Indholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2022 i Overland Journal

LIFER I’m a new subscriber to Overland Journal and just received my first issue. I was immediately taken by the packaging and simple touches (card, stickers, stamps inside the box). Thank you for making the receipt of a magazine an anticipated and joyous affair again. You have a lifer now! Alan Amerault 2004 Toyota 4Runner TOP-NOTCH [I’m a] long-time subscriber. Great magazine overall, top-notch. I live in Prescott, Arizona, and Scott Brady is correct in his article on the “Trail of Kings” (Fall 2022)—great trails. Ashley [Giordano’s] coverage on “Now Streaming” [showed us we] must take care of the environment. We enjoy being outdoors and taking care of what we love is paramount. [Enough] said; pack in, pack out. [How about an article on] climate change’s [effects on] trails and…

While I’m tucked into the warm camper bed, the wind howls out-side. I don’t have to worry about an unattended ground tent liberating itself from the ground and tumbling away, nor any rooftop tent canvas flapping. I’m enveloped in a motionless cocoon, like a caterpillar protected against the elements. Ponderosa pines sway in the wind outside the portal window, stars shining bright during the cold night. I chuckle to myself, smiling in the dark. So, this is what it’s like to sleep in a hard-sided camper—what luxury. For the past 20 years, Arizona-based AT Overland Equipment has offered solutions such as truck toppers, campers, storage accessories, and more for off-road and overland enthusiasts alike. There is no doubt the company has been foundational to the North American overland market; the…

GEORGIA—NOT THE AMERICAN STATE RAY CHARLES AND MARTIN LUTHER KING HAILED FROM, but the little-known country located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe—is a mountainous place of wild and astonishing beauty. Monasteries, watchtowers, and fortresses dating to the Middle Ages stand sentinel over picturesque valleys, silent witnesses to its tumultuous past. Surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the Greater Caucasus and lying on the coast of the Black Sea, the country is a must-see destination on the Silk Road and a paradise for any adventure-seeking traveler. We left Central Asia and entered Georgia with a clear goal in mind, to create a collection of the best off-pavement routes for independent travelers by motorbike, 4WD, van, or bike for our next book. Our expedition vehicles were purchased in the capital…

It’s 15 minutes after sunrise in Murmansk, Russia, but you wouldn’t know it. The hatch window glows an icy blue—the dull light that accompanies short, soundless winter days in the north. David reaches for his phone. Minus 13°C. It must have been a struggle to climb out of a deliciously toasty sleeping bag, exit the rear of the Porsche, and pack up his belongings. After sweeping snow from the hood, the windshield, and the door, he starts the car while brother-in-law Jonas tucks into the front seat. Exhaust vapors billow in the cold air. Day 10 of the 7,500-kilometer Winter Baltic Sea Circle Rallye is about to begin. German photographer and filmmaker David Steca bought his 1978 Porsche 924 in 2015 (“very insensibly”) to serve as a daily driver. “I…

Sitting off the north coast of Scotland, between the Atlantic and the North Sea, are the unassuming Orkney Islands. It’s probably the only place where, in the space of a single day, you can walk along a white sandy beach with rollers crashing against craggy cliffs, clamber over wartime ruins without seeing a single tree, pass houses older than Egypt’s pyramids, or wander off coastal paths into prehistoric stone tombs. There are seal colonies and the occasional orca sighting, seemingly more coos (cows) than people, and Old Norse Viking heritage to be found here. We were hoping that the isles would make quite the hidden gem to sink into. Alas, a graveyard of ships in the Pentland Firth waterway we crossed to reach the archipelago is a testament to that.…

I’m standing on a raised sidewalk with two American buddies underneath a well-lit shawarma sign. We’re a big group, and the restaurant is busy with men making orders at the counter, so I wait outside, enjoying the smell of roasted meat filtering through the door. A car packed with women of all ages pulls into a nearby parking space. We find out the driver studied in London. She speaks fluent English, so we engage in friendly conversation. I was on the hunt for an abaya, a long, billowing robe, typically black and worn by Muslim women across the globe. The ladies offer enthusiastic advice about where to purchase one and eventually drive off into the night. My American friends and I enjoy our meal, take selfies with the restaurant owners,…

