cement crawling from driveway to front of house, then will sleep in camper shell setup with my son.

 

[leeloo]

@leeloo yeah but theres alone, and then theres alone. When i used to live in LA id head for the mountains for the weekend. And i might see a few people, but id definitely see a lot of sign that people were in fact around.

BC is the size of Washington Oregon California Nevada and Idaho. But it doesn’t have 55 million people. It has five million and over half of them live in one city. Ive spent weeks out there and not seen even a sign of another person. No tracks, no garbage, no noise, no camp fire. You make a mistake and no ones even going to find your truck. Radio and cell doesn’t work. Theres no towers and you’re surrounded by steep mountains. Its pretty awesome. But definitely not the safest place to be alone.

I would love that. In my case is not that extreme, but still, in some places I have been if I saw one vehicle all day was a rare event in some places.

 

[MMc]

There are still plenty of places to get lost and not be found. I tell myself that roads go to someplace, some more than others.

I would love that. In my case is not that extreme, but still, in some places I have been if I saw one vehicle all day was a rare event in some places.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

The price of airfare these days for a family it’s cheaper to drive and you get an adventure.

We are done with flying too. Waiting around, not being in control, The only thing we have to deal with is a ferry ride off the island. But it's more like a cruise ship anyways, so we get a cabin, relax and watch TV and just enjoy the ride. Then, where ever we go, we can stop when we want, eat when we want, not next to some contrary asshat complaining that Colin is happy. (Yes it happened coming home from Florida one year, and the Air Canada Stewardess was very very rude to us. We never fly AC and would never advise anyone to do so.) Let's just say I almost got banned from flying that day. I was ready to LOSE my you know what at her.

 

[Alanymarce]

We never fly AC and would never advise anyone to do so.)

AC is more or less necessary for us - the only way to get to Canada in one hop. To be fair our experience (since 1981) has been good in terms of service, however they are the second worst airline for punctuality (flight delays) out of the 27 I've been tracking (personal flights) over the last 500+ flights.

 

[Autism Family Travels]

Where are you flying from? After that incedent, my wife and I made a pact never to fly AC. If we can't get there using WestJet or other means we don't go.

 

[Alanymarce]

Where are you flying from? After that incedent, my wife and I made a pact never to fly AC. If we can't get there using WestJet or other means we don't go.

Colombia; all of the other options involve at least one stop - MEX, SAL, a variety of airports in the USA (and for reasons which are inexplicable the USA doesn't allow transit passengers so you have to enter the USA and leave again, which makes the whole process a real pain), as well as longer options like MAD, LHR, FRA, etc. AC does have a non-stop to YYZ, four times a week (haven't checked recently however it was four times a week pre-pandemic)

 

[DRAX]

We do all kinds of overlanding, from weekend trips that don't involve much off-pavement to trips that last for 1-2 weeks and thousands of miles. We go with a rough plan of where we'd like to end up and then figure out where we're going to camp when we get there. The goal being to get out into nature, away from civilization, and to explore.

 

[MMc]

I get what you say "And there’s absolutely no help coming or even a chance someone will come along if i need a hand". For me is strange that most advice is never do a trail alone and so on. This might work in on week-end in a a popular spot, but for me this type of travel is about going to see the remote places, and, since I live in the city, to be as far as people as possible, the fewer the better. For someone who has a job, family etc, it is almost impossible to find some other people who want to go in the same place, same time for a trip that lasts more than week-end. It is hard enough to coordinate with my wife and the kid's school schedule, and I guess this is valid for many people who actually do this.
I do meet people even in some remote places from time to time,, and I enjoy that, but most overlanders I met accidently on trails travel alone. And it is fine.

I am still mostly posting up with a bit more road tripping mixed in. I have a budy that gets out more but he travels away from folks. He will not take a trade route because he want's to away from people. Have you changed how you overland because of Covid-19?

 

[leeloo]

Not really. Took a pretty long trip, almost 30 days. Went remote every chance I got. For 2 days I went to a big campsite on the coast of Croatia (it was huge, hundreds of places), for the kid, to enjoy the sea a bit ( he likes to swim a lot ). While he enjoyed it , I could not wait to leave faster.. :)

 

[Visiontrd]

Was a go off grid for a week at a time . Now that I'm bringing my kids and gf it mainly weekend trips and camp sites more then anything. Trying to work them up to a week long trip and sleeping in a tent .

 

[BCMoto]

I think we are a more of a camp setup. We like to get out and just relax by lake and do some fishing, sometimes we like hitting the trail too.

 

[static]

I think we are a more of a camp setup. We like to get out and just relax by lake and do some fishing, sometimes we like hitting the trail too.

Us too. We enjoy exploring to find that perfect scenic spot that’s tough to get to, then setting up camp for a few days to chill, hike, etc. My wife isn’t a fan of the rougher/sketchier roads, but she’s warming to it :)

 

[Kozysnack]

I don't get a whole lot of time off from work myself. I have 2 vehicles that I use to explore and go camping with, one is a Jeep compass with a good fuel range and one is a fully built wrangler that can't pass a gas station.
I take the family out for weekend trips in the compass and I do solo trips with my wranger to get further off grid ( far enough out to where I don't see or hear anyone else for a day or 2 at a time and I can sit on a lake shore and fish in peace).
I have been camping all my life and have a few types of trips I like to do every year. At least one trip out as far off grid as I can get and fish, provincial park camping with the family with the whole family, back country camping just me and the wife, and a cold minimalist camp in December with a few buddies where we sleep outside next to the fire with a tarp over our heads.
Up to this point my wife and I have taken trips to a few places around the world, flown in and rented a vehicle and driven around for 2 weeks ( California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada in the US. And Iceland.) Also have hired guides to take us to more remote areas in Ecuador, Peru, the Amazon rainforest, and the Galapagos Islands.
Basically I like to get outdoors whenever and however I can lol.

the ring road in Iceland was a blast. So green, fresh water falling off of just about every cliff and great people

 

[BCMoto]

Us too. We enjoy exploring to find that perfect scenic spot that’s tough to get to, then setting up camp for a few days to chill, hike, etc. My wife isn’t a fan of the rougher/sketchier roads, but she’s warming to it :)

Yeah my wife doesnt mind the rough roads in the truck as im getting her used to climbing rocks with our jeep