Overland Journal :: Gear 2021

VERLAND O

HIGH ANDES | OVERLAND SUV OF THE YEAR | LAKE TURKANA, KENYA | CALIFORNIA᾽S LOST COAST

OVERLAND JOURNAL

WE ARE ADVENTURERS Constantly traveling. Testing and using gear in real-world situations. Gaining experience, which we readily share.

OUR RESUME

7 continents | 161 countries | 496 years combined experience

EXPERIENCE MATTERS

WE ONLY KNOW THINGS WHEN WE LIVE THEM

GEAR 2021

PUBLISHER AND CHAIRMAN Scott Brady

PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF DESIGN Stephanie Brady

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER Christian Pelletier

CHIEF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OFFICER Brian McVickers

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Andre Racine

DIRECTOR OF EUROPEAN OPERATIONS Michael Brailey

EDITOR, OVERLAND JOURNAL Tena Overacker

CONSERVATION EDITOR Åsa Björklund

MEDICAL EDITOR Dr. Jon Solberg, MD, FAWM

ARCHAEOLOGY SENIOR EDITOR Bryon Bass, PhD

CAMP AND TRAILER SENIOR EDITOR Matt Swartz

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Nicholas Bratton, Chris Cordes, Rocky Donati, Fresh Off the Grid, Ashley Giordano, Dan Grec, Arden Kysely, Mac Mackenney, Alex H. Pflaum, Chris Torlasco, Gary and Monika Wescott, Lisa Williams

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Bruce Dorn

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Steve Burgess, Alfred Clerici, Saul Estrada, Ian McWilliams, James Norris, Monika Wescott

COPY EDITORS Arden Kysely, Jacques Laliberté

TECHNICAL EDITOR Chris Ramm

CARTOGRAPHER David Medeiros

CONTACT

Overland Journal, 3035 N Tarra Ave, #1, Prescott, AZ 86301 service@overlandjournal.com, editor@overlandjournal.com, advertising@overlandjournal.com, 928-777-8567

MOVING?

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Overland Journal is a trademark of Overland International, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Overland Journal is a wholly owned subsidiary of Overland International.

NO COMPROMISE

We carefully screen all contributors to ensure they are independent and impartial. We never have and never will accept advertorial, and we do not allow advertising to influence our product or destination reviews.

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 resource they are seeking? Why are you not publishing articles that specifically address everyone’s responsibility to stay on roads already developed, campsite cleanup, on-the-road etiquette, etc.? Despite a positive increase in female voices, there has been a more “macho” and/or military shift in your articles. Gone are the days of really useful gear reviews. Thanks for the ride; it was wonderful while it lasted.

John Bacon 2011 Tacoma/Fleet Four Wheel Camper

RESPONSE FROM THE EDITOR: While there have been changes over the years, our goal as a publication is to grow responsibly alongside reader opinion and preference. We are conscious of the potential negative impact that our vehicles and behavior can have on the environment. Tread Lightly, Ethical Travel, and other

ROW 1

@bugsonmyface

It’s been 11 years now, and I honestly cherish every single ride. We’re off on another long haul at the end of this week—part moto, mostly camper, on a rescue mission to get our rig back home from Alaska. We know what it’s been like living in a major city during the pandemic but are interested to see what the tone is in the smaller communities around the US. We’re leaving a lot less carefree than usual and anticipating some major hurdles along the way. Regardless, our country is beautiful, and we will undoubtedly have a new type of adventure.

@impact.overland

What can I do to make my life easier? It’s a question I ask myself every single day. It may, at first glance, seem like I can live completely independently. I can, in fact, live mostly independently, if everything is set up exactly right. In my life as a quadriplegic, I need to be organized. I have to plan, try different potential solutions, and make adjustments if they don’t work. To be situationally organized, pun intended, takes work.

See “Happy Campers” letter below.

ROW 2

@rg.4x4

[The bridge] over the Suapure River [Venezuela]. The final destination was San Juan de Manapiare, but we would continue on foot.

@silk_way_campers

For several months, I have been watching the new Land Rover Defender being filmed in Bond/No Time to Die. Then it conquers the expanses of Africa and rescues stuck trucks. Then it is broken and put on display to the public in some ski resort, [or pictured with] colorful aunts from Africa in an embrace with the car. Why advertise so much? Previously, excellent equipment did not need advertising; it proved itself during operation, [discussed] on the sidelines of conversations in garages.

@overlandtheamericas

Down by the river with friends on a hot summer day. @twodustytravelers

ROW 3

@suboverland

Here in Idaho, the weather has definitely been hit or miss, but it looks like summer is finally here. @tobyinboise

@the.wanderlost.project

When you find yourself in the muck, keep your momentum going, and your friends close. Glad we could provide some entertainment—always wandering, never lost.

@adventurecentric

This morning’s sky is like cotton candy on fire. It’s always worth getting up a little early to see sights like this. What will the day bring you?

similar ideologies are represented where applicable in our text. Your feedback is a good reminder to continue to incorporate articles that take a strong stance on Responsible Tourism, not only as a flagship to new overlanders but to keep ourselves on course.

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WHERE HAS YOUR OVERLAND JOURNAL BEEN?

Send us a photo, along with your name, the location, make/year of your vehicle, and a brief description. editor@overlandjournal.com

DAN GREC

Dan Grec is an adventurer, snowboarder, and photographer who now hails from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Growing up in Australia, 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 WikiOverland—the community encyclopedia of overland travel. After years of planning and preparation, in early 2019, Dan completed a circumnavigation of the entire African continent in his Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

ARDEN KYSELY

Arden has been riding loaded dual-sports and adventure bikes into the backcountry since high school, following a single goal of camping in the middle of nowhere. With stints as a whitewater river guide and National Park Service seasonal in Utah behind him, Arden favors the Red Rock Country but also enjoys the Mojave Desert and wide-open spaces of Nevada. Based in Santa Barbara, California, he has shared stories of his adventures, as well as tests of motorcycles and accessories, in print and on the web for the past 25 years. In that time, he’s worn out two Kawasaki KLR 650s and is currently stirring up the dust on his BMW F 800 GS and Suzuki DR-Z400S.

