Overland Trip Planning: How to Plan a Grand Overlanding Adventure and Getting Started with GAIA GPS

when I wake up well I know I'm going to be I'm going to be the man who sees an epic view when I go out yeah I know I'm going to be I'm going to be the man who Adventures through and through and I would drive 5,000 mil and I would drive 5,000 more just to be the man who would drive 5,000 Mi to enjoy life some more I'm not going to do the da da da da part yes I did just totally defile a popular late 80 song and you're going to be wandering aimlessly for 5,000 Mi if you don't plan out your overlanding adventures so that's what we're going to be talking about today this is Overland trip planning 101 I'll be your instructor this semester I don't have syllabus or any required textbooks but hit that subscribe button down here as your first assignment my name is Roger attention spans are short these days so you don't care about that let's just get started planning an overlanding adventure to somewhere you've never been can be a lot of work and it can take quite a bit of time to do I wish there was some kind of cheat code or like a AI assist hey Overland out yes Roger King of the andal the Ruiner and the first man lord of the Seven Kingdoms I want to explore Utah for 7 Days plan that SHP for me okay done sweet unfortunately that hasn't been invented yet someone smarter than me should make that app though and then give me a free lifetime subscription for the idea anyways let's look at all the things that I do right now to plan for an overlanding adventure rather than just showing you some random stuff on trips I plann in the past let's plan a brand new adventure together one that I'm actually going to do in the future in my first ever YouTube video I shared a story about going to Crater Lake Oregon well trying to go to Crater Lake Oregon just to run away from wildfires for a day and a half sleep in a Walmart parking lot and come right back home well it's Redemption time and I'm going to show you all the steps I'm going to take to plan this future trip based on everything that I've learned since that big Oregon fail if you haven't seen the how to start overlanding guide or the what I love and hate about my overlanding gear video be sure to check those out by clicking the link up here a quick disclaimer before we start this is a long video but it's one that I think brings good value to people who are just getting started with overlanding and if you're not interested in a particular section just skip ahead using the chapter markers below and completely offend me that you're not watching every single second of My Blood Sweat and Tears tip number one for Overland trip planning if you're planning out your very very first overlanding Adventure don't try to plan out some long epic once- in a-lifetime adventure thinking you're like Indiana Jones or mellin or something stick to something relatively near civilization in case something goes sideways and make it a shorter trip you don't go run in a double block Diamond the first time you go out skiing or snowboarding right holy I'll review all of the tips that I give at the end of the video so don't worry about taking notes or anything like that and as always I'm going to put links for everything that's pertinent down in the video description below Okay so so Crater Lake is a pretty decent Drive where I live roughly 450 Mi or so and Google map says it'll take about 7 and 1/2 hours of non-stop driving so with a lunch stop potty braks refueling stops let's conservatively call that 9 hours on the road tip number two unless you and your adventuring party are very very accustomed to long drives don't try to drive like 12 hours in one shot it's not a great idea everyone's going to be tired and nobody's going to have a good time been there done that so split those drives up into a second day if you have to also along that topic stay hydrated during long drives I know I used to limit my water intake on long drives to avoid taking so many potty braks man I'm pretty thirsty oh I better not I want to make good time I don't want to have to stop and pee I'm pretty thirsty being dehydrated at the beginning of your trip is just PL silly a good thing to pay attention to while you're just mapping out how to get to where you're going is to see if there any long stretches where there are no gas station I know there's areas of Nevada and Utah where you can go for quite a while before seeing another gas station and I'm sure there are other areas like that all over the US I miscalculated going through Eastern Utah one time to Colorado and had to use my roto packs to make it to the next fuel St so yeah I didn't intentionally stop in this spot to take photos but Instagram thinks I did tip number three no where you can refuel not just on the Long Highway drives but while you're out adventuring in the back country nowh you can find gas or diesel when you need it also carrying extra fuel is never a bad idea I'll talk more in depth about tip three when we start looking at stuff to do around C my truck fully loaded with overlanding gear only averages about 13 m a gallon on long trips so let's use Google Maps to check for gas stations along the rout of Crater Lake I use either Apple Maps or Google Maps when I'm in the truck for basic point-to-point Highway navigation but I keep all pertinent mapping information in Gaia we'll be using the web version of Google Maps for general info and both Gaia GPS on the web and the Gaia GPS IOS app in this video I'm pretty sure Gaia works the same on Androids for you Android people