How to Start Overlanding: A Beginner’s Guide to Basics So You Can Start to Overland TODAY

so you want to start over landing and you've been watching all these YouTube videos but you're still unsure or you're just even more confused than ever I've got your back I'm gonna go over the bare minimum basics of what you need to start over Landing today and make sure you stick around till the end of the video because I'm going to talk about some best practices they're going to help ensure that you have the best possible experience on your first over Landing adventure and I'm going to talk about some non-essentials that are total Overland game changers let's get ready to Overlay okay let's go through the laundry list of all the things you're gonna need to get started with over Landing I'll list them out one by one and then we're going to go into detail on each topic number one over Landing is vehicle-based adventuring so you're gonna need a vehicle preferably a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle but we'll talk more in depth on that later number two shelter which could just be your vehicle number three food and water number four there is no number four that's it that's really the bare minimum Basics that you need to start over Landing right now video over dropping the mic no but seriously though let's talk about each of those in detail now earlier I said high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle but it really just depends on where you want to go you should match your vehicle's capabilities with the type of terrain you're planning to Adventure on if you really just want to visit national parks and camp and establish campgrounds then you could probably get away with any old car that's only I have a tank [Music] if you want to explore some Forest Service Roads or relatively well maintained graded roads it's probably a good idea to have at least an all-wheel drive vehicle if you really want to get out into the backcountry away from the beaten path away from the crowds and you're not always sure what you'll encounter out on the trails well then you want a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle Toyota jeep doesn't matter whatever you prefer Different Strokes for different folks overlanding to me is just vehicle-based adventuring they see me rolling it doesn't mean you're only ever on dirt trails in the middle of nowhere and there's not a soul within 100 miles from you you don't need a lifted Wrangler Rubicon 392 running on 40-inch tires to Overland you don't need a fully built out 3rd gen Toyota Tacoma with light bars all over it to Overland remember your vehicle should just match your needs based on where you want to go stay within the capability limitations of your vehicle and that's it easy peasy lemon squeezy oh also I've been trying to reach you about your car warranty expiring hey where you going shelter can actually just be your vehicle itself if it's got enough room for you I mean my buddy John's been sleeping in the back of his third gen Foreigner for the last few trips and that's worked out great for him I remember our first over Landing Adventure in Lassen National Forest is my wife Emma or two dogs my buddy John and myself used old school ground tents and we had a great time there's nothing wrong with using a ground tank actually ground tents have several benefits than the main one being space for doing normal things like changing your clothes taking a wet wipe shower real quick or whatever else you need to do with privacy so ground tense not a bad choice in fact John still uses a ground tent when the weather is warmer and he uses a hand-me-down that I gave him so yeah I do have a rooftop tent now and it was an investment in something I enjoyed doing but you don't have to have a rooftop tent to go over Landing [Music] so this should be a total no-brainer right you gotta have food and water and it doesn't matter to me if all you want to do is eat Slim Jims and Pringles your entire trip no judgment from me but if you want to cook then you gotta have something to cook on being in California we pretty much have a seemingly permanent fire ban so using a campfire here for cooking is pretty much out but if you're so inclined and you're able to you can absolutely use a campfire to cook one of my biggest over Landing Inspirations epic family road trip if you don't watch them you really should like they need a plug from me right but they cook on open campfires all the time and they make some pretty amazing looking stuff the two things we use are a propane stove for cooking and an isobutane burner for boiling water you can't just use one of those simple butane stoves like this one but keep in mind that butane doesn't really work that well in higher elevations and in extremely cold temperatures now someone's probably going to ask why we use one of those tiny little isobutane burners just to boil water well the kettles we use they're tiny and the burners on the propane stove are just too large to hit the center of the small kettles they heat them up efficiently so that little isobutane burner actually gets water boiling faster in the kettles that we use plus the isobutane burner can act as a backup stove the isobutane canisters come in different sizes and they're super lightweight they don't take up that much room as far as propane you already know that you can pretty much find propane almost anywhere I have a six pound tank and your typical 20 pounder as well the six pound tank is great for short trips or for when I know I can easily find a refill station generally though it's way easier to find a 20 pound propane tank exchange location than it is to find a refill station so keep that in mind what about food storage well on our first few Adventures we just use good old coolers and ice and there's nothing wrong with just using a simple cooler they work just fine don't feel that you have to have some fancy portable fridge just to go over Landing while we're on the topic of food it's a good idea to carry a few quick and easy backup