Innehållsförteckning för Gear Guide 2019 från Overland Journal

Clay Croft and I were standing on the Greenland ice sheet. It was minus 30°C, the wind was biting, and the effects of standing on ice and snow were taking their toll. Yet impressively, our feet were warm; both of us had received a pair of new Heat socks from Native Planet, complete with technology more typically reserved for astronauts.They are far warmer than their thickness would predict, employing Nilit Heat fibers comprised of coffee charcoal yarn, which provide for exceptional insulation. The socks do require some movement to fully function, but once any exercise starts to build heat in the foot, it remains for far longer than with other socks in the same conditions. Native Planet has a full line of socks, for function in hot weather to bitter…

The informed traveler should research knife carry laws before arriving at their destination. Regulations can be complex and might vary within a country by city, county, or state. They are usually fraught with technical minutia and legalese that address fixed blades, folding pocketknives, locking folding pocketknives, switchblades (automatics), and concealed versus open carry. Below are a few highly summarized instances that would pertain to our review blades. The locking pocketknives in this review can be opened with one hand, via thumb pressure applied exclusively to the blade or a thumb stud, and all have some sort of mechanism that provides resistance that must be overcome to open the blade. So in California, you could carry them—in the folded position. Even then, they could be restricted in specific locations (like courtrooms)…

I recently had the privilege of leading an amazing group of women from Montana to Idaho on our very first all-ladies overland trip for XOverland. The seven of us all had different experience levels, and it was a great opportunity to plan, film, and execute this adventure on our own. With this trip came the chance to use some of my beloved items I don’t leave home without and a few new ones I’ve been waiting to get my hands on. And Idaho was the perfect place to test them out. I love sand dunes and the desert. Maybe even more than mountains, which sounds sacrilegious, being born and raised in Montana. Ever since my first race in Morocco, I was captivated, yet terrified of the endless sand dunes I…

We loved our Howling Moon rooftop tent—it was massive, the largest option on the market in 2011 when we first installed it, and the 2.4- by 2.4-meter sleeping area was the perfect accommodation for me, my wife, and two young children. Fast forward to 2016, and though we still loved the tent, we realised that it was time for a change if we were to continue travelling the planet in our Land Rover Defender 130. We had been living out of that tent permanently since we had shipped from South Africa to Uruguay in 2012, camping an average of 330 days of every year, cooking off the tailgate of the Landy and living outdoors. In 2015, we had driven up to Alaska and were returning south along the West Coast…

I believe that any story worth telling is worth telling well. And that’s why I love filmmaking. Media posturing, video journaling, postcard producing, or politically acting, I like them all. We’re wired to share our experiences, and video is a megaphone. Video capture is arguably the most powerful medium in modern history and we, like the well-known explorers who precede us, love to share our stories. Passing a smartphone full of photos around a campfire will certainly get the job done, but a properly produced video can mesmerize a substantially larger audience. Video can engage, entertain, educate, and maybe even make the world a better place. If you apply your nose to the grindstone with sufficient pressure over adequate time, you too could become a master of the craft, and…

I woke with a start at 5:00 a.m. to the sound of a blaring car horn and someone yelling urgently outside our rooftop tent. “Hello? Hello? English or Spanish? Do you speak English or Spanish?”These are not the words you want to hear when travelling in a foreign country, especially in such an anxious tone. My husband, Richard, begrudgingly emerged from his sleeping bag and zipped open the tent door, poking his head outside.The Ecuadorian gentleman standing at the base of our tent ladder had a panicked look on his face. Beyond him, under a threatening gray sky, pandemonium erupted as locals hurled themselves and their belongings into the backs of several HiLux pickup trucks which hastily departed in a cloud of dust. A thick layer of smoky ash clung…

Aluminum panniers have been the gold standard of moto luggage for good reason: they’re easy to pack, easy to lock, and your gear stays protected. You can put your Starbucks sticker on them, too. The downside? If you have any kind of get-off, your panniers are done—at least on one side. After replacing my third one, I decided to give Mosko a try. I know what you’re thinking: Steven, you must be a sucky rider. Maybe that’s true, but I like to use my gear. So I went with the 35-liter pannier system paired with the 30-liter duffle. The panniers are easy to install, and the mounting wedges, which connect to nearly any kind of metal luggage rack, make nightly removal a snap. The pannier system comes with all the…

Overlanders in North America have an almost reverent respect for the small displacement diesel trucks used overseas.For years they begged manufacturers to bring them to the US,but to no avail.Then in 2015,something surprising happened: Chevrolet delivered a one-two punch wake-up call by introducing the new Colorado with a 2.8L Duramax diesel, and later announced a lifted and armored trim package called the ZR2,complete with front and rear electronic locking differentials.We expected the competition to catch up, but it looks like Chevy won’t be giving them the chance with the introduction of the Bison. This package, developed in conjunction with American Expedition Vehicles, gives US buyers the opportunity to buy a ready-to-roll overland truck straight off the showroom floor under factory warranty. It includes features we already loved from the ZR-2…