we'll be using some other resources as well but I'll talk more about those when we need to use them and it looks like there are plenty of gas stations on the way so I don't really have to worry about that tip number four go and download guia GPS if you haven't already and having paper maps as a backup is a smart idea I have no affiliation with Gaia but it's a powerful tool that only requires the mobile device that you're probably watching this video on right now and a membership fee to use the offline mapping feature there are dedicated offline GPS mapping devices that are extremely powerful but I've yet to find the need for one is guia the only thing I use heck no two is one and one is none I use the onx off-road app sometimes on well-known trails and the Overland bound one app has a lot of mapping and planning features and lastly the emergency satellite comm's Garmin inreach mini device that I use pairs with their earthmate app that also has mapping features so I essentially have two two GPS receivers cuz you never know even my aftermarket stereo head unit has a GPS receiver and navigation on it too yeah I know your fancy new cars already have that stuff built in but the old gals got to keep up with the times right you get where I'm going with this though backup on top of backup on top of backup you will never hear me use the phrase overprepared as you're going to see in this video I do all planning and the majority of my no cell service and off-road navigation with Gaia if you already know how to use Gaia GPS feel free to skip ahead using the chapter marks one of the first things we want to look at in guy to understand how to use it is map layers and guia has a lot of available layers you can choose whether you want to be streamlined t-shirt and shorts or if you want to be looking like Joey triani from that one episode of Friends could I be using any more layers let me show you the primary layers that I use for overlanding and it's not a lot back in May of 2022 Gaia unveiled a new map layer called called Gaia Overland and that basically replaced five layers that I was previously using so that's pretty sweet here's how you add a new map [Music] layer and remove one you can also adjust the opacity of each layer to suit your needs all right now I'm going to show you how to create way points in Gaia using the web version first and then in the app so we're we're going to Mark some gas stations that are close to Crater Lake so first I'm going to copy the coordinates from a gas station from Google Maps and paste that into the search bar in [Music] Gaia that gives me our approximate location where that gas station was and I'm just going to Mark exactly where it is I'm going to hit save Waypoint [Music] and then I'm going to rename it to gas just so I know what it is and I'm going to look for that fuel icon so it to change it into like a fuel pump looking icon you can also change the color of the icon as well where is that guy this is like playing where's Waldo I bet you guys saw it and I didn't right all right let's just use the search bar okay it didn't come up with gas so I'm going to typee fuel there she [Music] is and then I'm going to hit save so that created the gas wayp point for us and I'm going to change the folder and put it into a new folder that we're going to call Crater Lake no I changed my mind let's just call it Oregon and I'll show you why I do that later all right let me show you one more time and we're going to Mark another gas station so we'll pick this guy here Sand Creek Station and same thing I'm going to click an area right around that just to get the GPS coordinates in Google maps and copy that man I suck at copying stuff I guess there we go and paste it into the search bar again and we're pretty close to the gas station so let's mark the exact spot [Music] now there it is then we'll hit save Waypoint again and rename it to gas use that fuel icon and hit save and then we'll put it in the organ folder again all right now let's take a look at how to create a waypoint in the mobile app so I'm going to zoom in and literally put my finger where I want to Mark a location and we're going to choose the fuel icon again and then rename this and I'm just going to call it gas again before I hit save I'm going to hit choose folder and we're going to find that Oregon folder there it is we hit back and then I hit save in the top right corner and that's how to create a waypoint in the app now that we've got some gas stations mapped out let's take a look at where we're going to be able to find a camp for the night Crater Lake is a national park so there's going to be a lot of information available and the first place I'm going to look is the National Park Service website typically I check the MPS website a few times as the trip departure date draws closer because it's a great resource for anything happening at the park that may affect your trip the current alerts at the top here don't affect me right now but checking some basic camping info would be good I think all national parks have designated established campgrounds but I want to avoid those as much as possible so I'm going to look at something else here I'm going to go to basic information and then permits and reservations so here we have some general information like Backcountry permits special use permits so I'm going to click Backcountry permit and here we got more links depending on what season it is and I'm probably going during the summer so let's click on [Music] that and here we have another link for disperse camping in the summer so right here we see