Innholdsfortegnelse for Gear Guide 2021 i Overland Journal

HAPPY CAMPERS Thought of the magazine and the forum when I snapped this (top right photo). It’s no exaggeration to say that ExPo and Overland Journal significantly changed my life trajectory. We don’t have the ability to go the extreme distance that frequently, but we basically live in the tent for a combined two months a year. Thinking of getting a RoofNest or iKamper next, something easier. Eric D. Laffoon 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 MOVING ON I find the direction Overland Journal is taking to be troubling. While the photography is beautiful and often stunning, there has been an appalling emphasis on more extreme forms of adventure, taking vehicles where, it could be persuasively argued, they don’t belong. At what point does the sheer impact of so many new…

The Scotts Steering Stabilizer has one purpose: keep you in control of your motorcycle by limiting wobble, weave, and unintended deflection of the front wheel. The device is a hydraulic shock absorber housed in a gold-anodized aluminum box that mounts to a motorcycle’s triple clamp. On my F 800 GS, a link arm connects to a post on the steering head, engaging the stabilizer when the front wheel moves away from center. Applications are motorcycle-specific; my GS requires a Scotts underbar mount/mounting kit ($312), which raises the handlebar 2 inches. Scotts stabilizers provide complete adjustability. High-speed damping, which controls sudden deflections, is tunable on the fly with a 24-position control. The base damping circuit and the unit’s sweep, or the angle from center that the hydraulics operate, are set while…

AND THERE WE FINALLY WERE, ON A FULL-MOON NIGHT AT 17,388 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL (ASL), 14°F, miles away from any clue of human existence, surrounded by stunning beauty. We had reached Pampa de los Bayos, an area that remains mostly unexplored because of the difficulties involved in getting there. It’s a challenging combination with the absence of roads, high elevation, and freezing night temperatures. It was our third attempt at Pampa. The first two approaches had failed because of weather and navigation issues. Once you are up there, the slightest problem or probability of such is a valid reason to abort, since taking chances in such a desolate area can have fatal consequences. Each attempt required good preparation, 7 to 10 days to spend in the area, and a…

Cooking meals during off-grid adventures can be rewarding, but often requires innovation, preparation, and a willingness to work with what you’ve got. I have fond memories of baking cinnamon rolls with a fry-bake and a white-gas stove in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, roasting an entire sheep in a dung-oven in Peru’s Cordillera Negra, and even cooking a pot roast underground in a sandy river bed in Utah’s canyon country. This product comparison is different from previous Best of Breed articles in that the products reviewed are a collection of innovative but different cooking solutions. The idea wasn’t necessarily to pit these pieces of gear against each other, but instead to demonstrate their unique purposes, strengths, and ultimately, evaluate their performance and suitability for real-world use in the field. These cooking…

The year was 1986, and the British government had given the go-ahead for the undersea Channel Tunnel to be built linking Britain with France. Dr. Gordon Thomas, a Canadian adventurer, was flying to the UK when he first heard the news; like many others, he thought that the tunnel would be for vehicles to use, and it got him thinking. ‘If it would soon be possible to drive from the British Isles to continental Europe, it should be feasible to cross all of Russia to its most easterly point. If you could then drive across the sea ice between Russia and Alaska, it should be achievable to drive all the way from London to New York.’ And so began the Transglobal Expedition idea (not to be confused with the Transglobe…

Patagonia has been at the forefront of the sustainability movement for over two decades, showing that profit-making does not contradict environmentalism and the three Rs: reusing, repairing, and recycling products. In addition, the company has helped conserve 73 million acres of wild lands and 3,575 miles of rivers through the Conservation Alliance, founded in 1989 by Patagonia, REI, The North Face, and Kelty. Despite these successes, the apparel industry has lagged behind the food industry in terms of the demands of environmentally friendly goods. Outdoor companies are now catching up with big strides. Today, the changing climate is a burning topic that unites the outdoor industry, although most businesses face the same threats. Weather-related disasters disrupt production and distribution schedules, produce inventory risk, and jeopardize revenue. At the same time,…