One of the most misunderstood aspects of overlanding is how it differs from off-roading in general. While the two are related, they are far from the same discipline of the genre. This misconception is often seen in the grocery store parking lot when you see a nicely built Jeep Gladiator on 37-inch tires with a rooftop tent and the softest, most flexible suspension in town. I see it as a confusion of what the owner wants to do versus what the owner actually does with the vehicle. Here are a few ideas to point you in the right direction. A VEHICLE IS A TOOL Anyone who has ever tried to replace their brake pads with a multi-tool will attest that while you probably can use one, a nice set of…

BRENDON AND KIRA HAK Brendon has been behind the wheel his entire life, his first solo expedition being at just six years old. No matter the season, you can find him outside, twisting a throttle or stomping a pedal. Kira’s passion has always been travel and photography. For her, capturing an image to share with the “inside” world has the power to change mindsets. Kira is certain she will travel to every corner of this beautiful planet and spark an interest in others to do the same. So the wanderer met the horse, and Adventure Haks was born—a platform to share their photography and tales of their journeys, with the goal to simply enjoy life and inspire others to get outside and explore. MATT SWARTZ Matthew Swartz is originally from…

For its 50th Anniversary in June, Shad debuted its newest motorcycle soft bag in Barcelona, Spain, and now Shad TR40 Terra Adventure saddlebags are available in the United States. Each lightweight bag offers a 32-liter capacity and up to 22 pounds of load. Installation of the rack was easy with a little help from fellow rider Steven Polk of Dallas, Texas, who has been turning wrenches for years. We had ridden to the BMW MOA Rally in Springfield, Missouri, and with temperatures soaring into the upper 90s and little shade, we were grateful for the quick install. Once the rack was mounted on my BMW F 750 GS, the bags were a cinch to put on and pop off with Shad’s 4P system mounts. The TR40 Terras lock to the…

Few vehicles offer the overland traveler versatility, utility, and flexibility like a pickup truck. But that doesn’t mean it’s the perfect platform. Pickup trucks are kind of like a blank canvas, offering loads of potential in the way of payload, hauling capability, and cargo space in the bed. Until they’ve been properly accessorized, though (not to be confused with excessively), they can leave a lot to be desired. With so many truck accessories available from the leading manufacturers promising to catapult the customer to overland glory, where does one even begin? For this test, we’ve elected to start where we think you can gain a large amount of utility: with a truck bed rack system. Think of this addition as a foundation, the framing of your overland travel system. A…

I settled onto the top of the massive, ragged rock outcropping that extended above the grasses and shrubs lining the arid plateau. My perch rose but a few feet higher than the surrounding brush; still, it was sufficient in stature to serve as a mezzanine upon which I could watch the stellar performance unfold. Silently, I waited in the cool desert air as millions of vibrant stars illuminated the ceiling of the grand theatre. In front of me, the darkness hung as a giant curtain draping the Chisos Mountains to the east was slowly being raised to reveal the first glimpse of, quite literally, the star of the show. As the veil of blackness was ascending, the orchestra received its cue. In perfect harmony, the sagebrush sparrows joined in with…

DIE RAAT VIR ELKE KWAAL At a crossing in the wild country of the Limpopo River may be found Gatvanolfant, the elephants’ hole. Here is also Oerwoud Store with the Wiltshire, a pub established in past times by a British Army unit that once guarded the drift across the river between South Africa and Botswana. This human watering hole was known for its cold beer and cheap whiskey. Botswana is a sparsely populated semidesert country, once a British Protectorate, and until recently, had a poorly developed road system, with properly tarred surfaced roads only found in the major centres of Gaborone and Francistown. The rest of the country was served by rough dirt roads or tracks through soft sand. As a result, pickups and trucks with oversize tyres, especially on…

Some of the most cherished and unexpected points in time are in motion: a hummingbird’s delicate wings thrumming mid-air, a child throwing their head back in peels of laughter, or those in front of you on a flying swing at the fairground. No matter how that moment manifests, you will want to learn how to avoid recording a cacophony of blur in your images. Instead, employ the know-how for capturing those defining moments in your moving-subject photography, particularly when the composition and background keep altering as your subject travels across the frame, perhaps closer to the camera, making it an even more significant challenge to focus. Thankfully, the settings and camera techniques for motion photography stay chiefly the same. MODERN TECHNOLOGY AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Fortunately, cameras nowadays have an active…

