Is "Overlanding" a thing in your area yet?

AZjeff

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in Az where the Deer and Antelope play
It is here in central Arizona, you see anything from Jeep Compasses to full size 4wd 2500 trucks with the tent on the roof or bed rack and various amounts of the cool gear that goes with the outfit. The main publication of overlanding, Overland Journal and it's associated internet forum ExpeditionPortal.com are based in nearby Prescott so it hasn't been unusual for quite a few years to see the big European expedition trucks lumbering around the area. The favorite platforms seems to be the Tacoma followed by 4 door Wranglers. Driving back roads all day long then sleeping in a tent on the roof of your vehicle seems like it would get tiresome but I'm old and like some comforts. I wonder how many stick with it any length of time? I worked for a short time for AT Overland building overland truck topper tents, atoverland.com, the wait time 2 years ago was 36 weeks to get one. You can get serious money into this.

Like this.
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It is here in central Arizona, you see anything from Jeep Compasses to full size 4wd 2500 trucks with the tent on the roof or bed rack and various amounts of the cool gear that goes with the outfit. The main publication of overlanding, Overland Journal and it's associated internet forum ExpeditionPortal.com are based in nearby Prescott so it hasn't been unusual for quite a few years to see the big European expedition trucks lumbering around the area. The favorite platforms seems to be the Tacoma followed by 4 door Wranglers. Driving back roads all day long then sleeping in a tent on the roof of your vehicle seems like it would get tiresome but I'm old and like some comforts. I wonder how many stick with it any length of time? I worked for a short time for AT Overland building overland truck topper tents, atoverland.com, the wait time 2 years ago was 36 weeks to get one. You can get serious money into this.

Like this.
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I travel a 22 mile long sand peninsula and only see this level once in a while … most are average campers in Jeeps/PU’s …
 
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: "Overlanding" in Westchester NY includes a snorkel for a vehicle that never has nor will see dirt! Right next to the guy in a cardigan on Sunday afternoon in a Range Rover!! Personally, I prefer canoe camping but if I lived out west I'd be enjoying it!
 
Like most truck trends, I think many people with trucks like that are more into the look of overlanding than the actual practice of overlanding.

Here in the midwest and Great Lakes region, you'll sometimes see trucks outfitted for overlanding, where there literally isn't any place to overland. There's no BLM land in Michigan. I suppose maybe you could find some forest roads to drive out to and camp on some state land, but it's nothing any off-the-lot Subaru couldn't do.

It's always kind of funny to see that type of truck in a state campground. A Tacoma with recovery boards on the rack, a bunch of jerry cans mounted all over, with a roof-mounted tent... parked between a $100,000+ 40 foot fifth wheel on one side and a family tent camping with their Grand Caravan on the other.
 
A few years ago we took a back country trail in the eastern slopes above the Okanagan Valley of BC. We drove our Volvo 740 Turbo sedan. We saw 2 other cars on the trail. One was a Beetle and I don't remember the other one. There were lots of 4X4s and off road vehicles on the local paved highways, driving in the local towns, parked in shopping centers, etc.

When I was growing up we used to take a cross country trail to visit relatives. There were no roads at all, just dirt trails for about 5 miles through pastures and salt flats. We drove our family sedan.

A cross country vehicle is one you drive across country.
 
These things are EVERYWHERE out here in Colorado!
Along with the tent units on the roof, they tow off-road trailers too.

I've often thought about roof-top camp tents. They don't sound very appealing when you have to get out of bed to do "you-know-what" in the middle of the night. This was validated when a friends grandson broke his ankle getting out of a roof-top. Apparently, the night was cold and damp so much so that when he got up in the morning, the ladder had a thin coating of ice on it unbeknownst to him. Whoop and down he went.
 
These things are EVERYWHERE out here in Colorado!
Along with the tent units on the roof, they tow off-road trailers too.

I've often thought about roof-top camp tents. They don't sound very appealing when you have to get out of bed to do "you-know-what" in the middle of the night. This was validated when a friends grandson broke his ankle getting out of a roof-top. Apparently, the night was cold and damp so much so that when he got up in the morning, the ladder had a thin coating of ice on it unbeknownst to him. Whoop and down he went.
Yeah - seems like a bear country thing that makes less sense elsewhere
 
I watch a girl on YouTube that does desert exploring, mostly around death valley. She basically lives out of her 4 runner.
We have 2 temperatures here. Blazing hot or ice cold with wind. Not too many like to go out in either of those.

I don't see too many trucks around that are set up for overlanding here
 
To have that much money tied up into that much equipment, I would believe that one would have to be a “true” adventure traveler,….as in long, extended expeditions to justify the cost of it all. To do this for the occasional weekend out in the bush seems a little extravagant and unnecessarily hard on the rig because of all the added weight that it’s tugging around.
With that said, if it makes them happy and they’re paying for it, kudos to them. Who knows, for the ones that don’t really use all the gear, it may be the thing that gets them motivated to take that leap, join a group, and go for it. I follow a group based in Arkansas called ‘Ozark Overland Adventures’ and they have some nice rigs decked out for overlanding and they use it. They show a lot of the beautiful places in Arkansas, but they also travel all over the country filming as they go. Having these rigs decked out like this for them makes perfect sense, as it’s their lifestyle, but now it’s also a means of making a great living.

His current rig, a Gladiator Rubicon. His wife has a JL Unlimited decked out very similar to his Gladiator.
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Looks cool but I'm with you @AZjeff. Just buy a base Tacoma and stay at the Ritz-Carlton with the $$ you save from not buying all the upgrades.

I'm not a hotel kind of guy, we hope to put 10k+ miles on our smaller size travel trailer this year. Not interested in sleeping in a tent and pooping behind a bush anymore. Here there's lot of public land to travel and camp on, as you go East more and more of the land is privately owned, must have something to do with it.

Forgot about the overlanding trailers. A friend bought an offroad teardrop trailer, when he had it optioned out it was $25k!
 
I watch a girl on YouTube that does desert exploring, mostly around death valley. She basically lives out of her 4 runner.
We have 2 temperatures here. Blazing hot or ice cold with wind. Not too many like to go out in either of those.

I don't see too many trucks around that are set up for overlanding here
I'm heading to Death Valley in a couple of weeks. I love it there! Early spring and late fall are the best times to go.
 
me and my dad bolth did overlanding, and I still do. we did tons of trails in a 2500 suburban with two roof boxes and my 5 siblings. the people with snorkels and tents were always surprised to see a faded stock suburban in the middle of nowhere. you don't need an overlanding rig to go overlanding, any truck or suv can go pretty far. i am making one of those bumpers for my Montero though, the old one got smashed by a drunk guy in a side by side. im too cheap to buy a winch that can only be used on one car so my bumpers just have a trailer hitch built in and I have a winch that fits any trailer hitch. the winch is mostly for the car trailer, which has a spot on the tounge to mount the winch. i don't have any maxtrax, or fancy stuff, just basic camping gear (tent/hammock, food, sleeping bag) a shovel, and a harbor freight tow rope that came in the car when I bought it. and nothing mounted on the car except the bumper. i need to go exploring more, there's no reason to have 4x4 if you aren't gonna use it.
 
I want to do it, just with a mattress in the back of my truck. Unfortunately my wife has no interest in camping with any less than at least her parents large tent trailer we borrow from time to time.
 
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