meals like these freeze-dried meals that only require some hot water they're great for emergencies or for just when you pull up to Camp super late and don't feel like cooking and nowadays they're not even half bad now water your water needs are going to vary depending on where you're going if you're going to be in the middle of nowhere in the desert make absolutely sure you're carrying enough water for however long you're going to be away from a reliable water source a very general rule of thumb is one gallon per person per day which sparingly should be enough for drinking cooking cleaning and personal hygiene now if you're planning on going to hot or very dry environments plan for more than one gallon per person per day if you bring pets with you on your adventures don't forget to plan out water supplies for them as well generally I carry about 10 gallons of potable water at all times and I use a scepter water Jerry can along with a lifesaver water purifier Jerry can the Lifesaver is super convenient it filters about 5300 gallons or 20 000 liters of water and is one of the few water filtration systems to meet the extreme standards of U.S military testing protocols put links for a few of the things that I've been talking about down in the video description below if you're interested in any of those so yeah that's really all you need to get started with over Landing is a vehicle shelter food and water now let's talk about some best practices that are going to help ensure that your first overlanding Adventure is a great experience [Music] now typically I like flying by the seat of my pants but for an overlaying Adventure some planning is the way to go and the first thing you need to know is where you want to go that should be the easy part right and I'm sure Google Maps or whatever navigation app you ordinarily use will basically get you to where you're going but let's say you want to get off the beaten path or even if you just plan on being in a well-traveled national park and spending most of your time on pavement don't rely on your traditional navigation apps like you would in town on a trip to Death Valley I don't even have enough fingers to count how many people ask us for directions and I don't even know why they asked us in particular when there were so many other people around yes I'm a dangerous driver also I don't have sales signal that I'm lost I guess maybe we look like we knew what we were doing or something oh that guy looks like he knows what he's doing yes hello can you give me the directions for where I need to go oh for sure I could totally help so let's take a look You're Gonna Wanna Go this way still and then turn left over here this is my surprise Fest how do you have signal I don't have signal what I do have is offline GPS maps the Google Maps app actually has an offline mapping feature if you download the map data you need but I primarily use Gaia GPS which has been around a long time and is extremely powerful it's not the most intuitive thing to use but it's well worth the time it takes to learn how to use the basics I'm going to be doing an entire video just on trip planning where I'll be able to show you some of the powerful features that guy GPS has so keep an eye out for that video and by the way you got it my best tip for trip planning is to just have a general sense of the area that you're going to be going to and you can do that by just spending some time browsing maps online or even playing with Google Earth don't forget to check websites for the park national forest or public land area that you're planning to explore in so that you can get the latest pertinent info available also ranger stations and visitor centers are a great place for the most up-to-date information on trail conditions camping information Etc on that same trip to Death Valley I talked about earlier we knew that a highway was closed when we were going into the area this is the Highway 9 190 I was talking about where part of it's closed off to the left of us here a few days later we stopped at the visitor center and found out that it was open again before we left and knowing that probably saved us from an extra hour and a half of detour driving sometimes ranger stations even have paper maps available which don't require power don't require sell signal or GPS signal to work paper maps are the perfect backup for navigation I know we all want to get out into the Great Outdoors to be off-grid to disconnect and so do I but being caught in an emergency situation where you have no ability to contact anybody is in a scenario that I want to be a part of so that's why I always carry a Garmin inreach mini satellite communication device there are a few companies out there that make similar devices and they all allow you to send text messages via satellite comms additionally I can pull a weather forecast in the middle of nowhere with the Garmin inreach Mini check the weather forecast check the weather forecasts and then check the weather forecasts again along with the weather check for any Wildfire information or road closure information for the areas you're going to be traveling through your trip planning should also include a checklist for everything you want to bring on your adventure Santa has the right idea make a list check it twice spend the time to list out the things you'll need and want for the type of weather and terrain you'll be facing maybe you want to remind yourself to bring sunscreen or bug repellent either way do this ahead of time because if you wait until the night before you leave I can pretty much guarantee that you're going to forget something if you're getting out into the backcountry there ain't no toilets know what you're gonna do about that before your first time over Landing or camping where there are no facilities whether you want to dig holes or use a portable toilet with a privacy tent or not is up to you just have a plan you've probably heard the phrase leave no Trace before and if you haven't I really encourage you to find out more about the seven