CHRIS TORLASCO

Chris started life in the southernmost city of the world, Ushuaia, and was lucky to grow up with a father who enjoyed venturing to Argentina’s remote areas. He worked as an architect in Oregon, drove the Pan-American Highway twice, rafted the Grand Canyon, overlanded southern Africa, and has traveled extensively elsewhere. He currently splits his time between New York and Buenos Aires, pursuing his passion of traveling to the distant corners of Patagonia and the Andes Mountains. He is also busy raising three kids with his wife, Jackie, in his biggest adventure by far. Chris is the founder and owner of Andean Roads in Argentina, which in addition to RV rentals, provides services to visiting overlanders.

Mac Mackenney is an expedition specialist, having planned and led expeditions to the most extreme locations on earth. The more extreme the environment, the more he thrives on the challenge. Some of his many projects include being the right-hand man to the renowned Polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, head of logistics for the largest-ever medical research expedition on Everest, London to Cape Town driving record holder, team member for the first amphibious crossing of the Bering Strait, provider of challenging vehicle adventures to military veterans suffering from PTSD, and leader of an extreme driving series on Discovery Channel in which Hollywood actors drove some of the coldest, hottest, and toughest roads on the planet. He also has an adventure motoring channel on YouTube, Driven to Extremes.

ASHLEY GIORDANO

Ashley Giordano recently completed a 48,800-kilometer overland journey from Vancouver, Canada, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with her husband, Richard, in their wellloved but antiquated Toyota Pickup. On the zig-zag route south, she hiked craggy peaks in the Andes, discovered diverse cultures in 15 different countries, and indulged in spicy ceviche, Baja fish tacos, and Argentinian malbec. You can usually find Ashley buried in a pile of travel books, poring over maps, or researching wild medicinal plants. Ashley grew up in Kelowna, British Columbia, and spent much of her youth as a competitive figure skater. She worked as a paralegal for eight years while completing a diploma in holistic nutrition. She is currently studying herbal medicine with a focus on women’s health.

Gary and Monika Wescott have spent the last 45 years globetrotting around the world, from the arid desert of Turkmenistan, following the Silk Road, to the jungles of the Amazon, and across Siberia in the dead of winter. The couple’s travel adventures have been published in 10 countries and eight languages. Their in-depth knowledge of the problems and joys of overland travel in remote areas is incomparable. Gary and Monika’s meticulously prepared travel/research trucks, from their original Land Rover to the current Ford F-550, The Turtle V, have been an inspiration for many. Their experience and photography encompass what Overland Journal is all about. From the beginning, The Turtle Expedition’s motto has been, “Don’t take the trip. Let the trip take you.”

MAC MACKENNEY

GARY AND MONIKA WESCOTT

ROCKY DONATI

Rocky has a quirky sense of humor, the mouth of a sarcastic sailor, and talks supersonic fast. Her insatiable drive and knack for creative problem-solving meant a decade of spearheading high-level business strategies for the outdoor industry. Now she manages her own consulting firm, Donati Agency, but more often than not, elects to play hooky with her partner in crime and two Aussie pups. From wheeling to jet-setting out of a remote Park City chalet at 8,000 feet, she and her husband are constantly in search of the perfect pocket water for fly fishing. This decade, she’s embracing the hermit lifestyle, writing gibberish for hire, and renting out the adventurous getaway of your childhood dreams, The Treehouse Utah, on Airbnb.

ALEX H. PFLAUM

Born in Hong Kong only to depart for New Zealand a few short weeks later, Alex Pflaum grew up on the move and never stopped. Now a professional photographer, writer, and outdoor enthusiast, he set his sights on Central Asia two years ago with absolutely no plans of turning back. Alex recently published a large format photography book about the region and the historic Silk Road. His next step is to move into the area full time in order to uncover much of the unknown that still surrounds this land that was once at the very center of the world. You can find much of Alex’s work on his website or Instagram.

FRESH OFF THE GRID

Megan McDuffie and Michael van Vliet are the couple behind the camp cooking blog Fresh Off the Grid. They’ve spent the past few years traveling around the country in their self-converted Ford Transit camper van. In the summer of 2019, the two got married in Yosemite National Park and hiked the 211-mile John Muir Trail for their honeymoon. They have since moved to Central Oregon, where they continue to work on their website and share delicious camping recipes. While 2020 has altered many of their plans, Megan and Michael can’t wait to start exploring their new home base in the Pacific Northwest.

NICHOLAS BRATTON

Nicholas Bratton is a lifelong adventurer and traveler. Currently based in Seattle, he has lived for six years in Africa and one in France. His pursuits include working as a whitewater rafting guide in South Africa and Washington, as a mountaineering instructor in the Cascades and Rockies, and exploring eastern Greenland. His travels have taken him to 30 countries. Closer to home, an overland highlight has been driving the 600-mile Washington Backcountry Discovery Route in his Land Rover Discovery. Bratton’s work has been published in the Boston Globe, Daily Telegraph, Rovers Magazine, Hidden Compass, Land Rover Monthly, and Alloy+Grit.

CHRIS CORDES

Chris was born and raised outside of Dallas, Texas, and didn’t receive a real taste of the outdoors until moving to Arizona in 2009. It was there that he fell in love with four-wheeldrive vehicles and the great outdoors, quite literally altering the path of his life. Instead of pursuing his planned career in aviation, Chris accepted a position with Overland Journal and Expedition Portal, where he would hone his skills in writing, photography, and off-pavement driving. Over the years, he has lived full time on the road, mapped trails from the Arctic Circle to Mexico, driven across Australia, and backpacked the Himalayas. He is currently an Airstream Ambassador and works for OnX Offroad, managing their Trail Guide community.

LISA WILLIAMS

Lisa Williams is an Arizona native that spent much of her childhood exploring backroads with her family in whatever project vehicle her father was wrenching on at the time. She has traveled the continental United States by foot, by Ford Econoline, and most recently, by Jeep Cherokee. All her passions center around driving, connecting with nature, and a deep love for adventure. Though a practicing weekend warrioress, she aspires to write, photograph, and eventually rally race around the globe and share her journeys through photojournalism. Upcoming goals include competing in the Rebelle Rally, the Baja 1000, and an immersion into the less-traveled roads of New Zealand in her 2019 Toyota Tacoma.

