Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2013 från Overland Journal

Devoted My name is Robin Young and my partner is Jason Cooper, and we love Overland Journal. We’ve been devoted subscribers for several years and always anticipate upcoming issues. We are also devoted Overland Journal Facebook fans where we recently followed you [COO Ray Hyland and family] to Gonzaga Bay, Mexico. Living in San Diego, we decided we had to go for ourselves over Presidents’ Day weekend. We packed the Disco with the tent, paddleboards, dogs, and our most recent issues of Overland Journal. It was one of our best camping trips of all time, and there have been a lot. The picture at right includes myself and one of my copilots (Tate, the paddle-boarding cairn terrier), at our campsite at [Campo el] Sacrificio, Gonzaga Bay. Please keep up the…

In factory form, the Land Rover LR4 is impressive in the dirt. As with all stock vehicles though, there are compromises. Land Rover is self-described as “The Best 4x4xFar,” and the LR4 comes equipped with enviable hardware to help support that claim. A few key features include a highly effective Terrain Response system, adjustable-height air suspension, and excellent visibility. For this second installment of our Modern Explorer project vehicle we’ll be addressing two primary constraints to the long-distance overland suitability of the LR4 platform. The first is the fitment of a 33-inch light truck all-terrain tire on an 18-inch factory LR3 wheel. The second, to increase the running ground clearance. Wheel Diameter and Tire Size While a 19-or 20-inch wheel can look beautiful on a road-going vehicle, a vehicle used…

ARB SkyDome Swag Double $585 Though loved by the Aussies for decades, the “swag” has been slow to catch on here in the U.S. A possible reason is that the majority of swags are designed for a single person (two, if you don’t want to be single for long). For couples, having to crawl out and march across a cold, muddy, or stony camp to kiss your sweetheart goodnight lacks appeal. Another issue has been ingress and egress into a traditional swag is reminiscent of a spelunking expedition. Finally, the Down Under crew from ARB got it right: a swag roomy enough for two, with zippered openings that allow you to sit up or even stand. Enter the SkyDome Double. I used one during a two-week trek through the Outback…

The Gold Rush of the 1850s drew thousands of would-be prospectors, merchants, con men, and common folk west in search of a dream: the riches of the California Gold Country. The trip was long, arduous, and potentially deadly, if luck did not grace your wagon train. Following the Donner Party tragedy of 1846, numerous alternative routes were boasted as “faster and safer passage to California.” One of those routes, the Applegate-Lassen, which traveled through the barren and desolate Black Rock Desert, would become known as “The Death Trail.” July 19th to the 23rd, join the High Rock Trekkers for a 200-mile journey through history on the 19th annual Applegate-Lassen Emigrant Trail Ride. You’ll pass mining-era wagons, natural hot springs, and traverse the 35-mile-long Black Rock Playa en route to Soldier…

Salewa is a relative newcomer to the footwear market, even if their name and esteemed reputation date back to 1935. Founded in Munich, Germany, by Josef Liebhart, Salewa has spent the better part of 75 years producing some of the world’s finest alpine climbing tools and garments. Now headquartered in Italy, the Salewa Eagle has soared to the top of countless high summits the world over. With such a storied history in the mountains, it was only natural they extend their line to include technical footwear. Their highly anticipated footwear release in 2006 resulted in more than 50,000 boots sold. Many awards have followed, and loyal fans now wear nothing else. The Salewa Alp Trainer Mid is clearly a modern product infused with Salewa’s mountain experience. Within its stylized appearance…

The first pair of Scarpa boots left their factory in Asolo, Italy, in 1938. This was and still is a part of the world where footwear manufacturing is not just a job, or even a craft, but a passion. In 1956, one of those passionate craftsman by the name of Luigi Parisotto, purchased the Scarpa company; his family has piloted this famous brand ever since. Scarpa is now regarded as one of the most respected manufacturers of mountain-inspired boots and shoes in the world. The recently released SL Activ is an excellent example of Scarpa’s fusion between new and old. The classic aesthetic is derived from the rich Sherpa HS12® leather upper. In an era of Gore-Tex and other waterproof liners, the SL Activ leaves those duties to the leather…