After decades of deliberation, I bought a snowcat a couple of years ago—a Kristi, manufactured in Denver about 1963. Powered by a 36-horsepower VW air-cooled motor, it had sat idle outdoors for over a decade. Perhaps the idea was seeded in boyhood when I read about the International Geophysics Year of 1957-58, a period devoted to intense study of the planet Earth: geomagnetism, seismology, volcanology, and more precise mapping of the few remaining unknown corners of our planet, principally the Antarctic Continent. The period initiated a Golden Age of motorized over-the-snow travel with the frozen crucibles of the North and South Poles as testing fields. By the early 20th century, a growing rural road network in the US and Canada called for transportation to negotiate wintry conditions. Snowplowing was uncommon…

I frequent locations that don’t have cell service, where I’ve come to appreciate two-way satellite communication devices. And while earlier personal locator beacons simply alerted SAR, modern two-way messengers like the Spot X do that and a lot more, like allowing you to send and receive SMS text messages, mark POIs, and perform navigation functions. On extended backpacking or vehicle-based trips, the ability to easily compose longer messages on the fly is a valuable feature. This is especially true when plans or routes change, and you want to let dispersed team members or front country support stay up to date. With these needs in mind, I took the Spot X, with its full QWERTY keyboard, into the field on multiple occasions to determine if its form and function were up…

Gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, corn-free, GMO-free are words that all jump off the wrapper of the LivBar, lined up on a playbill of claims to fame. They are also honey-free, to ensure a vegan-friendly status. Coffee Maple Cacao, Lemongrass Cherry Matcha, Blueberry Vanilla Kale, and Raspberry Kale Maca are some of the accompanying exotic flavors that wait in the wings. LivBars sounded too fancy, and I wasn’t interested, especially with the prevalence of poseurs in the world of “natural” foods today. However, the box of samples was sitting at headquarters in need of an editor: sometimes, you have to take one for the team. I unwrapped the first package and what looked like a block of birdseed slid from the wrapper. So far, no good. I broke a corner off each…

What is the hardest aspect of long-term overlanding? Is it the preparation prior to departure, the challenges you undoubtedly face along the way, the ability to know when to call it quits, or the crash landing that ensues when trying to re-enter the atmosphere of your past life? Undoubtedly, one of the most difficult parts of our journey was the return home—or rather, the physical place we used to call home. Like many others before us, Kira and I focused on the departure and the journey itself. We had paid little attention to what was to come afterward. Our efforts ventured no further than a small financial safety net. In hind-sight, it was naive to think this was the only requirement, but I doubt there was a way to prepare.…

Opinel is no ordinary company, and its knives are anything but ordinary. Joseph Opinel opened his first factory in 1890 in Savoie, France. Its offerings have extended from the original peasant folding knife loved by farmers, soldiers, and wilderness seekers to practical knives for most edged applications, and the manufacturer now sells more than 15 million knives a year. Opinel has become a symbol of French culture and is listed in their dictionary as a common noun. Pablo Picasso used a No. 05 to sculpt, and they continue to be used by Michelin Star chefs alongside ordinary folks. The No. 08 was part of a 1985 exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum with the Porsche 911 and Rolex watch, declared one of the “100 most beautiful products in the…

SERVES 2 PREP TIME 5 minutes COOK TIME 15 minutes EQUIPMENT frypan and a grill plate 1 large red onion, sliced2 teaspoons sugar4 tablespoons butter1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar4 rashers of streaky bacon Handful of frozen French fries (chips)2 semi-frozen sandwich or minute steaks (about 3 ounces)2 eggs Cheese, sliced4 slices of sourdough or pane di casaYour mayonnaise of choiceSriracha or chilli jam, to tasteA handful of baby spinach Bacon and eggs are the go-to, lazy morning brekky in the bush. I love them, and I’m pretty sure you do too. But we can do better without making them any harder to cook or prepare. This is the tastiest breakfast sandwich I’ve ever made, thanks to the salty, sweet, and tangy flavours mixed with crispy and soft textures of the crispy…

“Get the fire extinguisher!” my husband shouted over his shoulder as our van slowly started filling with a mysterious gas from our battery. It’s not a confidence-inspiring cry even in the best of circumstances, and it was made worse by the fact that we were on the side of a busy highway in a foreign country we didn’t know. My heart was pounding, but I paused for a second to check that our seven-year-old daughter was as far from the van as she could get, up in the bushes on the side of the road. Then I detached our fire extinguisher from its spot between the front seats of the van and took a deep breath to calm myself, so I could focus on reading the tiny directions printed on…