If you are a Land Rover Defender Classic fan, you will have noticed that over the last few years, more and more of these vehicles are being restored and sold internationally, some changing hands for ludicrous amounts of money. As someone who has traveled the planet and lived in a Defender for more than a decade, I…
The Canyons of the Ancients
If you had lived in southern Colorado during the Ice Age, chances are you’d be hunting camels for your dinner. Luckily, a lot has changed since the Pleistocene era, the epoch geological timespan when glaciers ruled North America. Ten thousand years after its first settlers dined on camels and woolly mammoths, modern-day visitors to the…
Land Cruisers of the Drug War
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. First synthesized in the late 1850s, Sigmund Freud was an early advocate of cocaine in addition to being an addict, prescribing it for depression and other conditions. In the late 1800s, coca leaves found themselves on the ingredient list for Coca-cola, and in…
Holy Toledo! Vanlife and Overland Gathering on the Oregon Coast, July 15-18
Highway 101, or the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway, is a legendary road trip route that draws visitors from all over the globe. Typical postcard-worthy spots feature expansive beaches, weathered lighthouses, and rolling dunes. For those heading to the Oregon coast this summer, the Holy Toledo rendezvous might be a fun addition to your road trip…
The Unknown Land of USSR
Camps for prisoners are a sad page in the history of the USSR. It wasn’t just criminals who went to jail. The NKVD or secret police arrested those who disagreed with the policies of the Communist Party and arrested scientists to use them in secret developments. Ordinary people, according to the denunciations of neighbors who…
How To Become an Adventure Rider
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. Photography by Susan Dragoo Few motorsports employ such a diverse array of skills as adventure riding. Adventure riders are those enviable souls who ride big-bore motorcycles, some approaching 600 pounds before adding luggage, over terrain befitting a world traveler lost in the wilderness….
There’s Something for Everyone at This Year’s Northwest Overland Rally
Photography by Richard Giordano Nestled in the Beaver Valley and surrounded by the pine trees of the Wenatchee National Forest and the Cascade Mountains lies a field that, once a year, fills with trucks, vans, and cars, old and new, tents of all shapes and sizes, and overland fanatics, young and old(er). The brainchild of…
Outdoor Adventure X Launching at Snowbasin Resort in 2023
Outdoor expo enthusiasts can look forward to a new experience-based consumer festival scheduled for June 16 to 18, 2023, at the Snowbasin Resort in Huntsville, Utah. The three-day Outdoor Adventure X event will offer hands-on outdoor product experiences catering to campers, climbers, cyclists, hikers, overlanders, and more, along with education, advocacy programs, live music, films,…
Destination: Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador
Photography by Richard Giordano At 5,897 meters (19,347 feet), Cotopaxi is Ecuador’s second-highest peak and one of the highest active volcanoes on the planet. Located a mere 30 miles from the Ecuadorian capital city, Quito, the park is well-visited and offers enough to keep visitors entertained for several days, including camping, hiking, off-pavement driving, and…
Feature Vehicle Interior :: 4×4 Panda’s 1998 Puch 290 GD Mercedes G-Wagon
Many overlanders find that much of the fun begins once the shifter is secured in Park. For Austrians Birgit and Klemens (known online as 4×4 Panda), their 1998 Puch 290 GD Mercedes G-Wagon is the vessel that transports them to trailheads, crags, and ski hills, where they mountaineer, ski tour, and rock and ice climb….
Searching for Nothing
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Gear 2022 Issue. I was excited like a schoolboy in late June on the verge of a wild summer. It was a feeling I’ve had so many times, on so many big adventures, but oddly, different. For most of my adult life, my outdoor aspirations have…
Klim Debuts Raptor GTX Line
If you can keep snowmobilers warm and dry as they roar through the Idaho snowpack, it should be a no-brainer to do the same for adventure motorcyclists. Klim has proven just that since it morphed into an all-season riderwear company early in the century. The light went on when the company noticed that serious off-road…
2008 Toyota Tundra TRD Off-Road Staff Project Vehicle Introduction
Editor’s note: To learn more about preparing the first, second, and third generation Tundra for overland travel, please enjoy the Overland Journal Podcast Episode 94: Principles of Overlanding :: The Toyota Tundra for Overlanding. I just spent the last six weeks and 3,000 kilometers exploring the Baja California Peninsula with Ashley (my wonderful wife and…
Video of the Week :: Living in the Cactus Forest with Tight Loops
Lead photograph by Tight Loops Eager to escape the coldest winter months in Montana, Chase Bartee and his wife Aimee head the desert southwest in their 1985 VW camper van, exploring the rugged terrain of the Saguaro, Joshua Tree, and Death Valley National Parks. The couple’s skills as artists, photographers, and filmmakers fuse with a…
The Moment Collectors, by Sam Manicom and Friends
I’ve never been much of a short-story reader; I like to invest in written tales for book-length escapes from reality. However, The Moment Collectors is a different kind of collection of short stories altogether—at least it was for me. As a round-the-world motorcycle traveler, there was something in each writer’s tale that I could directly…
The Pace of Change in Outback Queensland
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. Within the hour, paradise would fade into the distance. Every kilometre we put between us and the coast would melt into the afternoon sun. Once the rainforest canopy crumbled into open plains, a trail of dust would leave months of an unplanned pause…
How to Ship an Overland Vehicle
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2022 Issue. Photography by Coen Wubbels The alarm clock sounded at 3:00 a.m. For the fifth morning in a row, Coen yawned as he threw his legs out of bed to once more get on the phone. We were in the Netherlands, visiting family while…
Bear-proof Food Storage for Moto Campers
Many of us traveling overnight or long distances on motorcycles are going into bear territory; that’s why we love our ADV and dual-sport bikes—to get off main roads and into the backcountry. But what about storing food out of reach from bears while we sleep at night? Growing up in the Canadian Rockies, I often…
BearVault: A Container for Safe Food Storage in the Backcountry
As a rider, I’ve traveled through a lot of bear country, particularly in British Columbia, Alaska, and Russia. As a hiker, I’ve encountered dozens of bears—even been chased by one, which is why I take food storage in the wilderness seriously. Not only do I want to avoid being woken in the night by claws…
Eye-Catching Rigs of Overland Expo West 2022
Overland Expo West is the premier overland-inspired event in the USA and will likely retain that crown in the coming decades. It is the SEMA of our “industry,” and anyone who is anyone fights tooth and nail to secure a booth in the hopes of attracting a slice of the ever-growing pie. While other industries…