OVERLAND JOURNAL

Overland Journal is the original publication for environmentally responsible, worldwide vehicle-supported expedition and adventure travel.

SUBSCRIPTIONS AND BACK ISSUES

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1 year $45, 2 years $80, 3 years $112

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1 year €45, 2 years €80, 3 years €120

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DIGITAL

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Snow Peak

Takibi

Fire and Grill

This foldable, stainless steel fire pit and grill gets the job done with style to spare.

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 made stacking and lighting charcoal easy—be sure to use an appropriate amount to heat the entire cooking surface; its tight grid prevents the dreaded loss of smaller food items in the coals. I used the grill at the lowest setting, but there are three different height adjustments to fine-tune temperature. Some folks may be left wanting for a bigger campfire since you can only fit a few full-sized pieces of firewood safely within the Takibi (hint: sit close). It is also worth noting that if you’re cooking with charcoal, there is no inner grate or vents to adjust airflow to your coals. (MS)

$320 | SNOWPEAK.COM

Scotts Steering Stabilizer

This small device delivers a big handling advantage.

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. The one I use dampens movements away from center, allowing the front wheel to freely return to centerline; street-oriented units dampen in both directions.

The Scotts unit on my GS has kept the bike stable when hitting ruts and roots, churning up sand on the Utah Backcountry Discovery Route, and splashing through rocky river crossings. My first adventure tour with the made-in-USA stabilizer was the first on which I didn’t drop the bike. Coincidence? Maybe, but I’ve survived many hairy moments since that makes me glad it’s there to keep me upright and on track. (AK)

$360 ($616 COMPLETE KIT) | SCOTTSONLINE.COM

AltRider Crash Bars

Crash-tested protection for adventure motorcycles.

Down but not out. AltRider bars protected the GS in this heavy crash. There are no scratches on the replacement crash bar—yet.

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 Moab. Within 10 minutes of starting down, Roger dropped his BMW R 1200 GSA in the rocks. A Good Samaritan helped us right the bike, then urged us to turn around, as the route grew worse below. Certain that our heavy bikes would not, could not, climb back up the rocks, we continued down; two drops later, and the 1200 was leaking oil. Marooned on a rare flat spot in the road, we were discussing our fate when three more Samaritans appeared in trucks. We hefted the leaking bike into a clapped-out 4WD Tacoma, tossed in my luggage, and I rode on ahead.

The descent was exhausting, but under control, until I stalled the bike on a small rise and, leaning the wrong direction, dropped 2 feet off the road onto a rock pile. I was fine but thought the worst for my machine as it laid there—broken plastic, possibly a side case, surely hundreds of dollars in damage. After we dragged the GS back to the road, I could see that my AltRider crash bars, while bent in an inch at the top, had allowed just two small scratches on the bodywork and no other damage to the bike. Had the AltRiders not been in place, at least $700 in crushed plastic bodywork would have been required.

WITHOUT THE STRENGTH OF THE ALTRIDER CRASH BARS, THE GS WOULD HAVE BEEN UNRIDEABLE; WITH THEM, I WAS ABLE TO CONTINUE ON THE UTAH BACKCOUNTRY DISCOVERY ROUTE.

TIG welded by skilled hands from corrosion-resistant, 1-inch diameter T-304 stainless steel tubing with a 2.1-millimeter wall thickness, the AltRiders perform as advertised. Mounting the American-made bars took this modestly skilled installer about 90 minutes, using mounting points on the engine and frame, and incorporating a lower crossbar with an aluminum rod insert for added strength. An optional upper assembly that adds radiator and fairing protection is also available. The basic set adds 8 pounds to my GS and doesn’t interfere with riding.

$398 | ALTRIDER.COM

Benchmade Osborne 940-1

Highly regarded as one of the most quintessential EDCs of all time.

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 steel adds substantial material to the tip for increased durability, but simultaneously has a wedge out of the spine to avoid unnecessary metal. In turn, it’s more of a slicer than you might initially take it for, and can handle almost any task you throw at it, such as dancing through cardboard like soft butter or gutting a tomato like a samurai. My Osborne has held its edge and shows no signs of slowing down after years of abuse. Plus, the Axis lock and reversible pocket clip also make it usable for right- and lefthanders (double whammy).

$320 | BENCHMADE.COM

Women’s Filson Double Canvas Overalls

Flattering and functional workwear.

Ilivein a rural Utah cabin at 8,000 feet. Regular chores include shoveling snow, clearing brush, chopping firewood, wrangling dogs, and recovering two-wheel-drive vehicles that didn’t think 4WD and chain requirements applied to them. At first, I thought normal jeans would suffice. A dozen pairs later, I still refused to pull on Carhartts or Dickies, because in all frankness, nothing was flattering the booty. Even the smaller niche brands didn’t feel comfortable enough over long periods of time, nor did they have key essentials like a tool

loop or zippered pockets. After complaining loudly, a friendly (and very well-dressed) neighbor introduced me to a classic staple I had long forgotten—Filson’s Double Canvas Overalls. I know it sounds like a fairy tale, but there are no villains here, only a protagonist worth praising. I scoffed a little at the over two hundy price tag, but all my former dislikes were put to rest after I pulled the trigger. As you expect with Filson, they are meticulously constructed with a 9.4-ounce cotton canvas containing 1 percent spandex, allowing for durability and unrestricted movement. Work-ready, they have all the fixings: doublelayered leg fronts with pockets for knee pads (not just one or the other), a trusty hammer loop (thank the heavens), and a secure, sizable chest pocket to avoid the notorious “bend-over-slash-phone-drop” move (bingo). Ladies, you can have style and function. I rest my case. Men, don’t despair, check out Filson’s C.C.F. Work Bibs for a similar option.

$225 | FILSON.COM

KinsmenAND STRONG ENOUGH TO SUPPORT A GROWN MAN DOING PULL-UPS.

Hardware is the quintessential example of American small business. Their story doesn’t begin with an angel investor, a flashy viral video, or funding from a multinational conglomerate, but with a need, and a craftsman who was willing to do something about it. That man was Matthew Simmons, a machinist’s son from South Carolina, and the product he worked long hours at two jobs to produce is the Rapid Deploy awning.