that you have to be at least 1 mile from any maintained Road or developed area in Crater Lake National Park in order to do dispersed camping so that's useful but pretty limited information particularly with dispersed camping for overlanding so let's take a look at a couple other resources that I've used before to help us find known dispersed camping locations doesn't mean that we're going to stay in those spots but it'd be good to Mark a few like backups just in case it's running late and we just don't feel like searching for that Perfect Epic spot anymore tip number five and you probably already know what I'm going to say subscribe down there kidding but not did you turn in your assignment at the beginning of this video all right seriously though tip number five use multiple resources for camping information one of the obvious ones is well Google there's a couple terms people use for the type of camping I like to do disperse camping free camping boondocking wild camping there's probably more but those are the most common so if we Google Crater Lake disperse camping we'll get several results you can really go down a rabbit hole using Google though so I'm just going to show you three websites that have been consistently useful for me Rec camp sites. net boondockers bible.com and campendium.com some of the camping information is going to overlap from resource to Resource but that's a good thing when you're marking potential or backup camping locations because you know that it's going to be a reliable spot unless it's already occupied of course by somebody else for areas that don't have any sites that other people have marked or even if they have marked a spot you're going to want to make sure that it's public land so that you're legally able to Camp there and you can do that by using Gaia map layers that show public land borders like the Overland layer so I'm going to Mark a few locations in Gaia real quick and while I'm marking camping locations in the immediate Crater Lake Area I'm also going to look up gas stations grocery stores and propane exchange locations and Mark those as well and again I just use Google Maps for that stuff okay this is totally off topic here but I don't know how many of you have been noticing this like what the what are these ads here like I can't make this up so that's tip number six create weight points for Supply location if you were asked in the comments in another video what I do for planning out vehicle fuel when out in the back country I religiously Mark gas stations in Gaia I mentioned earlier about creating waypoints for gas stations but for me it's critical that I know where I can refuel when needed it can be difficult to estimate fuel consumption out on the trails with elevation changes the overall speed you travel at is going to vary a lot based on road conditions strong headwinds will affect that and so on and so forth so yeah I Mark a lot of gas station and then I compare those locations to the general Backcountry route I'm taking if you mark a fuel spot in a very remote looking area like there's nothing else nearby it's a good idea to give them a phone call ahead of time to ensure that it's actually open and that they haven't ran out of fuel I also treat grocery stores propane exchange and refill locations water sources and potential campsites the same as fuel stops mark them down now before you get stuck in a bad situation all right so I went ahead and marked some campsites gas stations grocery stores and propane exchange locations in the Crater Lake vicinity ultimately there's no big secret to finding dispersed camping spots I know that's not really what you want to hear but all you really need to know is what is public land and what is not the Gaia Overland layer will show you public land borders if you zoom in as long as it's National Forest land or BLM land you're basically good to go as long as there aren't any signs posted say saying no camping or you're not trying to park in the middle of the trail and Rangers always seem to know some of the best secret spots so swing by the ranger station and ask them for some tips also don't drive your vehicle onto areas where they don't belong leave no Trace Mother Nature doesn't ask for too much in return just your respect exploring technically means traveling through an unknown location and learning more about it it doesn't mean let's head off Yonder and see what happens we're not Lewis and Clark so tip number s Mark some of the places you want to see so the obvious attraction in this trip is Crater Lake itself right but I'm sure there are plenty of other beautiful spots in that area I just don't know any off the top of my head so Mark whatever you want to see and keep in mind that it's okay if you don't see everything that you Mark it's just another reason to go back another time so I'm going to try to look for some cool spots for us and mark them down in Gaia so I save way points for two spots that I'm interested in visiting Pinnacle over look and the pmus desert I also found out that bdr Backcountry Discovery routes is is mapping out a new bdr track in Oregon that'll be ready by February so I'll definitely check out their route details when it's available but for now I found the Oregon section of What's called the Pacific Crest Overland route or PC for short I'm going to call it PE cor to make it simple from here on out tip number eight look for Backcountry routs that have already been mapped out by other people and use their data to help you plan a grand overlanding Adventure a lot of the work has been done for you with those