In need of overlanding...

Xposure

Xposure

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 13, 2018
Messages
562
Location
Trussville, AL
I think I should have been born 200 years ago. Forget stuff like off road parks....what I REALLY want to do is just pull off the road into a field and drive 5 miles cross country style, cross through a stream, get to the top of a beautiful overlook and pitch a tent.

I don't care so much about trails and rocks and such in a designed off road park... I care about exploration! I just want all the 4x4 stuff so I can drive somewhere cool.

Where can I do something like that??
 
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Australia!!!

Unfortunately most states have outlawed driving on any thing but a trail.

You can find fireroads. They are less maintained and go places most people don't go.
 
Boinked said:
Australia!!!

Unfortunately most states have outlawed driving on any thing but a trail.

You can find fireroads. They are less maintained and go places most people don't go.
Click to expand...

Yeah....but surely there is SOMEWHERE....fireroads and wildlife management roads is where I’ve been going. Those are fine, most are in a pretty area so my wife can enjoy the view and such.....but it’s just not the adventure I’m wanting to find :)

Like I said....I suppose I should have been born 200yrs ago hahaha
 
Xposure said:
Yeah....but surely there is SOMEWHERE....fireroads and wildlife management roads is where I’ve been going. Those are fine, most are in a pretty area so my wife can enjoy the view and such.....but it’s just not the adventure I’m wanting to find :)

Like I said....I suppose I should have been born 200yrs ago hahaha
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Then you would be riding your horse cross country and having to watch out for Indians.
 
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My first question , is where are ya generally now ?

Second , don't get yourself shot ...no kidding , had 2 nice kids heading into the Backcountry here in North Alabama, went past a place , guy felt like he was guardian of all he lived by , ran out and fired a shot , killed the passenger .

America is beautiful , and places are out there , but do your homework , and make sure you know how deep that river is!
 
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Xposure said:
I think I should have been born 200 years ago. Forget stuff like off road parks....what I REALLY want to do is just pull off the road into a field and drive 5 miles cross country style, cross through a stream, get to the top of a beautiful overlook and pitch a tent.

I don't care so much about trails and rocks and such in a designed off road park... I care about exploration! I just want all the 4x4 stuff so I can drive somewhere cool.

Where can I do something like that??
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There is a ridiculous amount of Overlanding opportunities in the US, there's even the Trans-American Trail which goes from the east coast to the west coast mostly off road. https://www.transamtrail.com

Theres also Overland Bound, a community for people just like you and me who are looking for routes to outfit and explore on.
 
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Go west, young man.

There are many overlanding opportunities in the Western states. Southern Utah has spectacular country and you can spend weeks on end in the backcountry. Last year a friend and I took a 10-day overlanding trip across Oregon from the coast to Crater Lake and never encountered another human except for those rare occasions that we needed to cross a highway. Northern Nevada also has many overlanding trails, including some that follow the old wagon train routes.
 
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+1 Go west.

Get a map that has land ownership on it. i.e. Forest Service, BLM, State forest land, Reservations (Indian and military), Wilderness areas, Private timberland, etc. Mark out all the land that is off limits. The rest may be open and accessible for overland travel. Respect gates and private property. 70 - 80 % of Oregon is public land, or private timberland, and about a third of that is accessible to explore by Jeep. (This is a rough estimate, so don't beat me with a stick if I'm off by 10%.) The trick isn't finding a place to explore. The trick is not wandering into a place you're not supposed to be. They usually aren't clearly marked on the trails. A digital map with a current land use overlay goes a long ways towards staying out of trouble. You rarely get busted, but when you do...

I imagine a lot of the west is simular to Oregon.
 
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Boinked said:
Australia!!!

Unfortunately most states have outlawed driving on any thing but a trail.

You can find fireroads. They are less maintained and go places most people don't go.
Click to expand...
States started regulatin years ago..Used to love wheelin remote areas of Colorado, with the inflow of population, along came laws and regulations..Livin where I do now, just cruise outback and yer on yer own...
 
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MonkeyMike said:
States started regulatin years ago..Used to love wheelin remote areas of Colorado, with the inflow of population, along came laws and regulations..Livin where I do now, just cruise outback and yer on yer own...
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Even if there were no laws or regulations the principles of Tread Lightly espouse staying on established trails and not cutting new ones. To do otherwise is irresponsible and gives the eco-nazis evidence to support their cries to close all public lands to motorized travel.

https://www.treadlightly.org/
 
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AndyG said:
Second , don't get yourself shot ...no kidding , had 2 nice kids heading into the Backcountry here in North Alabama, went past a place , guy felt like he was guardian of all he lived by , ran out and fired a shot , killed the passenger .
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+1 on this. I took a wrong turn when driving around Houston and pulled a u-turn near the gate to some guy's ranch and he pulled a gun on me before I even crossed the line to his property. I was driving a teal Prius at the time, so I don't know how he could have found me the least bit threatening, but if I know anything from living in Texas, it's that people won't hesitate to draw if they suspect trespassing.
 