The awning is also classically American. It’s the muscle car of the group, built from US steel and canvas with a design that favors straightforward strength, speed, and simplicity over engineering finesse. The fabric isn’t an ultralight-aluminum-infused secret, but heavy-duty 314 GSM Sunbrella marine canvas intended for 24/7 exposure to the elements, ensuring a lifetime of resistance to UV rays, mold, and mildew. The powder-coated steel truss frame is masterfully welded and strong enough to support a grown man doing pull-ups. The vinyl-coated polyester cover has withstood tree branch strikes heavy enough to rip parts off a truck, and the YKK zippers laced with Mil-Spec paracord pulls still run smoothly after months of abuse. Stainless steel and brass hardware abound, with poly bush-

Kinsmen Hardware Rapid Deploy 270° Awning

Chalk one up for the American craftsman; this product delivers.

ings in the main hinge and an industrial-grade stainless spring for the locking mechanism. Every piece of this awning is sourced and assembled in the USA, with the sole exception of the spring pin which comes from Italy—bellissimo

At 70 pounds, the Kinsmen is easily the heaviest option I’ve tested, yet it is also the fastest. During evaluations, setup time averaged a lightning-fast 18.03 seconds, while the full setup was just 24.6 seconds. That’s less than half the time of its nearest competitor. Stowing the awning was equally impressive, bringing home a breakdown time of just 49 seconds. The secret is in the brilliant locking pin design. Simply unzip the bag, swing the awning around, and click—the industrial pin locks it open at a perfect 90-degree angle to the vehicle.

A few seconds here or there doesn’t equate to anything beyond bragging rights in camp, but the attention to detail on the Kinsmen, combined with its stability and strength, does. Unlike other awnings, I find myself deploying it multiple times per day on our trips. Coverage is ample at 167.9 square feet; I’ll throw it out for a lunch break, use it to shield the rain on a coffee stop, and open it to hang some lights for camp poker. If bad weather is forecast, the three pop-up arms prevent water from pooling and secure the tension strap to fight off the wind. Guyline webbing loops perfectly positioned on the fabric secure the awning and prevent flapping in high winds. There is even a spot for an aftermarket support pole in case you want to string a hammock up on the armature.

The Kinsmen is pricey, but its utility and ease of use justify the cost and set it apart. Had it arrived in time for our original 270-degree awning test (Summer 2019), it would have taken home the Editor’s Choice.

$2,150 | KINSMENHARDWARE.COM

Clockwise from top: The Kinsmen, still standing tall after a night of heavy wind and rain. The Kinsmen has the fastest setup time of any awning we’ve tested, as well as the largest coverage area. Simple yet ingenious design elements like the locking pin are what make this awning such a joy to use. The profile on the awning is slimmer than you’d expect for its strength, and makes little to no noise on the road.

THE POWDER-COATED STEEL TRUSS FRAME IS MASTERFULLY WELDED

Ovrlandr Coffee Press

Have coffee, will travel.

Planetary Design spent three years researching, designing, and testing the Ovrlndr, a French-style press that provides the opportunity to make a cup of coffee that can travel. Though it will not fit in a cup holder, you can drink directly from it after your coffee is brewed.

The company also offers stackable Camp Cups which hold 8 fluid ounces and are perfect for a morning cup of joe or an adult beverage after the day’s journey is finished. The double-wall insulation prevented my hand from feeling the heat of my coffee while maintaining the right temperature to enjoy. The press and cups are available in a pleasing assortment of colors and textures, including my favorite, obsidian.

The press features a Bru-Stop plunger with a distinctive cupped shape, plate, and filtration screen that prevents over-brewing and restricts grounds from reappearing in your mug or your mouth. The press also filters loose tea leaves, whether you choose a cold or a hot brew. With a 28-fluid-ounce capacity, you can share your beverage with fellow travelers. The double-wall construction retains the heat, so your coffee is still ready when you are. With the removable base, this press is easy to clean, leaving a fully satisfying experience.

$50/PRESS, $27/CUPS (PAIR) | PLANETARYDESIGN.COM

Between the Andes and the Sky

A remote drive through the other roof of the world in the high Andes of Argentina and Chile.

By Chris Torlasco

Photography by Alfred Clerici

AND THERE WE FINALLY WERE, ON A FULL-MOON NIGHT AT 17,388 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL (ASL), 14°F, miles away from any clue of human existence, surrounded by stunning beauty. We had reached Pampa de los Bayos, an area that remains mostly unexplored because of the difficulties involved in getting there. It’s a challenging combination with the absence of roads, high elevation, and freezing night temperatures.

It was our third attempt at Pampa. The first two approaches had failed because of weather and navigation issues. Once you are up there, the slightest problem or probability of such is a valid reason to abort, since taking chances in such a desolate area can have fatal consequences. Each attempt required good preparation, 7 to 10 days to spend in the area, and a 1,100-mile trip from Buenos Aires.

The northwest region of Argentina is home to the highest peaks in the Western Hemisphere and one of the largest concentrations of volcanoes in the world, with over 200 in this particular area. It also offers extraordinary opportunities for adventure driving. At one of the region’s most desolate corners, within the province of Catamarca and adjacent to the border with Chile, lies an area of massive volcanoes peaking above 20,000 feet ASL: Galán, San Francisco, Blanco, Chorrillos, Incahuasi, El Cóndor, El Muerto, Aguas Calientes, Vallecitos, Colorados, and Antofalla. They are locally called Los Seismiles (The Six-thousands) because they all surpass 6,000 meters ASL. With year-round snow, they are beyond impressive to observe at close proximity

Antofagasta de la Sierra, population 700, and hub to 4WD adventures for all levels, is the last settlement encountered when approaching the area. There is no electrical service, and the town’s generator shuts down at 11:00 p.m. Pampa de los Bayos, a plateau formed from the lava erupted from nearby volcanoes, is 160 miles of off-pavement travel southwest of the village away through challenging terrain. In order to access the area, it is necessary to ascend to over 17,000 feet ASL to sort the ring of mountains surrounding it, known locally as the corona (crown). Once at the top, the views are out of this world. It is then necessary to descend toward the plateau, making your way through a series of canyons formed by ignimbrite, a volcanic rock consisting essentially of pumice fragments, once again giving us the impression of being on the set of a good sci-fi movie. A wide variety of minerals can be observed, and the terrain’s colors and textures change every few miles. Wildlife and vegetation are extremely rare, and the closest indication of human presence in the area is at a mine (closed most of the year) about 50 miles east.