More than a century ago, Charles Beckman opened the doors to the Red Wing factory in Minnesota and introduced the world to the finest work boots available. Using only the best materials and employing the most skilled craftsmen, the Red Wing brand thrived by building boots as tough as the men who wore them. This unwavering dedication to excellence has served them ever since. With a moniker as practical as 4439, there isn’t a lot of flash and romance built into this boot. They’re made for the serious business of an honest day’s work. Built atop a proprietary outsole, the upper is affixed with Red Wing’s SuperSole®Welt construction. Within that top-grain upper is a protective steel toe indicative of the brand’s work boot heritage. The fiberglass midsole sits just below…

Waypoints I didn’t record waypoints during the trip. In fact, I didn’t bring a GPS. For me, I enjoy laying out a set of maps and a compass on the hood of my truck, referencing geographical features and distances from point to point, declination of the sun, and generally relying on dead reckoning. Having a GPS unit renders me complacent, brain-dead, and, if it fails, generally lost. But that’s just me. The maps and books listed here offer more than enough information to make a trek of this nature. Remember, the pioneers had…nothing. Sturdy steel ‘T’ markers, placed by Trails West Inc. identify many of the routes. Fabricated from sections of railroad ties, each contains a plaque engraved with a quote from an emigrant. I extend big kudos to Trails…

The new Heidenau dual-sport knobby is equal parts terrifying and fantastic, not unlike the 100-horsepower KTM 950SE that they were mounted to. On the road, the K74 front and K79 rear are barely acceptable, especially with such a powerful and heavy bike. This is not a criticism of Heidenau, as they clearly state this is a DOT legal motocross tire, squarely positioned in the 90 percent dirt, 10 percent street category. On acceleration, fine modulation of power is required to prevent melting the rear lugs into a soupy mess. Even with careful use, the rear lugs were heavily feathered in only 30 miles of pavement. On braking, the limited contact area caused easy lockup and poor modulation and effectiveness. Long stops became the norm and frequently the front would lockup,…

The Dunlop D606 inspires confidence on the street and performs like a tractor tire in the dirt. It’s built as a 20/80 tire, and both front and rear display an aggressive lug design. This allows both tires to dig and claw into the soft stuff, while the fairly hard rubber compound allows them to hold their posture on the street and rocky off-pavement surfaces. They don’t feel squirrelly and unstable as one might expect. On the street, at 32 psi, the tires were a bit rough. At 25 psi they smoothed out nicely but without excessive deflection when cornering. There was a noticeable and steep falloff during aggressive cornering, but I had to take the bike fairly deep, with a generous angle of lean to find it. The D606 suffered…

Late one February night I walked into the shop at Overland Journal. It was final edit week for the Spring Issue and I’d had a late flight back. I opened the door and reached in for the light switch, locating it by braille. I flipped it on and turned around. Light flooded out from the overhead fluorescent tubes, spreading across the work bay. My eyes were greeted first by the front clip, an FJ40 Land Cruiser. Then the neuro-electrical signals, crew cab…pickup, registered in my gray matter. No one was there to see the smile stretch across my face, but when a tree falls in the forest? My first 4WD backcountry experiences in an FJ40, one owned by my friend, Eric Heikila, was in 1981. Those were magical times; the…

When I came around I was in a befuddled state of mind, but have a vague memory of being escorted by a group of blue-robed Touareg nomads into a fly-infested hut. Back in 2004, after returning home from my ride through the Americas, my friends and family were convinced that I’d gotten all this motorcycle travel nonsense out of my system. “Twenty thousand miles…your butt must be killing you!” they declared, “You’ll never want to sit on a motorcycle again…” They were, of course, completely wrong. As any traveler will tell you, the first thing you do when you get home is unfold the map and start planning the next adventure. For me, it had to be Africa. South America had been fun, but Africa was the real deal. The…

