Overland Journal Gear Guide 2021

HAPPY CAMPERS Thought of the magazine and the forum when I snapped this (top right photo). It’s no exaggeration to say that ExPo and Overland Journal significantly changed my life trajectory. We don’t have the ability to go the extreme distance that frequently, but we basically live in the tent for a combined two months a year. Thinking of getting a RoofNest or iKamper next, something easier. Eric D. Laffoon 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 MOVING ON I find the direction Overland Journal is taking to be troubling. While the photography is beautiful and often stunning, there has been an appalling emphasis on more extreme forms of adventure, taking vehicles where, it could be persuasively argued, they don’t belong. At what point does the sheer impact of so many new overlanders threaten the very…

DAN GREC Dan Grec is an adventurer, snowboarder, and photographer who now hails from White-horse, Yukon, Canada. Growing up in Aus-tralia, family camping trips gave Dan a passion for wilderness exploration in remote destinations. After studying and working as a software engineer, Dan went in search of a more vibrant life. Eventually driving 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina, he became inspired by the characters he met along the way and is now dedicated to helping others realize their own overland dreams. To this end, Dan created and maintains Wiki-Overland—the community encyclopedia of overland travel. After years of planning and preparation, in early 2019, Dan completed a circumnavigation of the entire African con-tinent in his Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. ARDEN KYSELY Arden has been riding loaded dual-sports and adventure bikes into the backcountry since…

Huddling around a campfire at the end of a long day fulfills a primal need that is hard to articulate. Nothing technology offers can deliver the satisfaction and ambience of undulating flames dancing across freshly split logs, filling your nostrils with the smell of woodsmoke. Backcountry ethics tell us that if no fire pit exists at our campsite, we should not build one, but that is not a problem, thanks to the Takibi. This folding, stainless steel fire pit/grill sets up in seconds (it took me under a minute without instructions) and folds down flat enough to stow in narrow spaces, providing the perfect balance between portability and stability. I put the Takibi to the test, grilling a meal of vegetables and burgers for my whole crew. The grill’s cone shape…

The Scotts Steering Stabilizer has one purpose: keep you in control of your motorcycle by limiting wobble, weave, and unintended deflection of the front wheel. The device is a hydraulic shock absorber housed in a gold-anodized aluminum box that mounts to a motorcycle’s triple clamp. On my F 800 GS, a link arm connects to a post on the steering head, engaging the stabilizer when the front wheel moves away from center. Applications are motorcycle-specific; my GS requires a Scotts underbar mount/mounting kit ($312), which raises the handlebar 2 inches. Scotts stabilizers provide complete adjustability. High-speed damping, which controls sudden deflections, is tunable on the fly with a 24-position control. The base damping circuit and the unit’s sweep, or the angle from center that the hydraulics operate, are set while stationary.…

Disaster can strike at any time on a motorcycle, the chances increasing when a rider leaves the pavement for the sketchy traction of dirt and gravel roads. For that reason, most adventurers fit aftermarket protection to their mounts. I put AltRider crash bars on my BMW F 800 GS about seven years ago, and they have protected the bike in several minor get-offs since then. However, they proved themselves worthy of high praise when the west side of the 10,000-foot La Sal Pass near Moab, Utah, smacked me down while riding the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route. The GPS track delivered my riding partner and me to the summit of La Sal Pass on a delightful all-weather forest road, then sent us careening down a hellish series of steep, rocky chutes toward…

You may have come across the phrase, “Jack of all trades, master of none,” but I challenge its validity when it comes to pocketknives—or at least one pocketknife. My manual-opening Osborne 940-1 pulls top scores across all the essential elements of an everyday carry: ergonomics, deployment and lockup, materials, fit and finish, cutting ability, and style. It’s first and foremost slim and attractive, making it instantly lighter in weight and more comfortably compatible with smaller hands and pockets. This beauty was designed by the famous Warren Osborne back in 2000, and since then, it has garnered a rich reputation as one of the most popular knives in history. While particularly eye-catching in my favorite handle ma terial, carbon fiber, it doesn’t forget utilitarianism first. The reverse tanto-shaped blade in S30V…