Backcountry Overland routes all you you need to know is to figure out what portion of the route you have time for the PE cor runs from the border of Canada all the way down to the border Mexico and it follows a similar path to the famous hiking trail the Pacific Crest Trail the PE cor uses dirt roads and trails whenever possible and it'll remind you of just how much Backcountry there is in the western Coastal States I downloaded what's called a KML file for the Oregon section of the PE cor I'll put a link for that down in the description and that file can be imported into Gaia GPS which will show a navigable route in Gaia for us to follow I won't be able to run the entire Oregon section of the PE cor but we sure can do a part of it on this trip before I show you how to import that file let's take a look at another app that I use that will help us find some more off-roading trips the onx off-road app is great for well as the name suggests off-roading it's got built-in data for off-road trails of All Sorts ranging from dirt bike trails all the way up to full width 4x4 trails and dirt roads featured Trails marked by blue icon on the map will show some useful Trail information like difficulty rating distance elevation and some photos if you don't know where to find some dirt onx is a great resource to use just like Gaia GPS though the offline mapping feature requires a membership fee I'm not saying you have to have it but it's a convenient resource to use for off-road trails before we import that KML file we downloaded let's take a look at some of the other features of Gaia GPS at the top left you have a little icon with four arrows and if you click that it just hides the menu bar click it again and the menu bar reappears to the right of that is a little Target reticle looking icon and if you click that it will locate you on the map and next to that is the plus icon which accesses all these features including import file we'll come back to that and lastly the little stack looking icon on the right is going to access all the map layers and the map overlay features to remove a layer you just click the little red X in in the top left corner of each one and to add them back in Just click that green arrow in the top left corner if you click map overlay you'll be able to see all the features that you can turn on and off based on your needs and finally at the bottom here is the add map layer button and if you click that you'll be able to add any map layers that you don't already have in that list above near the top left of the screen you'll see a green button that says record you hit that and that starts recording a track and I'm not moving right now so it's not doing anything so I'm going to go ahead and delete this track and next to that is a camera button which lets you take pictures you can add those to your waypoints and then the other three black boxes you see to the right of that display different types of information so if you hold your finger on one of those or the record and camera button you can change what feature shows up in that area of the screen and just below those information boxes is your current heading right now I'm going west oh oh nope I'm going to go north maybe not I'm just going to go Northwest I guess down at the bottom you already know we on the map and if you hit trip it's basically the same thing as hitting that green record button I have at the top left there to the right of that is the search function which will let you look for some basic things like well-known trails and landmarks it won't let you look for anything like stores or gas stations but I heard a rumor that might be coming soon and next to that you can manage all of your Sav data so all your folders that you create all of your waypoints your saved maps everything is in there so earlier we created that orgon folder and if you click the little I icon you can hide everything that's in that folder and then turn it back on when you need it if you click that top left you'll be able to filter what save data you want to see and lastly that little gear icon on the right is just your settings okay now let's click on that plus icon at the top and we're going to import that KML file click import file near the bottom there and I don't actually have the file on my phone but that's how you would do it so just click on the file and it'll guide you through the rest of it all right let's go back to the web version of Gia now let's actually import that P cor KML file so I'm going to click on import data near the bottom of that list on the left so those are the type of files that you can import into Gaia you can also drag the file directly onto the desktop to import it but I'm going to hit select files and just select that file that we have and now you see a big list of all the data that's in that file you got some Roots right there and you got some waypoints in there too so I'm going to save all 28 items and that's going to start importing that file into your Gaia and as soon as it's done it's going to display the whole route and all the waypoints and any other data that it has in it and I'm going to rename that just so it's easier for me to understand and I'm going to call it Oregon peor and hit save and we'll also drop all of that data into the Oregon folder too okay now that that's done we're going to go ahead and click back to get back to the big list of all of our saved items and same as on the app if you click that little I it'll hide everything that's in that Oregon folder click it again and everything pops right back up for you all right now