With nothing but a line drawn on a map for guidance, Tom Collins leads a team to forge a route for the 1994 Camel Trophy.

You may not have noticed, but we have an affinity for older vehicles here at Expedition Portal. We love their simplicity, classic styling, and durable materials, but not nearly as much as we love their personalities. Each one has stories to tell, earned scars, and a character as unique as the people that own them. Just take a look at…

The full-size overland market has been exploding over the past two years, and it doesn’t seem like there is any end in sight. Each day more overlanders are realizing that the larger payloads, additional power, and improved comfort they’ve been striving for through modifications are easily achieved by stepping up to heavy-hitting three-quarter ton and one-ton platforms. So far, RAM,…

There has always been something about distant places that resonates deeply within the adventurer.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Fall 2011. Photography by Scott and Stephanie Brady, Cam Brensinger, Chris Collard, and Jeremy Edgar. The recoil forces me backward, the shaft releasing from the teak stock of the Riffe spear gun and driving home into the side of the triggerfish. I take a moment to pull the fish toward…

With the 2018 Overland Expo East in the not so distant, but distinctly damp past, we can reflect on the truly incredible collection of vehicles that braved the rain, mud, and cold to commune on the fields of REEB Ranch, tucked in the North Carolina hills.  While the exhibition motorcycles and 4-wheel drives represented the pinnacle of modern overlanding, curiosity…

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Winter 2018. Photography by Chris Cordes The trailer listed hard to the side, the 44-inch tire deep into the crevasse, the Hilux’s frame broken, and a tire peeled from the bead. The Expeditions 7 team had just crossed Greenland and was now fighting for every mile in a minefield of…

Something special happens when a community of overland travelers get together. A sense of adventure and camaraderie, an appreciation for one another’s pursuit of wanderlust and all the unique ways people go about it. Earlier this month, the Southern California Four Wheel Campers owners group came together at Ocotillo Wells in the Anza Borrego State Park. There were over 40…

On a chilly morning in January, Coen and I drove 430 miles to Germany. There in a driveway stood a dirty, dilapidated truck. It radiated pride as well as loneliness and coldness, like a house that has stood empty for too long. The Land Cruiser was covered in rust and the interior was damp, caused by a leak somewhere. The tires…

“Birds and animals had never seen humans, warblers flew to me and touched my face, a badger trotted up and sniffed my boot, coyotes sat watching me walk by, an antelope paced for a mile. In complete silence and isolation, it was like what walking on the moon must be.” Julian D. Hayden (1911-1998), from The Sierra Pinacate

We’ve all got them, those treasured playlists we save for kicking up dust on our favorite backcountry trail, or hammering out long miles on some grand trip. They might be filled with throwback tunes from the ’70’s or a modern mashup of electric funk, but their rhythms are like a narration to our adventures, and the beats a constant companion…

Anyone that has ever walked into an REI or Cabelas will know that there’s basically an endless supply of widgets and gadgets available for camping. Do you want an outdoor oven? Sure, they make that. How about a 12-volt blender? You can have it. Need a rolling cooler with an integrated sound system and charging for your phone? Oh yeah,…

I settle into the driver’s seat of a clean 1996 Toyota FZJ80 and ask Stephen Sanders, program leader for the Cummins Repower Crate Engine Program if I should keep the RPMs below a certain mark, stick to predetermined highway speeds, or mind some shift points on the hills. A heavy black data wire exits from under the steering wheel, runs…

Mauritania has an air of infinite sunburned monotony, the entire country a distant sandy horizon wallowing under a powder-blue sky. Maps of the country only highlight the emptiness, the few landmarks achingly lonely amongst the dunes. Of all the maps.me files I downloaded for the commute, the Mauritanian one measured only 12MB. In contrast, east England, one of eighteen files…

If you’ve gone shopping for a full-size diesel truck recently, you’ll know that they’re far from cheap. These “utility vehicles” now carry price tags exceeding those of many luxury sedans, and are just as luxurious inside. But what if you wanted something different? Something with a massive payload, a ridiculous amount of room, and a commanding view of the terrain…

We’ve all had the dream: buy a cool 70 Series or Defender, ship it to some exotic destination, and explore the world. Many of us spend hours, hell even days, browsing the depths of classified sections hoping to stumble upon that perfect truck here in the states. Unfortunately, when we do find it, the fairy tale often falls apart. Since…

“Sorry to interrupt. Coen, on the bed are clean socks, underwear, and a shirt. The shower is all yours,” I said as I walked into the living room of our friend’s home in Bolivia. Coen and our host Willy were having a discussion while I had been doing chores and had just finished taking a shower. Two pairs of eyes…

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Fall 2007. After crossing the Rio Pico Mayo we entered the Chaco, the vast semi-desert area of northern Argentina. During the rainy season, the Chaco floods, and the clay soil makes travel nearly impossible. In the hot, dry season, the scrub forest sheds its leaves and bares long, sharp thorns….

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal, Winter 2016. Photography by Sinuhe Xavier The wind is always blowing on Alaska’s North Slope and on this particular day it was in rare form, buffeting the Tacoma and reducing visibility to a few meters. It was the middle of winter, the temperatures were well below zero, conditions unforgiving, and…

Expletives flowed freely as another gust of wind throttled the canvas, throwing a support leg into the back of my head while I tried to wrestle the awning’s unwieldy form into submission. The now bird’s nest of guylines, stakes, and metal poles of death had me surrounded, and the prospects of surviving the ordeal looked grim. Sadly, I was only…