A Crash Course in Overlanding with the 2016 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro

[SwayzeExpress]

Holy shit people, why does a word make you all so angry?

Every definition of overlanding I have seen is that it's about the journey not the destination and everyone seems to agree on that- If I take a trip to mcdonalds, and I stop because there's some beautiful scenery on the way and I enjoy the drive there isn't that overlanding if I have enough supplies to make the trip? A monster energy drink and a sweatshirt is all I need and I have enough gas to make it there, that's self sufficient for the trip right?

Overlanding started in the late 1800's-1900's by rich people who wanted luxurious travel to see new places and experience new cultures, you think if someone had access to a 4Runner, smooth paved roads and a 5 star resort and got to experience new cultures along the way that they would have said "no, this isn't "true" overlanding?...... No. Let people enjoy a damn trip and stop being so negative.

If ya'll want to make people feel so negative because all they can afford is a cheap lift and a weekend trip instead of a 6 month multi-nation tour, maybe you're missing the whole point of overlanding- to take a trip, camp, and experience something new.

#EndRant

LOL I thought "overlanding" was the term you use when talking the wife into a trip!:clap2:

 

[joeysav]

Great article, thanks for sharing. I am planning on a road trip across the country with my TRD pro. From Massachusetts to California. I'm hoping to spend most of the off roading in Colorado/Utah/Arizona/California!

 

[wanderMT]

I don't care what you call it - I call it fun.

 

[wanderMT]

Let's not kid ourselves - when are we ever more than 50 miles from a Walmart in the U.S.?!

Yes, but some ranchers in the west must 'overland' to get to Walmart 3 or 4 times a year. Except, they camp at the Super Eight next to Walmart.

 

[gm350reratliff]

Drive your rig through South America, Africa, or accross Asia and only then could you say you are properly overlanding.

Let's not kid ourselves - when are we ever more than 50 miles from a Walmart in the U.S.?!

OR a cell tower.

While I do agree the term "overlanding" is a bit washed out, there's still quite a few places out here that get you more than 50 miles from walmart and outside of cellular service. We were on some trails around Moab this past week that covered both those categories but we were not overlanding as I had rented a nice condo.

 

[sn_85]

Wait. So now a trip to McDonalds is "overlanding?" :dizzy:


Maybe I fall into the "grumpy" camp but I'm only 32, so not officially a "grumpy old man" just yet.

It's not just the whole overlanding thing that's been blown out of proportion, it's any sort of activity that twenty and thirty-somethings that have decent jobs turn into a hobby and blast it all over the internet via social media and photo hosting sites.

I say all the time that if the sharing photos online was suddenly outlawed most people would just stay at home because the "means" of the hobby seems to mainly be done to facilitate the "ends" of posting photos of said hobby online.

There is a huge culture of guys who own a few guns and support equipment, yet when they go to the range and post overly-filtered photos of them shooting and their gear setups, they're "training." Not just screwing around at the range.

Same thing with the gym crowd. Very few people seem to just be going to the gym to get in shape, get stronger, and be healthier. It's all about the photos of weights and selfies, with the hashtags of #neverstop #chalkhands #strong4life #mychurch or whatever.

Pretty much the only hobby that I have that hasn't been taken over by that is the group of old dudes who own early Jeep CJ5s because they just post horrible phone photos of their fifty year old jeeps off roading and such. No overlanding, no training, no hashtags.

Grumpy not-so-old man out.

lane:

Haha so true. It's like using EDM to describe all electronic music. It's so vague and diluted that no one knows that it means but hey "EDM" is so in vogue. I'm a grumpy old trance guy myself

 

[Jetboy]

I'd like to vote to ban the incorrect use of "epic" while we're at it. If we're all going to agree that the word "overland" now means camping, then what do we call overlanding?

This is overlanding:

Not this:

 

[Antman]

Overlanding.

 

[Dragonbay]

As one of those "grumpy older doods" north of fifty over landing in the purest sense is represented well by the above example in Africa. Everything else is "camping" :rapture:lol

 

[mwray8909]

Wow.....

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[Vinsil]

Lol...why not.


