- In the last 10 years, there
has been a steady increase in people taking their
SUV or crossover off road to see remote locations,
to camp and sightsee. This is all just so they
have something interesting to post on their Instagram. I'm kidding. This activity is called overlanding, and its popularity has
been growing rapidly, especially, in the United States. Events, such as Overland
Expo in Arizona feature a ton of classes, alongside
an actual trade show, with an off-roading focus. Just around 10 years ago, there were only around 900 attendees. Fast forward to 2019,
there are over 22,000. For many car nerds, this
isn't really breaking news. But a lot of people are
loading up their cars, driving to a national park, and dabbling in a little off-roading. There's a lot more to unpack
here than you might expect. Where'd this sudden popularity come from? What happens when social media
makes nature super popular? And with more people suddenly
interested in the outdoors, is that affecting our environment? (upbeat music) A big thank you to Petal
for sponsoring this video. Originally, this ad was supposed to air with the 50th episode of "Money Pit," but through a series of
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.com/donut to learn more. Now, let's get back into it. It's important to clarify to people what overlanding really is. It commonly gets confused
with rock crawling, where the primary goal is to conquer as much difficult terrain as possible. Many people might imagine a modified Jeep, tackling some tough terrain. However, overlanding is
really about exploration, and less about conquering
that terrain itself. Can the roads and trails be rough or technically challenging? Yes, but there are a means to
an end, not the goal itself. A typical overlanding
journey can last anywhere from a weekend to a few months, depending on your expedition. It's essentially an
off-road vehicle, outfitted for self-reliant long distance travel. Nowadays, car camping is an activity that is commonly associated
with overlanding. On short trips, all you might need is some basic camping equipment, and a small amount of
food to last a day or two. The long trips, however,
can be extremely taxing, if you're not properly prepared. Channels like Expedition
Overlanding do a good job of documenting what extremely long trips that last weeks can be like. They've gone on several
trips that can sometimes span across multiple countries. For those trips, they use
some serious off-roaders with a lot of specialized equipment. But this shouldn't discourage you. In the words of overlanding
YouTuber, Ben Stinnett, "the best vehicle for overlanding "is the one you already have." Even crossovers, or two-wheel drive can participate in many places. Plus you don't need to
be a young, fit person to go overlanding. In fact, it can be a family adventure, allowing people of all ages,
regardless of fitness level, to participate. This wide range of enthusiasts
allows for overlanding to have its own market for products. And let me tell you there's a lot of them. But before we get there,
we need to know the why. Why is overlanding,
suddenly, so popular now? It feels like the hobby
just came out of nowhere. But if you've been paying it attention to auto industry trends,
this was inevitable. The first reason for
overlanding's rise is obvious, and it's simply because more
people are buying SUV's. According to a New York Time's article, from May of last year, SUV's made up over 47% of
all car sales in the US, compared to just 22% from sedans. And by 2025, they estimate
that the light truck market, which includes SUV's, trucks, and vans, will make up a staggering
78% of all sales. It's undeniable that SUV's
are the most popular segment in the automotive industry. And you can see that trend
from every automaker. For example, in 1999,
BMW offered only one SUV. Now, BMW offers seven
different SUVs and crossovers, and that's not even
including their M variants. We even talked about how Ford
isn't gonna make cars anymore, on an episode of "Wheel
House" from few years ago. They're just gonna focus
on trucks and SUV's. This is the thing. As you can see this trend isn't new. In fact, it's getting bigger,
and not just with crossovers, but with traditional SUVs as well. The Toyota 4Runner has been around, since the early '80s,
but sales peaked in 2018, with 139,000 units sold. Compare that to just 46,000
units, eight years earlier. The 4Runner perfectly embodies what overlanders tend to look for. A great off-roader, that is
also very comfortable, reliable, and a spacious daily driver. This success is also being
seen in the Jeep Wrangler. And even Ford is rejoining the fray, by rebooting the Bronco and
bringing it back in their lineup with two variants available, those being a traditional
SUV and a smaller crossover. People are even going to the used market to snatch up old SUV's for overlanding. All this demand for SUV's
has created a bigger pool of people that can get into the hobby, in the same way that muscle car owners, of the '60s and '70s took
their cars to the drag strip, and how people with sports cars might take them to the track. SUV owners wanna have fun