“Hey guys, no one panic, but there’s a snake heading your way.” I looked at James, and with more than a little concern said, “Wait, what?” “Yeah, it’s a red-bellied black,” he replied, “so stay back, it’s deadly.” Great. I had crossed the entire continent without seeing a single snake, and now when I was finally relaxed on a beach, one decides to show up for the party. Fortunately, James was used to these sorts of things and shooed it off with a flashlight and stick. We went back to eating dinner and casually discussed how screwed we would have been if it had bitten one of us way out in the middle of nowhere. That’s when I spotted the snake once more, slithering behind the rest of the team…

It’s springtime in Morocco’s High Atlas mountains. The wildflowers are out, birds cheep, and there’s a soft warmth in the air. My flying visit here is capping off a satisfying bout of winter travel in North Africa. A few weeks prior, I’d joined a French trekking group and TV crew exploring Mauritania’s Adrar Plateau. An unseasonal heat wave had seen our caravan on the move before dawn and then sitting out the midday chaleur for up to six hours. And a month earlier I’d returned to the Algerian Sahara for a fortnight of epic desert biking through the winding canyons and pristine sand sheets of Tassili n’Ajjer National Park. But today it was only Morocco, the sort of place you can visit at short notice with just hand baggage. Joining…

It might seem strange, but one of the things Dave and I missed most while traveling around the world on motorcycles were our pillows. Okay, strange. But the pillows were symbolic of more than just memory foam. If we had our pillows, it meant we would have a bed, which meant we’d have a place. That place would have a fridge with more items than just three starches and chicken (never travel if you don’t like chicken); inside, the drinks would be cold and of a wide selection. Having a place would mean we’d have a bathroom with a shower, where we could control water temperature to be as hot or cold as desired. We could use a toilet that wasn’t a rank, dark hole in the floorboards under a…

Tiny trekker Maya Bristow has become the youngest Australian to reach Everest Base Camp (EBC) after walking for 19 days from the Nepali town of Phaplu to the foot of the world’s highest mountain and back again. The gutsy six-year-old reached the Himalaya’s most famous mountain camp on May 21, 2018, calling the adventure “a really beautiful walk” and snapping an icicle off the Khumbu Glacier to celebrate. Her achievement might seem ambitious for someone so young but with two Himalayan treks behind her (the upside of having travel photojournalists as parents), this pint-sized adventurer was up for the challenge. Her dad, David Bristow, and I led the way and because we had trekked in Everest’s Solu-Khumbu region several times before and were familiar with the route, we both felt…

The archaeological record indicates that some humans were favoring stone blades—essentially any tool with two parallel edges longer than its width—by the Upper Palaeolithic period. Human culture evolved, as did blade and knife technology, and eventually transitioned in most instances from lithics to metallurgy. We can generally define a knife as a blade with handles. The etymology of knife suggests linguistic usage in early northwest European written sources from at least 1,000 years ago. Knives remain important for everything from mundane tasks and menial chores to procuring and preparing food to defensive and offensive combative tools. There is no denying, knives still matter to modern humans. We selected five Best of Breed pocketknives that secure, usually into a trouser pocket, with an integrated clip. We specifically chose knives with proven…

At one point or another, we’ve all asked it. That one question that never fails to stir up a fight on four-wheel-drive forums and social pages the world over, What is the ultimate overland vehicle? Plenty of people have voiced their opinions, but from Jimnys to Unimogs, their responses couldn’t be more diverse. Some might say that the best choice is whatever you have already, but I’d argue that’s not always the case. In my opinion, the best overland vehicle isn’t necessarily what you own now, but whatever suits your needs best. For some, it really could be that old Land Cruiser or 2-door Range Rover, but for many families in North America, a domestic full-size vehicle is probably a better fit. I know, it’s heresy to suggest that the…

The year was 1922, and the casualties of WWI were still fresh in everyone’s minds, contributing to a nothing more to lose attitude of the public at large. The women’s suffrage movement had just succeeded in 1920 of obtaining the right to vote, and if you were a woman, your job opportunities, aside from motherhood, were limited to the likes of being a secretary, social worker, librarian, nurse, or perhaps working in a textile factory. Sixteen-year-old, multinational expat Idris Galcia Hall happened across a want ad on a scrap of the Nice, France, newspaper found tucked into a romantic novelette at the convent school she attended. Or so the story goes. It read Beauty, Brains, and Breeches—World Tour Offer for Lucky Young Woman… Idris had grown up reading her father’s…

The very word bribery often strikes fear into the heart of those who have never experienced it. Terrifying images of corrupt military brandishing automatic rifles come to mind, and a backhand exchange of grubby bills is often thought to be the only safe exit. As usual, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the reality is a far cry from this dramatization. As overlanders, we spend hours learning about and planning for tire repair or technical recovery scenarios, which in all likelihood will only be required less than a handful of times while traversing an entire continent. On that same continental traverse it will be mandatory to interact with numerous officials, and almost certainly some of those interactions will turn into bribery attempts. If we aim to cross continents with a…