I don't care what it's called...I'd rather be doing whatever it is than sitting at home. I don't do social media..well, I guess this is but no instagram, Facebook..hell I had my wife enter us into the C4fab contest with her instagram!

No worries, I follow some YouTube guys, watch videos, enjoy life. I guess I'm grumpy as hell at 38. :smokin:

 

[kott3670]

LOL I thought "overlanding" was the term you use when talking the wife into a trip!:clap2:

I got divorced, don't need an excuse for a trip anymore and actually have the money for it now too!

 

[Rysandro]

What a shit fest this turned out to be

 

[mybabydaddy]

Haha so true. It's like using EDM to describe all electronic music. It's so vague and diluted that no one knows that it means but hey "EDM" is so in vogue. I'm a grumpy old trance guy myself

^^^....hahaha... This!!


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[jrandom]

What a shit fest this turned out to be

Kinda like everyone thinking a 4Runner of a different name is somehow magnitudes better than every other 4Runner of the same gen.

Kinda like all the people that think they can buy experience, go into the desert, drive off trail, get stuck, destroy fragile landscapes, shit all over the place thinking that burying it is the same as shitting in the forest.

Kinda like the RAZR crowd that tears the shit out of everything.

If your going to introduce and educate, then do it, and do it right. Don't just porn it out like marketeers do so well. Us older grumpy fk'rs learned all these lessons when the land was certainly more free, less regulated, uncrowded, and we did our share of screwing things up. There are too many people jumping in head first to do that now.

That article only touches on the hero aspects of "overlanding" and barely even touches on tread lightly aspect (which if you don't bother to do gets trails closed in the US particularly in the West) Not to mention overlanding for the last 30 years in fact by its nature glorifies getting stuck and fking shit up (i.e. Camel trophy)

So yes, I agree, it is a bit of a shit show.

 

[phillyd2]

Meh. Camping is just sleeping and eating outside. Hiking is just walking. Who cares what other people do with their own money and what they call it?

I consider Overlanding going from point A to B to C to Z in a vehicle that's pretty much self sustained and it also includes camping and maybe hiking. In other words it's just a road trip and off-roading, without staying in hotels and eating in restaurants

 

[Bodie the Dog]

Come out west

OR a cell tower.

I just went almost 48 hours, spending most of both days driving, without seeing anyone except airplanes. Things are different out here. No cell phone reception either, unless you know what ridges to hike up.

 

[Bodie the Dog]

It's a car guy thing

Amen! Love this site, but man are there some grumpy dudes here:argue:

Enjoyed the article and the video; the macho-insecurity from the pro level social networker's not so much :blah:

Our T4R culture merges those who love the outdoors with car guys. And the latter tend to be angry old white guys who love FOX and get off on "proving" how macho they are. Screw 'em. There's more good than bad here.

 

[delloro]

I didn't write the article. Send all *****ing/complaints to the author.

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And expedite them, by Overland Express.

 

[1engineer]

I just went almost 48 hours, spending most of both days driving, without seeing anyone except airplanes. Things are different out here. No cell phone reception either, unless you know what ridges to hike up.

No idea how old you are but in the 80's I spent a lot of time in Northern Nevada, Utah and Wyoming "overlanding" (lol) and we would go several days without any outside communication.

I was also on a trip through eastern Siberia for work. Didn't see a soul for over a week. We had three Land Cruisers and a trailer with fuel and supplies. We didn't call it overlanding, we called it a trip. How about a four day train ride from Beijing and an additional two day truck ride to get to a mine. IMO still not overlanding. Just a trip for work.

I think the whole point of these guys is words like "overlanding" and "epic" and "extreme" have, over time, become watered down compared to what they once meant. Sure, going across Nevada on dirt roads for a few days is overlanding but it can't compare to driving for four weeks across the middle of Africa and not seeing anyone.

Same with a lot of words. I like to think my mountain bike trips are epic, until I read Jake Blick's (search his adventure thread in the 5th gen section) Instagram and he is in friggin' Nepal skydiving out of a helicopter at 20K feet so he can ski down a glacier... makes my trip look like child's play. Same with the term "overlanding." The guys who truly overland are world's apart from the guys who day trip down a forest road. That's the whole point.