CLOSE TO THE CLOUDS

Extremely high elevations with consequent low night temperatures present a real challenge for the visitor. Our approach to Pampa de los Bayos lasted a total of four days, in which we traveled between 13,000 and 17,400 feet ASL. Headaches and other physical symp-

toms of altitude sickness are to be expected. We had two oxygen tanks with us and coca leaves that we consumed as a tea or chewed, known for reducing the condition’s ill effects

Other than observing the outstanding skies, nights were tough. We didn’t make fires; nothing that produces wood grows at that elevation, plus we wanted to minimize our impact. After enjoying a light, warm dinner with conversation on what was achieved during the day, making decisions about the challenges for the following one, we went to bed and gave up to exhaustion. Still, some of us were not able to sleep due to the cold, along with having headaches and shortness of breath from the lack of oxygen. Plus, engines had to be started a few times during the night to prevent freezing and cold-starting complications due to heavy oil viscosity. The vehicles formed a barrier to protect our tents from the wind. I felt really uncomfortable horizontally and had to spend the nights seated inside the truck.

Accessing the location by 4WD proved to be the best (and most likely only) way, since being 160 off-road miles away from the nearest supply place makes it improbable to hike or bike to it. The combination we chose was an ideal one: two trucks to carry people and supplies, and one light scouting motorcycle. Scouting was a constant and essential part of the trip. Whatever the combination of vehicles might be, it is imperative to use more than one for obvious reasons.

The surfaces were diverse and demanding (loose gravel, steep inclines, sand and salt flats saturated with water, etc.). We were stuck often and had to make our way using winches, Hi-Lifts, sand bars, and shovels more times than I care to remember. The crew worked as a dynamic team and knew the area well, crucial keys for accomplishing our goal.

It is estimated that only about 30 people have ever reached Pampa, and I consider myself lucky to have experienced it, along with a handful of other relatively unexplored, free-of-human-impact corners of the planet. It’s a real privilege, especially these days Pampa’s majesty and uniqueness were definitely worth the significant effort required to embrace it.

MAXIMUM CORD LENGTH, SOMETIMES PAIRING TWO WINCHES, PROVED ESSENTIAL FOR THE LONG, STEEP, LOOSE SURFACE UPHILL CLIMBS. A TYPICAL LAVA BED AND A COUPLE OF YEAR-ROUND, SNOW-PEAKED VOLCANOES LOOM IN THE BACKGROUND.

(OPENING SPREAD) TRACKS ARE SCARCE AND ERRATIC IN THE HIGH ANDES, BUT 360-DEGREE VIEWS OF VOLCANOES ARE A COMMON OCCURRENCE.

THE SEISMILES (SIX-THOUSANDS) IS A RANGE OF OVER 100 VOLCANOES BETWEEN CENTRAL ARGENTINA AND ECUADOR THAT GO OVER 6,000 METERS (19,685 FEET) ASL, INCLUDING THE OJOS DEL SALADO, THE WORLD’S HIGHEST VOLCANO AND THE SECOND-HIGHEST PEAK IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE, (AFTER NEARBY ACONCAGUA). CATAMARCA HAS ONE OF THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATION OF VOLCANOES PER SQUARE MILE ON THE PLANET.

THE EARTH IS CHARGED WITH MINERAL CONTENT, AND THE SOIL COLORS CONSTANTLY CHANGED FROM STARK AND MUTED TO COLORFUL HUES OF PINK, RED, ORANGE, AND PURPLE.

OUR SCOUT, GASTON BALDI, IS AN EXPERT IN THE AREA’S TERRAIN AND PROVED ESSENTIAL TO OUR TRIP’S SUCCESS. HIS VEHICLE OF CHOICE WAS A HONDA CRF230, COMBINING IDEAL WEIGHT AND POWER.

THERE WAS HARDLY A DAY THAT WENT BY THAT THE TERRAIN DIDNʼT THROW US A CURVEBALL.

WORKING ON RECOVERY AT HIGH ELEVATIONS PROVED CHALLENGING AND NEEDED TO BE TAKEN AT A SLOW PACE TO PREVENT SHORTNESS OF BREATH AND HEADACHES. THE BASIC RULE WHEN HIKING UPHILL WAS TO TAKE 10 STEPS, REST, AND REPEAT.

WILDLIFE IS SCARCE BUT DIVERSE. PINK FLAMINGOS, WILD DONKEYS, GUANACOS, VICUÑAS, AND EVEN PUMAS CAN ALL BE SPOTTED.

PEINADO VOLCANO TOWERS OVER THIS CARIBBEAN-COLORED LAGOON. WATER IN THE REGION VARIES WIDELY IN COLOR, RANGING FROM TURQUOISE TO GREEN TO EVEN RED IN SOME CASES, DEPENDING ON THE SURFACE AND MICROORGANISMS THAT MANAGE TO LIVE THERE.

WE BATTLED SYMPTOMS RELATED TO ALTITUDE SICKNESS. TUBED OXYGEN HELPED COMPENSATE FOR THE DRAWBACKS OF HIGH ELEVATION.

DRIVING OFF PAVEMENT FOR DAYS IN A ROW MEANT A CONSTANT SET OF CHALLENGES. AT THE END OF EACH DAY, WE GAVE UP TO EXHAUSTION.

WE MADE OUR WAY THROUGH ETHEREAL LANDSCAPES, WHICH MORPHED CONSTANTLY, SURPRISING US AT EVERY TURN.

ROCKY, SANDY, OR UNSTABLE SHALE WAS OUR CONSTANT TRAVEL COMPANION. THE ROAD CONDITIONS TRANSFORMED DAY BY DAY AND SOMETIMES EVEN MOMENT BY MOMENT.