let's zoom in and see how close that route gets to everything we've marked so far so let's take a look at those two places I want to visit which are the pmus desert and Pinnacle Overlook and you can see they're close to the route but not quite on it so what we're going to do now is create little offshoots like kind of like detours that'll lead us to the those spots like maybe from here to the pmus desert and then around the lake to the Pinnacles Overlook and then we'll connect it back to the PE cor route okay so we're going to click roots on the left there and you'll get a little popup with all the keyboard shortcuts if you want to remember those now let's give our route a name let's call it crater no let's call it peor Crater Lake detour and we can change the color of that route too let's make this a happy little orange route okay so let's start our route we're going to click where we want to start it and let's go ahead and pick that entrance station right [Music] there and then we'll drop another point at the pumps desert and as you can see it's going to try to trace the route as best as it can on its own automatically sometimes titter Miss though so shorter segments are usually better and we're just going to keep following the road around Crater Lake until we get all the way down to that Pinnacle Overlook area and again just take your time especially with the windy roads cuz the system will get confused sometimes and follow a path that you don't necessarily want to take all right so now that we're all the way down at the Pinnacles Overlook you'll notice if you look real close that the route you drew has directional arrows near the bottom of the screen you see a little menu bar that gives you some automatic actions that you can take like doing an out and back route or re-root to the beginning things like that U we're going to do it manually so we're going to kind of retrace part of that route except that we're going to continue West to link back up with the PE cor route that way we're headed towards these campsites that I got marked over here so let's go ahead and finish this route that we're [Music] making so you see when I clicked right there it kind of takes you on that dirt trail that I may or may not want to go on so we're going to to fix that let's just delete that last point that we did and again we'll just take it one tiny baby step at a time until it traces the path that we actually want all right and that's our route now as you're clicking around the map make sure you're not dragging one of these uh points on the route otherwise you're going to screw up your roote so I'm going to undo what I just did there and from there we can kind of lead ourselves back back to the PE route all right now that our route is all drawn and we've already named it and picked out a happy orange color that we like let's go ahead and save it now that it's saved I am going to put it in to the Oregon PE cor folder and that's it that's how you draw a root on the web version now let's go to the app so I usually do everything in the web version I'll only use the app when I absolutely have to to draw a route cuz it's a little more cumbersome but here's how to do it and I'm just going to make a fake route just to show you how to do it so we're going to click the plus icon near at the top and then click create rout and you'll see a little blue dot that you can move around so that's going to be your starting point and we'll drop that here at this gas station and then let me zoom out a little bit to see where I want to go so let's kind of just just go up to that General vicinity kind of by that Lake [Music] there and I'm going to put my finger down on another point and hold it until it creates another blue dot and it'll trace a line just like it did in the web [Music] version pick our next Point it'll Trace another line that's not the path I want to take though so let's move some dots around so I'm going to move that dot and now it follows the path that I actually want to take so it's basically the same process as in the web version I just prefer to do it on a computer versus the mobile app just because I have more screen real estate to work with and then if you want to save the rout all you do is click that word save at the top right corner there you can choose a folder change the color all that good stuff just like in the web version and I'm going to call this root example and then save it and since we don't really need that route let me show you how to delete one now so if we click the saved icon at the bottom there you're going to see right now just folders cuz I have it filtered by folders so we'll change that up in the top top left and we'll pick Roots instead and you'll see all the roots that are in there we're going to select root example tap delete and delete once more and now it's gone so the point of the roots is to help you navigate and it's not like a Google Maps or ways or Apple Maps or whatever where you get turn by turn directions when you're in the back country um you do in the city I think but it definitely helps to keep you on track rather than having to look back and forth on the map all the time so here's how to access the guide me feature I'm going to go ahead and tap on that happy orange root that we made and you'll see the actual root file and then if you click more you can find guide me now right now it's going to try to guide me from where I'm currently located all the way in San Jose California but once you're near that route it'll be pretty self-explanatory there's also a popup that asks if you want to start