ShockStrap™ Tie-Downs $16-$22 Someone has finally come up with a solution for properly securing gear with a cam buckle tie-down. The ShockStrap is a creative cam-style strap with a segment of polyurethane (PU) between the hook and cam buckle. With a good pull, the “shock” stretches an inch or more, providing copious preload. The webbing is 1-inch polyester (1,100 pound working load limit), hooks are a hefty 3/8ths zinc chromate-coated steel, and the shock, rated at 500 pounds, is molded from a proprietary PU formula that is not affected by most chemicals, oil, moisture, or fungus. I recently used ShockStraps during a riding trip in Nevada. The cam buckle’s aggressive teeth didn’t yield, even when bouncing around Nevada’s backroads. They worked great. Available in 6-, 10-, and 19-foot lengths. (CC)…

What happens when you mix an end of the world prophecy, a few dozen overlanders, and a survival scavenger hunt through Mexico? What happens when you mix an end of the world prophecy, a few dozen overlanders, and a survival scavenger hunt through Mexico? The answer: an experience of a lifetime for the intrepid adventurers who were crazy enough to sign up for the 2012 End of the World Maya Rally. After a decade of world travel and many visits to Latin America, I’ve made a few interesting observations about overlanders. Namely, though we have our own vehicles and enjoy more freedom than other travelers, we have a tendency to follow the same well-trodden paths. This observation motivated me to create something unusual, something unique, an event that would offer…

Formative in the minds of many overlanders is the 1960’s television show The Rat Patrol—with images of steel-eyed desert raiders roaring through the Sahara, their Jeeps bristling with heavy weapons, raining down terror on Nazi troops, sowing seeds in the minds of restless souls on both sides of the Atlantic. Ever wonder how a producer could drum up such a farfetched tale? In the case of The Rat Patrol, he needed to look no further than the history books—the tales are based (mostly) on truth. In 1940, when British troops were outnumbered by Italian troops set on creating a new Roman Empire in the deserts of Africa, explorer Ralph Bagnold proposed the development of a unit specializing in “piracy on the high desert,” to execute raids deep behind enemy lines.…

It was more than 80 years ago when Giuseppe Zamberlan opened the doors to his boot shop in Northern Italy. With aspirations to create the world’s finest mountain boots, he teamed up with pioneers of the industry like Vitale Bramani, the founder of Vibram, to produce some of the most advanced footwear of the era. In the years since, Giuseppe’s son Emilio, and now grandson Marco, have taken over the operations of the company, nestled in the hills near Lake Garda. Holding to Giuseppe’s high standards, the boots produced by Zamberlan are nothing short of works of art, and the Tofane is perhaps their best boot to date. If you were to take the best attributes of the best boots in the world, and put them into one product, you’d…

From the time Asolo entered the market over 35 years ago, they’ve been relentless innovators. Working with leading mountaineering professionals, they inspired many of the features commonly found in today’s premium boots. Often imitated, Asolo is the recipient of countless awards, and they continue to expand their fan base. Their boots can be found in the most rugged and remote corners of the backcountry, as well as on the feet of elite military personnel around the globe. They are, if nothing else, well proven. A classic within the Asolo line, the TPS 520 GV is a legend among backcountry boots. The TPS, or Triple Power Structure system, has a mid and outsole package designed to provide support and shock absorbing properties exactly where it’s needed most. This three-part system uses…

As expected, every boot in this review performed exceptionally well. The Salewa Alp Trainer Mid is one of those rare products that seem to have been designed specifically for overlanding. One of the first boots to be tested for this project nearly a year ago, it has proven to be very capable. Unfortunately, the styling may be too progressive for some, and I fully understand that assessment. The Danner Mountain Light II is proof that high-quality American manufacturing is alive and well. The construction of the Mountain Light will keep accepting new soles as frequently as you wear them out. Expedition Portal Digital Editor, Matthew Scott, has worn his test Danners daily for six months and they just now look broken in. The Asolo 520 has once again proven it’s…

The Kenda Big Block is a value-priced option, emphasizing lug durability and a mixed pavement/dirt profile. Overall, we found the tire to lack sophistication, generating the most noise across all speeds, and relating a general harshness and vibration to the rider. The street performance was acceptable, but did little to inspire rider confidence, particularly in the twisties, where the large side lugs deflected and produced notable falloff with spirited cornering. On-road braking performance is acceptable, reflecting the larger lug contact and adhesion related to the softer rubber durometer ratings of 66A for the front and 63A on the rear. Tread wear was average, but lug integrity was high, exhibiting no tearing or chunking, and limited feathering from the hard braking tests. This tire is a 60/40 and speed rated to…