with their daily driver too, and overlanding is probably
the most fun you can have with an SUV. The next factor in
overlanding's rise in popularity is the internet. Wireless devices are
everywhere now, in your pocket, in your car, on your
lap, even on your dog. This huge improvement
in wireless connectivity has made it easier and safer to travel to more desolate areas, without having to worry
about getting stuck and not being able to contact people. This has been especially true
amidst the current pandemic, the sudden increase of
people working from home, in combination with the fact that no one is allowed to
pursue normal social activities, like going to bars or movie theaters, have pushed many people to
embrace the outdoors more. People have their SUV's, and majority of them
have a wireless device, and they've been stuck at
home and can't socialize, because of this quarantine. Overlanding, now, looks
like a pretty convenient way to get a much needed change of scenery, without too much investment. Even I've been considering
buying something I can camp out of. I'm very tired of my apartment. If you have a Crosstrek,
let me know in the comments how much you like it. Overlanding was already
gaining popularity, but now it has exploded
during the COVID pandemic. Plus, having a bunch of people post their new adventure-based
hobby on social media has also had an impact in
overlanding's rise in popularity. Anyone on social media has
probably seen at least one photo of someone camping in a
national park somewhere, it's like clockwork. It's not uncommon to
find an overlanding post, consisting of an SUV at a campsite, with some mind-blowing scenery in the background on Instagram. Not gonna lie, those
photos are pretty awesome. I'm not saying that people
dump a bunch of money into their rigs, and go on their trips to get a few picks for the gram. But shots like these definitely
helped spread the gospel, and make the lifestyle something
people aspire to achieve, and the cycle repeats all
over again with someone else. However, if you look closely
at some of those photos, you can see that those SUV's have been pretty, heavily modified. And I mean heavily modified. (upbeat music) Overlanding companies
have benefited immensely from recent technological improvements. But the most popular advancement by far would be the rooftop tent. This accessory alone has been the star in the overlanding community. It takes a little time
to install on your car, and almost no time to set it up, when you reach your campsite. In addition to the
quick install and setup, its location means that it
can be set up in some places, where a normal tent can't be, because they require stakes
to be placed in the ground. But that convenience
is just the beginning. If you're willing to
spend the extra money, the comfort and luxury becomes the rooftop tent's star feature. People, you can buy a rooftop tent, with a memory foam mattress,
LED interior lighting, plug-in points to charge your phone, and it also uses solar
panels to charge them. Nicer than my apartment. These things are simply amazing. And I haven't even talked about the ones that have awnings built into them. But rooftop tents aren't
the only improvements that have been made. New refrigerators and kitchen
setups have been developed, and have been designed to fit into fancy metal drawer systems. And those drawers can
be specifically designed for your make and model of your car. If you think you need
more visibility at night, there are tons of fancy plug
and play LED light bars, with switches designed to fit
into blink panels in your car. Even getting stuck isn't
as much of a disaster as it used to be. There are portable compressors
that can be installed in your engine bay, if
you need to air down or fill up your tires. If you need traction
in slippery conditions, there are affordable and portable tracks, that you can buy to help you get unstuck. The list goes on and on. All these accessories for
overlanding make it easier for long time enthusiast. But simultaneously allow
people uncomfortable with the harsher surroundings
of a canyon or forest to feel at ease. People can even convert Ford transit vans or Mercedes sprinters into
purpose-built overlanding rigs, that can be a home away from home. Overlanding can be a cheap or
very, very expensive hobby. There is an issue, however. I know everything I've
talked up to this point has been pretty positive and it should be. But remember at the
beginning of the episode, when I mentioned the difference in goals between rock crawling and overlanding? Well, that difference applies
to the vehicle as well. Rock crawlers are specifically designed to take on tough off-road
challenges, and that's it. Overlanders are equipped
to handle some challenges, but there's a limit. That limit is very important, because rock crawlers already
have a high center of gravity. Now, look at an overlanding rig, which has a tent and other camping gear, usually attached to the roof. This makes an already high
center of gravity vehicle even higher. Now, hopefully you can
see why it's problematic, when some amateur takes