recording a track and that's it's up to you if you want to do it or not so we've got a bunch of waypoints marked and we found that pretty awesome peor route that we're going to follow so I think what I want to do on this trip is to start in the north actually right around that area and then work my way back down south to go home so let me zoom into that area where I just pointed to and see if there's a town nearby and there's a little town there called Oak Ridge and if we Trace Highway 58 back East out to Highway 97 it doesn't look like there's very much in between so let's just use the town of Oakridge as our starting point for the PE cor so let's go back to Google Maps and see what we can find for gas stations okay there's quite a few in Oak Ridge and there's also one in between Highway 97 and oakd so what else did we have there I think we had one like near the junction yeah we've got a couple around the junction so let's take that one gas station that's on Highway 58 just in case we need to use it and Mark it so that's a looks like a Sinclair gas station so we'll do the same thing as earlier we'll get GPS coordinates near there and we'll drop a way point into Gaia so so I'm going to keep looking for gas stations grocery stores propane tank exchange locations and of course potential dispersed campsites along the PE cor we're also going to mark one or two paid campsite options as an all else fails kind of a backup so what about planning for trip segments like on this day we're going to drive X distance to this area to camp for the night personally I have a general idea where the next camp area is going to be for the next evening but I always Mark several options in case something prevents us from getting that far or maybe we find that we can get even further down the trail than planned but I don't set rigid plans anymore cuz I find that it just drives me crazy and the people around me crazy but if it works for you do it tip number nine download map data so you actually have access to it while you're offline if you don't download your map data you're just going to have a blank map with no info when you're offline right now I have airplane mode on and my Wii turned off to show you what I'm talking about let's zoom into Washington DC and you got nothing nothing right no data at all like other than like what towns are in proximity to it that's all you get I mean that's pretty useless overall right as a side note you can download Maps before marking all of your waypoints and importing tracks and all that stuff all of those are separate types of data so think of them all like layers in a sense guy calls tracks waypoints and other things overlays so if I turn my Wi-Fi back on and turn off airplane mode you'll see a big difference in the map almost immediately there you go go look at all that information we were missing cuz we were offline and didn't have any downloaded map data so let me show you how to download map data and I've never downloaded anything for the state of Montana so let's use that as our example so what I'm going to do first is to check that I have all the layers that I want selected and I'm going to rearrange them just cuz I'm OCD about that stuff and then I'm going to hit the plus icon again and then click download map Maps you see a bunch of existing red boxes and that's all the map data I currently have downloaded and we see our box that we can move around by using the blue corners and that is going to allow us to create the shape of the map that we want to save right [Music] now so I'm going to do the best I can to fit monana into as small of a box as I can by moving the little blue dots around with my finger and that looks pretty good so I'm going to go ahead and hit save in the top right and then make sure I have all the layers that I want selected and it's really just Gaia Overland and cell coverage Verizon because the fire overlays you need actual signal to pull new data makes sense right so I'm going to hit next and give this map a name and we're just going to call it Montana if I can spell now we'll hit save up near the top right and it'll start downloading and do its own thing once it finishes downloading all the map data what you can do if you're like me and you want to measure twice and cut once is to turn off your Wi-Fi put your phone in airplane mode that way you have no signal and then double check that the map data you downloaded is in fact there one thing I recommend doing periodically is under the settings tab so hit settings and then we're going to hit map tab downloads and you see where it says last Integrity check that's where guia last checked all the map data Integrity so if you click that it'll do it manually for you I just do that before every trip if you're running out a storage space on your phone you can delete map data that you're not using and let me show you how to do that so we're going to go to the saved items folder and then we're going to filter it by just Maps so these are all the maps I've stored on my phone right now and to delete one you just hit that little icon in the top right of each map it's like a circle with three dots in it and just hit delete that'll remove all the data for that map and free up some space for you so that's your basic navigation and lay of the land kind of planning but we're not done yet you probably have an idea of when you want to go on your trip or you have very specific dates to take your trip but before you set firm dates let's cover tip number 10 check the weather and check for Wildfire information Fire season is nearly year round