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Mr. Bills said:
Even if there were no laws or regulations the principles of Tread Lightly espouse staying on established trails and not cutting new ones. To do otherwise is irresponsible and gives the eco-nazis evidence to support their cries to close all public lands to motorized travel.

https://www.treadlightly.org/
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MonkeyMike said:
Agree 100%...
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Yup. Tread Lightly.

The sticking point is what is a defined trail? When I drive down a 30 year old skid road that probably hasn't seen another vehicle in ten years or more, am I treading lightly? Because my TJ is designed and built with minimal ground loading in mind and my tires are selected for minimal surface disturbance, and I drive in such a way that the soil surface isn't torn up, am I Treading Lightly? I think there's more to it than just sticking to the "authorized off road trails". But that's just me. Walk down a trail I've driven a week after the next rain and you'd have to be a pretty good tracker to tell I was ever there. There's more than one set of valid design criteria available to the TJ community.
 
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Maybe we are off on a tangent , but land use has been shrinking for decades , which is the core of this thread .."I want to go wherever".

I ride dirt bikes . 35 years ago, land was land ...seemed no one cared , if timber was cut , have at it . People weren't suing each other because they fell on their property , or trivial things like that. Today, we have to lease property to ride on ,and it's constantly threatened , for one reason or the other.

There is no more land than there ever will be ,and the best thing we can all do is ask permission when needed, be respectful , never litter, don't start fires , close the gate , and just plain old act nice . We aren't on the brink of huge tracts of lands being more accessible, but far closer to more that will be shut down .

On the upside, the popularity of Side x sides and the need for land to be used for something seems to have even local county governments opening riding areas .

That's positive to some degree.

America is beautiful , but it's also pretty much owned.
 
Xposure said:
I think I should have been born 200 years ago. Forget stuff like off road parks....what I REALLY want to do is just pull off the road into a field and drive 5 miles cross country style, cross through a stream, get to the top of a beautiful overlook and pitch a tent.

I don't care so much about trails and rocks and such in a designed off road park... I care about exploration! I just want all the 4x4 stuff so I can drive somewhere cool.

Where can I do something like that??
Click to expand...
Look up Dangerous Roads. There’s a website. Then find the Dangerous Roads in your area. Many of these would be rarely traveled, not maintained, so pack everything you could possibly need, and get to it
 
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Yeah, that’s why I was saying I probably should have lived 200yrs ago...now everything is either owned by someone or government managed. There aren’t many natural places to ride....I really want to ride somewhere that isn’t a trail. Sounds like I need to visit some places out west or maybe take a month long drive to Alaska. We have some large government managed tracts of land in Alabama with dirt roads that the management services use and they allow riding. They are great to get out and see some beautiful land and have a picnic but nothing exciting as far as off-roading is concerned.

When it comes to treading lightly, I think that should relate more to litter and destruction of things like trees. Personally (and maybe unpopularly) I don’t think driving over land that isn’t already a trail is a problem....even creating new trails....nature grows back over trails and turns them back to natural very quickly...I personally don’t view that as destruction. Huge tracts of scalped land for farming and/or massive tree removal is destruction.

At least, that’s my .02
 
Xposure said:
. . . When it comes to treading lightly, I think that should relate more to litter and destruction of things like trees. Personally (and maybe unpopularly) I don’t think driving over land that isn’t already a trail is a problem....even creating new trails....nature grows back over trails and turns them back to natural very quickly...I personally don’t view that as destruction. At least, that’s my .02.
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Seriously?

I take back my suggestion that you go west. Please stay away. We don't need people who think like you.

That's my two cents.
 
Xposure said:
Yeah, that’s why I was saying I probably should have lived 200yrs ago...now everything is either owned by someone or government managed. There aren’t many natural places to ride....I really want to ride somewhere that isn’t a trail. Sounds like I need to visit some places out west or maybe take a month long drive to Alaska. We have some large government managed tracts of land in Alabama with dirt roads that the management services use and they allow riding. They are great to get out and see some beautiful land and have a picnic but nothing exciting as far as off-roading is concerned.

When it comes to treading lightly, I think that should relate more to litter and destruction of things like trees. Personally (and maybe unpopularly) I don’t think driving over land that isn’t already a trail is a problem....even creating new trails....nature grows back over trails and turns them back to natural very quickly...I personally don’t view that as destruction. Huge tracts of scalped land for farming and/or massive tree removal is destruction.

At least, that’s my .02
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So you don't want to drive on roads or trails? Just cross country??
 
This whole discussion seems to have devolved into the tu quoque fallacy or possibly a straw man.

Someone built all the trails that exist. If we really maintained that there should be no overlanding in the sense described by @Xposure, then no trails could exist. Yet, I doubt Lewis and Clark get much flack.

Whatever the regulations are for 'tread lightly', they either have to permit trail building or deny it. Who decides? Usually a governing body or private owner.

But @Xposure, if you lived 200 years ago, you wouldn't have a Jeep! And, as most suggested, most land in the US is already owned, so I don't know where you could do what you want to do...Go find a trail. There are plenty of trails that not many people frequent. And lovely views to discover. My .02c.
 
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