I’ve been riding a Suzuki DRZ400 fitted with a moderate all-terrain tire for a couple years. Off-pavement performance has been acceptable, but fitting it with the Pirelli Scorpion has transformed it into an entirely new bike—on the dirt that is. First tracks were at Sand Mountain, a 600-foot tall group of dunes in Northern Nevada. Though the DRZ is not a horsepower monger, in the mornings, when the sand contained more moisture, the Scorpion pushed the bike to the top with the best of them. Pushing through deeply rutted sections, the deep front lugs prevented the front end from wandering. This was at 22 psi. In soft, afternoon conditions, with air pressure down to 14 psi, the wide voids and deep tread block were semi-reminiscent of a light sand tire.…

menu   Dessert ~ Serve with coffee, tea, or high-quality rum such as Ron Zacapa. Summertime is the only season when I don’t feel the urge to gulp down a rich dessert—it’s too hot to be hungry and too fun outside to be stuck indoors. Fruit is a light and refreshing dessert alternative, but if you’re craving something different, put the fruit on skewers and throw them onto the campfire, then top off with two delightful chocolate dips. It is a recipe so delicious it will make your fellow travelers beg you to join them on the next trip. Grilled Fruit Skewers with Chocolate Dip Serves: 6 | Prep time: 15 minutes | Grill time: approximately 5-8 minutes Equipment: Skewers, medium-sized pot, grill, knife, and cutting board 1/3 pineapple, 2-3…

“While we know [the kids] were excited about the new playground, we feel what was more important to them was the love, friendship, and compassion we showed them during our time there.”- Tad and Gaila of team Overland Now In the week prior to the Maya Rally, six teams with a common goal of volunteering their time and skills with those less fortunate, joined together in the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. They would leave with their “hearts beaming” and ears ringing with the laughter and joy of children. The recipients of their efforts would be the girls of El Buen Pasteur Shelter, orphaned boys of Irapuato, and marginalized youth in the mountains of La Venada. During the rally, the teams (who’s names included The Dangerz, Overland Now, Overland the World,…

Several months ago I was chatting with Overland Journal COO, Ray Hyland, about various bits of gear we think are essential to overland travel. In talking about one of my favorite subjects, boots, he brought up his criteria for perfect overlanding footwear. The exact words escape me, but he said good boots should be comfortable for daily wear, but not so wimpy they couldn’t be employed for rebuilding a collapsed bridge in some remote location. Maybe I’ve been a lucky traveler to have never encountered a failed bridge, but Ray’s comment once again reminded me that over-landing does invite unique demands of our gear, including our boots. Our travels are by no means confined to the plush padding of a driver’s seat; any given day could find us pulling winch…

Alessandro Marcolin began his company in 1975 in the famed footwear-manufacturing region of Italy known as Montebelluna. This is the same region that brings us Scarpa, Zamberlan, and many others. Marcolin started his shop with the aspiration of creating the most cutting-edge boots and shoes in the world. The ethos behind Crispi is the unrelenting pursuit of handmade perfection. That attention to detail drives Crispi to create new designs with premium materials, often for niche markets, from paragliding to assaults on Himalayan peaks. The Monaco GTX slips into one more niche market that Crispi may not have even seen coming––the overlanding segment. Officially classified by Crispi as a light hiker, travel, and around-town boot, it ticks almost every box of requirements for overland use. The soft water-repellant Nubuk uppers are…

At a time when many Italian cobblers were crafting boots for recreating in the hills, American companies were building premium boots to survive the rigors of a day’s hard toil. Danner was founded in 1932 with the singular mission to design affordable boots for the working Joe. The Danner Company eventually found their target market in the Pacific Northwest, where loggers were willing to pay top dollar for quality footwear. By the late 1970s, work boots were being redesigned for the increasingly popular pursuits of hiking and backpacking, and from that era sprang forth the legendary Danner Mountain Light. In form, feature, and function, the Mountain Light is the quintessential image of what a hiking boot should be. The one-piece leather upper is joined to the midsole with a classic…