The raw wind prowled through the desert night, blowing grit into my eyes and ears. Unloading jerry cans from the roof rack of a Land Rover Discovery, I skirted the swarm of activity surrounding the nearby Range Rover perched on a red Hi-Lift jack like a dinosaur skeleton in a museum exhibit. It was 3:30 a.m., and a small team of mechanics was frantically replacing a broken shock mount and spring perches. The rigors of off-road racing were grinding down both machine and man. This team was 13 hours into the annual Baja 1000 competition, and the Range Rover had covered nearly a third of the 693-mile course that snaked through the mountains and valleys of Mexico’s western peninsula. In a cloud of dust, the truck rumbled into life, its…

DAN GREC Dan Grec is an adventurer, snowboarder, and photographer who now hails from White-horse, Yukon, Canada. Growing up in Aus-tralia, family camping trips gave Dan a passion for wilderness exploration in remote destinations. After studying and working as a software engineer, Dan went in search of a more vibrant life. Eventually driving 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina, he became inspired by the characters he met along the way and is now dedicated to helping others realize their own overland dreams. To this end, Dan created and maintains Wiki-Overland—the community encyclopedia of overland travel. After years of planning and preparation, in early 2019, Dan completed a circumnavigation of the entire African con-tinent in his Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. ARDEN KYSELY Arden has been riding loaded dual-sports and adventure bikes into…

Disaster can strike at any time on a motorcycle, the chances increasing when a rider leaves the pavement for the sketchy traction of dirt and gravel roads. For that reason, most adventurers fit aftermarket protection to their mounts. I put AltRider crash bars on my BMW F 800 GS about seven years ago, and they have protected the bike in several minor get-offs since then. However, they proved themselves worthy of high praise when the west side of the 10,000-foot La Sal Pass near Moab, Utah, smacked me down while riding the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route. The GPS track delivered my riding partner and me to the summit of La Sal Pass on a delightful all-weather forest road, then sent us careening down a hellish series of steep, rocky chutes…

THE POWDER-COATED STEEL TRUSS FRAME IS MASTERFULLY WELDED AND STRONG ENOUGH TO SUPPORT A GROWN MAN DOING PULL-UPS. Kinsmen Hardware is the quintessential example of American small business. Their story doesn’t begin with an angel investor, a flashy viral video, or funding from a multinational conglomerate, but with a need, and a craftsman who was willing to do something about it. That man was Matthew Simmons, a machinist’s son from South Carolina, and the product he worked long hours at two jobs to produce is the Rapid Deploy awning. The awning is also classically American. It’s the muscle car of the group, built from US steel and canvas with a design that favors straightforward strength, speed, and simplicity over engineering finesse. The fabric isn’t an ultralight-aluminum-infused secret, but heavy-duty 314…

There are few vehicles as iconic as a 4WD wagon bouncing along the Kalahari or bounding effortlessly across the Empty Quarter. The modern SUV can quite literally do it all, transporting kids on a Tuesday and visiting the North Magnetic Pole a month later (true story). They are used in the developing world by NGOs, special operations units, and even the occasional explorer, and for good reason. The wagon provides the best of most worlds, isolating the occupants and equipment from the elements, sticky fingers, and plumes of dust. They are also typically safer, more comfortable, and provide better performance than equivalent trucks or vans, which is why they sell in unfathomable numbers: 28,000,000 in 2019, to be exact. CONSIDERATIONS With dozens of SUVs on the market, it was challenging…

Removing your shoes at the doorway, you slide your feet into a pair of slippers before stepping onto a wooden floor. Ducking under a pair of fabric dividers, adorned with hand-painted kanji script, you enter the space and take a seat. Your surroundings are subtle but beautiful, light-filled, and tranquil. The scent of fresh, pungent cedar fills the air. A low table sits in front of you, with a slate-colored teapot and matching bowl-shaped cup resting on top. Hot green matcha tea, perfectly blended, awaits. A laughing Buddha sits in the corner, hands clasped. His face is filled with joy. You feel relaxed. Welcome to Saul and Ayaka Estrada’s 2018 Sprinter van. We tend to center overland vehicle builds around budget, practicality, and necessity. Our decisions are informed by purpose—we…

IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, AN INDISTINCT GELÄNDE/STRASSE CONCEPT HAD BECOME A REALITY. WITH THAT, BMW CHANGED ADVENTURE MOTORCYCLING FOREVER. Okay, class: G as in Gelände and S as in Strasse. Any questions? Forty years ago, BMW introduced the R 80 G/S to the world. BMW’s decision to launch a new concept bike targeting the then vague enduro sector, into an untried large displacement motorcycle class, was nothing short of intrepid. There were no masses begging for pre-launch details, no press hypothesizing about the bike’s performance, no aftermarket waiting in the wings. The lead up to launch wasn’t so rosy. Toward the late 1970s, BMW motorcycles sales were experiencing a downturn from a weak dollar (the US was BMW’s primary market). Furthermore, Japanese makers had boldly staked claims in the…