BEAUTIFUL SCENERY COMMANDED ATTENTION AMIDST THIS TRICKY, WATER-SATURATED SURFACE.

FUEL SUPPLY PLANNING WAS CRITICAL SINCE THE NEAREST VILLAGE TO PAMPA DE LOS BAYOS IS 160 MILES AWAY.

FORGING OUR WAY OVER A VOLCANIC FIELD MADE FOR PAINFULLY SLOW GOING.

THE VASTNESS AND GRANDEUR OF THE AREA WERE OVERWHELMING AT TIMES.

PILOT DOWN. IT TOOK CLOSE TO THREE HOURS, TWO WINCHES, AND LOTS OF RECOVERY GEAR AND INGENUITY TO GET OUT OF THIS ONE.

MARCELO RESIO’S TOYOTA SW4, MAKING PROGRESS IN THE PUNA DE ATACAMA’S WILD FRONTIER.

THIS TYPICAL VIEW—AT THE HIGHEST PORTION OF THE ADVENTURE—AMIDST A WONDERLAND OF CLOUDS BROUGHT HOME THE MAGNITUDE OF THE JOURNEY.

COLORADOS VOLCANO DWARFS EVERYTHING IN ITS PRESENCE.

AT TIMES, WE FOUND AND USED TRACKS MADE TO ACCESS NEARBY MINES.

EDUARDO ORDINAS, WITH HIS FAITHFUL RANGER, CAUGHT IN ONE OF THE LOOSE GRAVEL INCLINES THAT SERVED AS OUR FREQUENT NEMESIS.

WE OFTEN FOUND OURSELVES DRIVING ON SALT. YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT IS UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE; BIG BOULDERS, WATER-SATURATED SOIL, AND DITCHES ARE JUST A FEW POTENTIAL ADVERSARIES, SO EXTREME CAUTION IS NECESSARY.

Selecting the ultimate adventure wagon.

By Scott Brady

Overland SUV of the Year

Thereare few vehicles as iconic as a 4WD wagon bouncing along the Kalahari or bounding effortlessly across the Empty Quarter. The modern SUV can quite literally do it all, transporting kids on a Tuesday and visiting the North Magnetic Pole a month later (true story). They are used in the developing world by NGOs, special operations units, and even the occasional explorer, and for good reason. The wagon provides the best of most worlds, isolating the occupants and equipment from the elements, sticky fingers, and plumes of dust. They are also typically safer, more comfortable, and provide better performance than equivalent trucks or vans, which is why they sell in unfathomable numbers: 28,000,000 in 2019, to be exact.

CONSIDERATIONS

With dozens of SUVs on the market, it was challenging to distill the selection down to six models. Our vehicle tests are unique in the industry, given that we do not just test

“new” models but all well-suited examples for overland ventures. New is not necessarily an advantage when the goal is traveling remotely, and aftermarket support is limited. As a result, our selections are narrowed to choices with a low-range transfer case that would generally be considered suitable for off-highway exploration. There are a few models that meet that criteria that were excluded due to space constraints, including the new G-Class, the Nissan Armada, and the Toyota Sequoia (discussed briefly in the sidebar). Due to timing, the much anticipated Bronco was also excluded.

Selecting an SUV for overland travel should include several primary considerations and a few secondary influences. Most important is suitability to purpose, which includes adequate payload, and sufficient interior volume to accommodate passengers and equipment. Next involves the more subjective but equally important attribute of driver confidence. Confidence comes from capability on the road and trail and is

Clockwise from top: Near our offices in Prescott, Arizona, we are fortunate to have access to mixed terrain and a route we call the “test track.” This trail allows us to improve repeatability from test to test and gauge both articulation and tractive performance. Our tests included additional evaluations like towing (for most models), which provide insights into the suitability of the vehicle for a broad spectrum of overlanders. Technology is here to stay, and some of it is genuinely helpful (like the cameras on the Defender). Opening page: We made every effort to test each platform thoroughly, with evaluations occurring on five continents and over thousands of miles. While technical terrain performance is the most compelling (like testing the Defender in Namibia as shown), it is but one of six categories we scored.

complemented by long-term durability and reliability. As travelers, having confidence in our vehicle’s ability to get us way out and back is what creates the ultimate overland machine. While the criteria below have been defined in the past, they remain the foundation of our testing and scoring.

RELIABILITY For remote, vehicle-based adventure travel, we need to be able to trust our vehicle to start and operate reliably in the field. All of the capability and capacity in the world does little for us if the vehicle stops running. This attribute will be most important for those traveling the farthest afield and internationally and will be somewhat less critical for overlanders that tend to stay closer to home with a dealer infrastructure in place.

PAYLOAD An SUV needs to have an appropriate payload (typically 1,500 pounds or more), allowing for the reserve capacity to fit aftermarket accessories, racks, and supplies. This may be as simple as weeks of fuel and water for a big desert crossing or travel deep in the jungle. Vehicles that are over GVWR can be subject to fines or even significant liability in an accident.

DURABILITY Durability is a measure of longterm suitability to operation in abusive conditions: the construction of the frame, rating of the axles, amount and strength of the skid plating, and so forth. While a Subaru Outback is extremely reliable, it will not endure backcountry abuse in the same way a Land Cruiser 79-Series pickup will.

CAPABILITY Overland travel can involve changing weather (snow and mud), washedout roads, sand dunes, and rocky trails. Having reserve capability allows the driver to explore with confidence and reduce the chance of getting stuck and missing that beautiful sunset. Capability is a reflection of ground clearance, articulation, traction (i.e., lockers, advanced traction control), and higher speed control.

RANGE/ECONOMY As overlanders, we often explore remote locations or drive long distances between refueling. The fuel economy of the drivetrain and the size of the fuel tank both contribute to the available range. Fuel economy can lower operating costs, which can allow for longer trips on a given budget.

RELIABILITY RANKING Reliability is a curious attribute, as it is often both overemphasized (typically by anxious travelers) or underemphasized (by either the most experienced or least experienced). The reality is that reliability is important, as frequent breakdowns are rarely dangerous but highly disruptive. The more time is an important asset, the more reliability should be considered. The more remote the travels, the more reliability should be valued.