their overlanding rig on a tough trail. Experienced overlanders, usually,
exercise extreme caution, and park employees definitely warn people of how dangerous some areas are for cars. But there will always
be some guy out there who thinks he or she can handle it, which leads them to
slipping off the trail, and rolling their car, and
pretty much destroying it. And without park officials or law enforcement stopping
inexperienced drivers or unauthorized vehicles
from getting on these trails, people are gonna continue
to get into accidents. (car crashing) Remember how I was talking about how great the internet
is, a few minutes ago? Well, that turns out to
be a double-edged sword. Social media has made popular
landmarks super popular now. And as a result, national
parks and forests have had to adjust for the
sudden increase in traffic. You see so many people are
constantly trying to find that next viral Instagram
pic, and because of this, they're forcing themselves
off the pre-built walkways and trails in order to find new angles. This behavior causes a lot of damage to the surrounding plant life, and actually takes a long
time to recover from. Even worse, is when people
litter in these places, causing even more damage to the ecosystem. Food waste, for example, attracts wildlife and erodes their natural
instincts to avoid humans. It can also take common items, like plastic bags and aluminum cans, up to 100 years to decompose. Also, think about how much longer it takes for a crashed Jeep to decompose
on the side of a hill, if it doesn't get recovered. And it gets even weirder than that. Remember last year with the whole monolith
nonsense out in Utah? Well, according to the
Bureau of Land Management, visitor's quote, parked on vegetation and left behind human waste. Ew. As well as parked their cars
off a dirt in some sage brush, the red landscape was scarred
by criss-crossing tire tracks, and what could be a piece of toilet paper, sticking out of ground? Not cool. The monolith stayed there, until a group of people
took it upon themselves to go out there and remove it. People were not thinking clear enough about how their actions
affected their surroundings, when going outdoors. Littering is a big enough problem for our national parks and forests. They don't need more to deal with. Now, the problems I've just laid out are just from people walking around. Now, imagine how much more damage occurs, when an overlanding rig decides
to go off the beaten path. The damage would go up exponentially. SUVs and trucks are permitted to drive through national forest and
parks, on designated trails, designed to minimize the damage
brought upon by travelers. The US Department of Agriculture reported on an incident at the
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, at Buck Lake Campground, where
a meadow near the campground was torn up by vehicles. Where there was green grass, there are now mud pits and tire tracks. That kinda damage is basically permanent, due to how much heavier and
more powerful off-road vehicles are compared to a group
of people walking around. The irony of people damaging nature, while on a trip to appreciate nature, sounds like a bad joke. But instead it's an unfortunate reality. However, the overlanding community has not been completely unaware of careless people's actions. In fact, people have made
attempts to help limit it. Yes, there are people who
go out in the parklands, and damage them carelessly. But there are just as
many people in overlanding that are environmentally
conscious, and are active in tryna get others to be as well. With some basic research online, you'll find a bunch of online
articles, informing people on how to limit their
environmental impacts, and how to be more mindful
when driving through parklands. These kinds of guides do a great job, not only limiting the
damage caused to parklands, but also teach people
useful tips on how to be a more skilled and
environmentally friendly driver. I will link some, down in the description, if you're interested. The rise of overlanding has been a sudden, yet welcome addition
to many people's lives. It's wonderful that people are
willingly taking their SUV, with a couple of off-road
accessories, and going out and exploring remote
locations in their free time. I truly love that. However, nobody wants people to get hurt, and people should be
honest with themselves about what their limits
are when off-roading over difficult terrain. Also, pick up your trash and
stay on the designated paths. It's not that hard! The national parks and
forests don't put those trails and rules in place just
because they're lazy. They're tryna protect
the local ecosystems. So, get out there, enjoy nature, take pictures of yourself
with your rig, post them up, I think that's awesome, but
make sure to do so respectively. Thanks for watching this episode. I was not kidding about the Crosstrek. I've been looking at them. Let me know in the
comments, if you like yours, or if there's a better vehicle. Check out Donut on all
social media at Donut Media. We post behind the scenes stuff sometimes. Follow me @nolanjsykes as well. Be kind, to take care of each other. See you next time.