nowadays in some areas of the country particularly on the West Coast but there are still dryer months when you typically see an increase in number of fires and an increase in the severity of fires that's not to say don't plan trips during Fire season it just means you have to be more Vigilant in looking up Wildfire information before your trip and during your trip but bro dude how do I check for that when I'm off grd and I don't have signal yo use your eyes and your nose if you can see smoke way up in the sky or you smell smoke be on high alert always have a good idea where your exit routes are just in case you need to get out of an area super quickly and if you're going to be on like a super narrow Trail remember remember where the turnaround spots are again just in case you need to get out of somewhere quickly Gaia has a pretty useful map layer called wildfires current and wildfires satellite detection those layers do require connectivity to update so be smart about using them obviously you can't download that data with your Maps because it needs to update frequently one map layer that I always include with map data downloads is cell coverage Verizon there's also one called cell coverage all carriers that map layer will will give you a pretty decent idea of where you can get enough signal strength for internet connectivity to check for fire info or whatever else it also has different shading that shows you 3G 4G and LTE coverage along with Wildfire information check the weather repeatedly when you do have signal forecast change all the time and KN the weather before you leave on the trip can really help you determine like what gear you need to pack and what gear you can leave behind maybe I won't bother packing my waterproof boots if there's no rain expected or maybe I need to pack my cold weather sleeping bag instead of my summer bag because of the forecast of temperatures when you're checking in the weather you're probably not going to find a forecast for the middle of nowhere so use the location closest to where you're going to be that does have a forecast and use the following general rule of thumb for every 1,000 ft of elevation you gain the temperature drops by about 5.4 de so if you're checking the weather and you see that that location says 50° and the elevation there's roughly 2,000 ft and you're planning to camp at 7,000 ft well you're looking at roughly 23° where you're going to be camping okay next up is tip number 11 check for road closure information inclement weather and wildfires can definitely be rail trip plans so can road closures road closure information can be spotty at times particularly in the back country but we'll check what we can using the forest Service website for the national forest that you're going to be in and the National Park website if applicable the Bureau of Land Management website also has road closure information for their areas also don't forget to check regular roads and highways and I generally look at the department of transportation's website for that obvious viously you want to do all that as your trip approaches for the latest info available don't forget to bookmark all of these websites in your smartphone browser so that you have quick access to these resources when you have signal check St let's talk about some things you may not think of if you haven't been camping in a while or you're just entirely new to this tip number 12 give consideration what kind of wildlife there's going to be in the areas that you're going to be going to for this trip I have to consider that we may encounter bears and mountain lions and coyotes and even wolves wolf packs have been seen in many parts of Oregon but if you're going to be going to Desert environments then you got to think about rattlesnakes and scorpions and poison spiders and that sort of thing pack the appropriate gear in case you need to deal with those kind of wildlife situations and it doesn't even have to be a life-threatening situation what about mosquitoes mosquitoes are super annoying I don't think anybody likes them and you don't want to be going to an area that are known to have a lot of mosquitoes and not be prepared for that so I'll leave links for all that kind of stuff down in the video description below I probably wouldn't bother bringing bear spray if I'm going to the Mojave Desert and maybe I think about bringing a snake bite kit instead and no not your favorite hard cider and logger well that snake bite libation kit might actually be more useful overall after reading an article on what actually to do to treat a snap pip I'll let you read that article on your own link down below I also put links for what to do for scorpion stings and spider bites as well it's good to refresh your knowledge on that stuff every now and then just so you know what items you might want to add to your first aid kit and I know I say this a lot but if you don't have a good first aid kit that's really not the place you should be skimping out on also in a previous video I talked about the odor-proof container that I use for trash to help counter curious Bears well a couple viewers commented that if a bear wants to get into that container they will I agree it's not foolproof but it's an extra layer precaution the best precaution you can take is to store your trash and or bear prooof food containers at least a couple hundred ft away from Camp otherwise you might wake up to this the next tip might be useful to some of you out there that carry way too much gear and way too much weight on their ring like my poor Foreigner that feels like it's