TESTING

The following vehicles were evaluated over weeks and even months, many in multiple countries and on extended overland journeys. Admittedly, this evaluation heavily represents Toyota (and Lexus), but that reflects consumer choice, as the majority of overland SUVs in use today are Toyota products. To manage bias, we tested each of the vehicles in their ideal condition, in addition to our standard test track and repeatable evaluations. We also acknowledge that this review is not exactly apples to apples, with a Rubicon Wrangler being markedly different from an AT4 Yukon. That is where consistency in evaluation is critical, along with allowing each model to stand on its own strengths in the individual evaluation. We pushed them all hard and were lucky to have only endured a few scrapes (but no dents) along the way.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

2020 MERCEDES-BENZ G-CLASS PAYLOAD, 1,394 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $133,550

While the G-Class meets all of the test criteria, it is simply too expensive and obscure to justify dropping one of the other models. For 2019, the G-Class changed significantly, including a migration to an independent front suspension (IFS) and slightly larger dimensions. Fortunately, it looks nearly the same, which is an important lesson for other manufacturers. Retained are the triple differential locks, solid rear axle, a full-time transfer case with low range, and generally boxy interior and exterior dimensions. Strength has not been compromised, as they intended to fit the IFS with portal axles, requiring extremely robust Aarms and attachment points. There is still much to like about the Geländewagen, including the heavy-duty chassis (designed for the weight of armoring), upright seating, and off-road prowess. The new 4x4 Squared version of the new model will be exceptional in many ways—and exceptionally expensive.

2020

The North American Nissan Armada is based on the international Y62 Patrol. There are some differences, most notable (unfortunately) being the lack of a rear locking differential option for the Armada. As an overland vehicle, the Armada is impressively comfortable on the highway and most dirt roads, benefiting from a rear airbag suspension and IFS/IRS. In technical terrain, the vehicle is challenged, principally due to size and limited ground clearance, but also by a lack of articulation and minimal traction control effectiveness. The rear airbags are not driver-adjustable, so no additional ground clearance benefit is available. The Armada remains a good value at $52,000, with an excellent reputation for reliability. It was excluded from this test due to the limited terrain performance.

2020 TOYOTA SEQUOIA TRD PRO PAYLOAD, 1,315 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $64,225

The Sequoia has been a longtime family hauler, providing space and reliability for those looking to explore the backcountry with a lot of people or a lot of gear. In its second generation, the largest Toyota SUV provides a powerful 5.7-liter V8 and a towing capacity of 7,100 pounds. Oddly, its payload capacity is lower than the Rubicon Wrangler in this test, and it is supposed to seat seven passengers with gear. I liked several things about the TRD Pro version, including the Fox suspension and aluminum running boards (they are structural, but not rock sliders). This model was excluded from the test due to the limited trail performance, poor payload, and limited aftermarket support. Additional consideration was given to there already being a Land Cruiser and 4Runner in the test.

NISSAN ARMADA SV PAYLOAD, 1,678 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $52,290

JEEP | WRANGLER ECODIESEL

PAYLOAD, 1,233 POUNDS | $52,810

There is no ambiguity—Jeep really is the first overlander. Certainly, there were earlier 4WD vehicles like the 1903 Spyker (appropriately, a race car for the Paris–Madrid), but it was the Jeep that brought 4WD and backcountry travel to the world in numbers, and notable overland adventures were undertaken throughout the second half of the 20th century behind the seven-slotted grill. However, that exploration prominence faded behind the shadow of the Land Rover, and ultimately the Land Cruiser. The 21st-century Jeep clearly intends to challenge that—with a 442-pound-feet bombshell.

In technical terrain, the Wrangler dominates this test, and the Rubicon diesel is now our slow-speed, technical terrain benchmark. The model comes equipped with front and rear Dana 44 axles, both strengthened over previous models and complete with driverselectable locking differentials. The suspension is a long-travel 5-link coil configuration with a driver-selectable front swaybar disconnect, affording class-leading articulation for improved stability and tractive performance. Control is further enhanced by the 4:1 low-range gearing and the 4.71 automatic first gear. This provides a 70:1 low range with 442 pound-feet of torque at 1,400 rpm. While this seems impressive, it gets better. The Rubicon comes with steel bumpers front and rear, rocker panel protection, a 180-amp alternator (think rapid charging of house systems and to support winching), and 33-inch BFGoodrich allterrain tires. This all results in supreme driver confidence on the trail.

We drove this Jeep for several extended trips, and it is without question the finest Wrangler we have tested. The diesel is pure joy on the road and trail while still yielding a consistent 28 mpg on the highway. Jeep has been paying very close attention to the payload problem, and without any fanfare, has significantly increased available payload capacity, even on the Rubicon. And not by just

The overland Jeep we have all dreamt about is finally here.

a little—there is a 20-percent increase for the diesel and a 30-percent increase for the 6-speed manual gas Rubicon. This changes the story on the Wrangler for overland travel, as the diesel now has a 1,233-pound payload (more than a Tacoma TRD). The interior volume is still modest, so packing needs to be mindful of minimalism, the available space mostly compromised by the roll bar. This is the most exceptional and suitable Wrangler ever built for overlanding and surprised me at every juncture of the testing process. For technical terrain performance, nothing else in the test matches this vehicle, but a lot of time is spent on dirt roads and highways while traveling, and that is where the Wrangler is less successful. The ride is busy, and interior noise is elevated compared with other units in the test, so driver fatigue is a factor. However, trading comfort for capability is often a worthwhile compromise.

PROS

Powerful and efficient diesel motor

Class-leading capability 2021 model increases payload by up to 30 percent

CONS

Noise, vibration, and harshness on the road

Interior volume requires thoughtful packing Diesel motor gets a smaller fuel tank

GMC | YUKON AT4 Comfort and storage abound in the newest Yukon.

PAYLOAD, 1,825 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $74,240

In1935, Chevrolet released their first Suburban, a truck-based wagon billed as a carryall, designed to endure both commercial and family-hauling duties. The design has evolved extensively through the years and was sold by GMC until the Yukon nameplate was announced in 1999. There have been 12 generations of these models, and they have varied in capability, with the notable addition of 4WD in 1957.