A brisk breeze whipped over the snowcapped peaks of the Ruby Mountains, descending on our camp and prompting us to stoke the fire and put on another layer of fleece. In the valley below, at the edge of the South Sump, coyotes patrolled sage and reed in search of their nightly kill. Behind us, to the west, the last light of day faded in gradients of cobalt, indigo, and sapphire. Several deer had been spotted in the higher elevations: a formidable commission for a lone coyote, yet a pack could dispatch one with little issue. We were camped near Hastings Cutoff, Eastern Nevada, one of the numerous pioneer trails of the mid-18th Century. Five days earlier we’d pulled away from Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in a quest to follow the network…

The TKC 80’s high-void tread doesn’t make one think good, twisty highway traction, though that’s the endorsement I’d heard from Continental and regular users of this design. “We shall see,” I thought. The TKC 80 is the most dirt-focused tire I’ve used on my old GS, and off-pavement grip was vastly superior compared to more street-biased tires. Climbing and descending steep and sometimes rocky dirt tracks, even at full street pressure, was easy and resulted in minimal wheel spin. No mud was available, though I did find four inches of wet, slushy snow. I made two slow-speed passes and remained vertical; the tread self-cleaned well during this short test. Dry pavement traction was nothing less than impressive, particularly for someone accustomed to riding fast on typical 80/20 adventure tires. The…

Considering my bias towards dirt tracking rather than dodging boxes on the highway, the Metzeler MCE Karoo 2 suited me just fine. Mounted on a KTM 950 Adventure, I was anticipating some seriously dicey road riding. The Karoo surprised me, providing fairly manageable acceleration and reasonable braking performance. Granted, grabbing either brake abruptly resulted in instant lockup, washing out the rear or demanding immediate attention in the front. Rain groove tracking was moderate yet acceptable, and noise, for a fairly aggressive tire, was reasonably low. Cornering at speed revealed smooth transitions to the tire’s outer edges, and only moderate falloff. This can be attributed to the even distribution of sidewall lugs, especially noted on the front tire. In sidehill sections of decomposed granite, lateral grip was moderate; it didn’t scare…

The faint glow of a single taillight fights for significance in the amber haze. As if the pending darkness is not enough, dust now obscures the road ahead. I feel like I’m playing some sort of interactive video game—one that clogs your nostrils and cakes your eyes with grit. My gut tells me not to screw up. Looking left and down, the Choqueyapu River guides us south and east, its silver surface reflecting up from the depths, fading in and out of view through a cloud that is roiling over the edge of this narrow canyon road. Pushing the limit, I close in on my riding partner, dancing over babyheads and ruts, eerily appearing in the sweep of my factory headlight. I can either fall back and let the dust…

Aedes and Anopheles reproduce in stagnant water, so avoid breeding grounds such as empty drums, discarded tires, and drainage ditches, and take advantage of air conditioning, window screens, and breezes. Overland travelers have many tools at their disposal when it comes to preventing tropical disease. Nevertheless, a recent survey of American travelers diagnosed with Dengue Fever revealed that nearly 30 percent had not even taken the most basic precautionary measures: mosquito repellent and bed nets. This is concerning because Dengue Fever (pronounced den-gee or den-gay) is the world’s most common mosquito-born illness and it’s endemic to over 100 tropical and sub-tropical countries that are frequently transected by popular overland routes. Cases have been reported as far north as the Texas-Mexico border and even Key West, Florida, which means that one…

According to the 1944 edition of Columbia Encyclopedia, the shovel, which is related to the spade but with upturned edges to hold material, is a tool of prehistoric origin. Everyone has used a shovel at some point, and it’s hard to imagine that something so simple was not perfected thousands of years ago. Yet with every advance in materials and technology, the shovel has evolved, with war and conflict often acting as the catalyst for change. Hundreds of years before Julius Caesar, the Roman Army already had a specially designed spade, or pala. Dedicated engineering troops carried the pala, and each night they would use them to build fortifications of wood, earth, and sod. In the Middle Ages, invading armies would carry simple iron picks and shovels, in addition to…