leave no Trace principles at lnt.org the one principle I want to go over right now is properly disposing of waste don't get me started on how much garbage I find out on the trails and in campsites pack out what you pack in people bring plenty of trash bags with you when you're out adventuring and try to leave it better than you found it when public land managers close access to areas it's because of careless people don't be careless people waste isn't just garbage though washing your dishes with your typical household dish detergent can have harmful effects on The Great Outdoors so use something like a pure Castile soap or one that's specifically made for camping I'm sure most of you have already thought about bringing a first aid kit but I'm going to mention that anyways get a decent first aid kit not some crappy drugstore kit and it's always a good idea to have a tourniquet or two just in case as well finally learn how to use those things because it could save someone's life one day another good just in case item is a fire extinguisher I just have one of these guys but I've had my eye on element fire extinguishers for quite a while now they have great reviews are tiny compared to what I have and our ABC and K rated they also don't require maintenance nor do they expire now if you're going to be in Bear Country it's probably wise to carry bear spray because you never know and better safe than sorry not all bears are just playful and trying to make off with your picnic baskets most of the big name brand bear sprays even make inert practice canisters so that you can train on how to use them properly now if you're going to be in any places where you just know there's Wildlife that's going to try to get into your trash then you're going to need a plan for that I've seen people hang bear bags and that's a tried and true method but I do something different for trash and that's going to segue us into [Music] yeah you've all seen those spare tire trash bags on Overland rigs I'm sure I mean I have one on the back of my rig sand spare tire but that method still leaves you that risk of food and waste odors attracting a mischievous raccoon who scatters your garbage all over your campsite or even worse it's going to act as a lure for a Hungry Bear yeah you can do a bear hang with your trash but I don't got time for all that I eat something that's not even designed for garbage but it's worked out better than I ever thought it would there's a product out there that's made to store animal feed in airtight conditions this right here ain't an ordinary bucket it's a mess I'm Ashley it's not even a bucket at all this is called a gamma 2 biddles fault and they come in a bunch of different sizes and shapes this particular one is 12 inches in diameter and 18 inches tall the vittle's vault is airtight keeps the odor in is weatherproof and is pretty darn durable how well does it keep the odor in I'm glad you asked well one time after a trip I left a bag full of garbage in The Middle's Vault sealed up tight in my garage for over a week and no one even ever noticed it not even my dogs I definitely noticed it though when I finally opened it up to prep for another trip holy I do not recommend doing that now somebody might ask if it's bear proof well it's not technically certified as a bearproof container but I'd imagine that this thing would be pretty darn difficult for a bear to open up as long as you do your part to make sure this seal here is fully seated I think it'll be A-Okay and don't quote me but I really doubt you'll lure any animals for food storage like we talked about earlier all you really need to have is a cooler but let me tell you a fridge has been a complete Game Changer if you only do one or two trips a year a fridge probably isn't something you put on the top of your shopping list but if over Landing becomes something you want to do often well it's really really nice to not have to deal with refilling ice or draining out the cooler or soggy food over Landing fridges can easily cost over a thousand dollars and then you have to be able to power them while your vehicle isn't running so there's the additional cost of a portable power station or improving your vehicle's battery situation so it's a significant investment but one that's well worth it because once you go fridge you don't go back I'm making a whole separate video just about over landing gear because I love gear and gadgets and I'll talk more in depth about fridges and other Nifty gear so keep an eye out for that video Hit subscribe so you know when that video goes live when you're out in the back country roughing it for several days straight having wet wipes to maintain some sense of personal hygiene is a pretty nice luxury to have have or in some cases it's a downright necessity hi Maya one of these days I'm gonna splurge and get me one of them hot shower setups but for now wet wipes get the job done again I put links for a few of the items I talked about down in the video description below just in case you need help finding any of those remember all you need just to get started with over Landing today is just a vehicle shelter food and water and chances are you've already got those so go forth over land and enjoy the great outdoors leave a comment down below for me let me know how your first over Landing Adventure went if you found this video helpful or entertaining hit that thumbs up button and then share the video with a friend and then go ahead and hit that subscribe button for me up here and watch this video down here so that's gonna do it for this one as always thank you guys so much for watching I hope you'll join me for the next one while you're out adventuring always remember destinations don't matter the journey matters this is Roger over and out

Channel: GGG4Runner

Views: 452,763

Keywords: vlog, overland, ovelanding, camping, outdoors, nature, 4Runner, mental health, depression, the great outdoors

Id: OFZq4QOoCag

Length: 18min 6sec (1086 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 10 2022