eating Thanksgiving dinner every single so tip number 13 reduce liquid weight when you can if you know you'll be able to easily find gas on the way to your destination and there aren't any real long stretches of road where there's no gas stations well maybe you don't fill that 5 gallon Jerry can up before you get to your destination and that right there saves you about 30 lb in just gasoline or maybe you don't fill up your water containers all the way until you get closer to to your destination because 5 gallons of water weighs almost 42 LB I know I have a tendency to want to bring everything in the kitchen sink but reducing weight where you can is a good practice tip number 14 and it's one that I constantly talk about if you're going to be going off grid have an emergency satellite communication device I don't care which one you get they're all good just get one seriously how often have you seen on the news about somebody who got lost hiking and was never found or somebody who just vanished in the thin air while they were camping in the woods a SAT com's device can save your life or the life of your travel companion so get one if you don't have one and frankly I don't want to see any of you guys on the news ever and my very last tip number 15 use the overlanding community to help you whether it's trip planning questions gear related topics vehicle stuff or you just want to meet other people that like doing this stuff there's some great online communities where you can learn more about overlanding and meet other overlanders I started a Facebook group and it's just me in there right now and it feels like I need to paint like a face on a to hang out with me or something but you guys can use that if you want and I'll put a link for that down in the video description and there's a link up in that Banner at the top of my channel too okay let's review all 15 tips tip number one if you're planning your first overlanding Adventure don't plan some crazy 2E long adventure keep it short and relatively local tip number two don't plan overly long drives driving for like 12 hours sucks and it'll probably make everything less enjoyable tip number three know where you you can refuel not just on the Long Highway drives but especially while you're out adventuring in the back country tip number four download Gaia GPS or onx off-road or whatever offline map app you're comfortable with paper maps are a good backup to have too basically just have a way to navigate without cell phone service tip number five use multiple resources for camping information tip number six create way points for resupply locations like gas stations grocery stores water sources propane exchange and refill locations and of course campsites tip number seven Mark way points for the places that you want to see maybe you won't get to all of them but have an idea of the things you want to see tip number eight look for Backcountry routes that have already been mapped out by others and use that info to help you plan an epic adventure tip number nine download map data so you have access to that info when you're offline tip number 10 check the weather check the weather and oh yeah check the weather also check for Wildfire information tip number 11 check for road closure information tip number 12 give consideration to what kind of wildlife there's going to be in the area that you're going to and prepare accordingly tip number 13 reduce liquid weight when you can tip number 14 if you're going off- grid have an emergency satellite community communication device and lastly tip number 15 use the overlanding community to help you once again links for everything are down in the video description below I'm not sponsored by anyone but some of those links are affiliate links so I do appreciate you guys using those when you can did I miss anything or did I just say something that's completely wrong let me know in the comments down below so that I can update everybody in a future video in a previous video I mentioned that I feel a lot less Chile sleeping up in my Rooftop tent versus down in a ground tent and I'm telling you all this because I did a little bit more research and found something that should have been pretty obvious which is that ground temperature can be higher than air temperature and that's because air temperature changes so rapidly right makes a lot of sense but being where I live and the fact that I don't have that much winter camping experience it just wasn't something I thought about but it's a good thing I already have a mattress that has a high arm value rating so why am I telling you this again because I'd rather give you guys good information than just think that I'm right all the time cuz I am definitely not all time just ask the boss what what what a huge huge thank you to all of you who've joined me on this journey so far you're fantastic input your positive vibes and the general sense of community that you've shown me is overwhelming many many warm fuzzies right here if you found this video helpful or entertaining please hit that subscribe button up here and uh watch this video down here and hook me up by sharing the video with a friend and hitting that thumbs up that'll do it I hope you guys will join me next time hit that Bell icon if you want to be notified for future videos always remember destinations don't matter the journey matters this is Roger over and out

Channel: GGG4Runner

Views: 17,829

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

Id: IBhZHAc-KK4

Length: 45min 6sec (2706 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 07 2023