Huddling around a campfire at the end of a long day fulfills a primal need that is hard to articulate. Nothing technology offers can deliver the satisfaction and ambience of undulating flames dancing across freshly split logs, filling your nostrils with the smell of woodsmoke. Backcountry ethics tell us that if no fire pit exists at our campsite, we should not build one, but that is not a problem, thanks to the Takibi. This folding, stainless steel fire pit/grill sets up in seconds (it took me under a minute without instructions) and folds down flat enough to stow in narrow spaces, providing the perfect balance between portability and stability. I put the Takibi to the test, grilling a meal of vegetables and burgers for my whole crew. The grill’s cone…

I have always enjoyed solitude, and have manipulated my life in various ways to get more of it. I’m not sure what that says about me socially, though more often than not, I am perfectly content with my own company and a good book. I can go for days at a time with no interest in seeking out other people. Across Africa, I continually explored the most remote places I could reach, which generally came hand-in-hand with my preference for isolation. People often say, “You are never alone in Africa,” because no matter how remote you think you are, a person will inevitably materialize from the forest to offer a friendly hello. This frequently happens at the most inopportune moments, just as dinner is about to be served or during…

After purchasing a BMW F 800 GS in 2009, I quickly sourced a set of expensive aluminum panniers, thinking that’s what you had to use on a GS. Victims of their own mass and structure, combined with progress in the textile world—namely waterproof soft luggage at a fraction of their weight and cost—those metal boxes have been collecting dust for over a decade. My first soft bag, the original 50-liter Giant Loop Great Basin, weighed less fully packed than the metal system does empty, an important consideration for overlanding. Not to mention the bone-crunching potential of metal panniers if one lands on your leg in a get-off. And fabric doesn’t dent To be fair, hard luggage still boasts some advantages—security being foremost for many riders. But locks can be picked,…

Despite California’s urban reputation, the state holds many adventurous destinations, ranging from the largest national park (Death Valley) to the remote and clandestine Lost Coast in Northern California. Few know about this rugged section of coastline, spanning Humboldt and Mendocino counties, with the charming enclave of Ferndale in the north, and the diminutive Rockport in the south. For the overlander’s purposes, this unfettered land has been completely ignored by progress. The King Range of mountains is too geotechnically challenging to allow for State Route 1 to hug the coast, pushing the throngs of tourists and ground-clearance challenged much farther east. What remains is the King Range National Conservation Area, the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, minor private inholdings, and national forest. The region is isolated, the terrain formidable, and the history…

Let’s start with the basics. No matter where your adventures take you, you’ve got to eat, and at least some of the time, that means cooking. There are many fuel choices, including wood, alcohol, kerosene, white gas, unleaded gasoline, diesel, induction, butane, and propane. Location and weather determine whether fire is a good option. There are stoves that use alcohol for camping, and backpacking stoves like the MSR WhisperLite Universal that will cook a meal burning anything from kerosene to disposable butane canisters. There are stoves that burn diesel, popular in some expedition vehicles, and we can’t forget induction stoves or even a microwave if you run a generator or maybe lithium batteries and a strong inverter. Most of those won’t compare to a good sausage or steak grilled over…

SERVES 2 COOK TIME 10 minutes ASSEMBLY TIME 5 minutes EQUIPMENT Aluminum foil, parchment paper, heat-resistant gloves or tongs 1 ear of corn, cut into 8 pieces1 medium zucchini, sliced thick4 cloves garlic, minced½ pound uncooked shrimp2 andouille sausages (precooked)1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning4 tablespoons butterFresh parsley, chopped1 lemon, quarteredSalt, as needed Who doesn’t love the simplicity of foil packet meals? Especially when camping. Just assemble your ingredients, seal them inside using aluminum foil and parchment paper, and place them over your heat source. A campfire, charcoal grill, or even a propane stove all get the job done. Dinner is ready in no time, and there’s no cookware to clean. While there are hundreds of different foil packet recipes out there, one of our all-time favorites is…