Admittedly, the Yukon heavily emphasized luxury and comfort in recent configurations, which is why we were encouraged to see the AT4 variant announced, and glad to have the opportunity to test it in the field.

For technical terrain, we loaded up the AT4 and took it through our test track and on the crimson sandstone of Sedona, Arizona. Admittedly, taking a full-size SUV into these conditions was a bit unnerving as ground clearance was stretched thin over ledges and rocky climbs. The multi-height airbag suspension was critical, offering two heights for trail use. The standard off-road height worked best in most conditions, still affording sufficient extension travel and compliance. In the extended mode, it allowed for brief use over larger obstacles, but it lost articulation, compliance, and ride comfort in the process. We also found that the system would lock in this mode during any wheel lift event. The approach angle is a notable 34.5 degrees, but care must be taken with breakover and departure. The optional retractable side steps are surprisingly robust and survived a few rock scrapes and contact with earthen mounds. Proper recovery hooks and a front skid plate are included. With travel, the AT4 really shines, and we drove it for over 100 miles of dirt along the Mogollon Rim Road. The first thing I noted was the massive interior space, which swallowed all of my camping kit behind the second row of seats. Road miles en route to the trail were effortless, and even in the mountains, the motor felt adequate. The vehicle’s comfort cannot be overstated, even

on forest roads, as the cavernous interior, powerful HVAC, and lounge-like seating afforded low driver fatigue. The suspension exceeded expectations on corrugations, rutted tracks, and impregnated rock, maintaining compliance and isolating the occupants from the tires dancing across the terrain. This is due to the combination of air suspension and the MagneRide dampers, which work in concert to improve ride and drive in most conditions. Cargo space is 123 cubic feet, and payload a generous 1,702 pounds.

The AT4 is more capable on the trail than expected, which will allow for conservative backcountry exploration. For future models, we would like to see an 18-inch wheel option, along with additional underbody skid plates (for the fuel tank in particular). The AT4 is a good option for families or travelers looking to truly carry it all.

PROS

Massive cargo area and appropriate payload

Ideal large-family SUV with overland capability

Excellent dirt road suspension tuning

CONS

Needs a rock and/or mud/rut traction control mode

Highest off-road suspension setting has limited use

Lacks sufficient underbody protection

LAND ROVER |

DEFENDER 110 P400 SE The Discovery we always wanted.

PAYLOAD, 1,940 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $69,634

Few brands invoke a spirit of adventure like Land Rover, and few models have explored the globe as thoroughly as the Defender. From military campaigns to continent-crossing expeditions, the classic Defender has won admiration from generations of explorers. With 60 years of (essentially) the same design, Land Rover had the unenviable task of reimagining an icon, which they did with the 2020 Defender. Admittedly, we pushed this test vehicle harder than most (with the possible exception of the 200 Series) over thousands of miles of Namibian and Southwestern USA deserts.

The most important approach with the new Defender is not to think of it as a replacement for the classic 110, but as a new Land Rover platform specifically designed for overland journeys in the 21st century. We have a classic Defender in our Overland Journal fleet, so we are well acquainted with the similarities (few) and strengths within each platform. Most notable is that the classic is 100 percent analog, and the 2020 Defender is 99.99 percent digital. These digital systems are extremely effective, reflecting the amount of time the engineers spent validating their performance in the field. When hitting the trail, low range is selected with a button, followed by a terrain mode selected by a rotary dial or the touch screen. The suspension height is then chosen with another button. Any driver inputs are merely suggestions to a computer, everything from the throttle to the steering wheel controlled by 1s and 0s. I wanted to hate it, but it works, and none of the systems are gimmicky. Rock crawling mode softens the throttle, locks the diffs, and ensures the highest degree of traction control intervention to the front differential. Even the brakes partially engage, softening the transition between boulders. In the sand, the Defender is better than any vehicle in this test, taking advantage of the long-travel independent suspension and 400 horsepower.

For overland travel, the Defender continues to tick the right boxes, offering the highest payload at 1,940 pounds, and the best roof load rating in the test. While I have reservations about the front exterior design, the interior is my favorite of any modern SUV. The materials are durable, and the storage options abound. It is even possible to specify a three-passenger front bench. It can be specified as an eight-passenger, or delete the third row to save expense and weight. With all of the seats folded, sleeping in the rear is easy, and the flat load floor would accommodate full-length drawers. Other notable considerations are the available compressor (auto-stops at a preset pressure), 18-inch steel wheels, raised air intake, and even a factory roof tent. It is also shockingly complex, with dozens of computers and hundreds of sensors that all work in concert to provide capability, comfort, and capacity. On dirt roads, the Defender provides a superior ride quality over any of the vehicles in this test, which is a reflection of the multi-stage airbags and large diameter dampers.

PROS

Exceptional dirt road performance

Class-leading payload and roof load

World-class interior

CONS

Braking is difficult to modulate at low speeds

Front end is incongruent with aftermarket and aesthetic

Reliability remains unproven

LEXUS

| GX 460 LUXURY WITH OFF-ROAD

PAYLOAD, 1,470 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $66,860

TheLexus GX has become one of the overland darlings, providing exceptional reliability, V8 power, and the foundation of the international Prado platform. In the days of crossovers and complexity, the GX 460 is one of the few remaining luxury SUVs with a body-on-frame construction, normally aspirated V8, low-range transfer case with center differential lock, solid rear axle, and coilover front suspension. These attributes not only support backcountry travel as a stock vehicle, but allow for aftermarket modification to foster everything from around-the-world journeys to a full Arctic conversion (complete with 44-inch tires).

On the trail, the GX 460 proves exceptionally capable, but is prone to body damage. There is no protection of any kind, at any corner, which requires driving trails well below its mechanical prowess or running the risk of regular scrapes and dings. The buyer just needs to know that, and begin pulling off the running boards and the giant front bumper (there is a lion underneath the plastic, trust me). The newest GX 460 has an available off-road package, which downsizes to 18-inch wheels and adds crawl control, multi-terrain select, a transmission cooler, and a fuel tank skid plate. This option is worth purchasing, but is only available on the higher trims. The rear suspension has a multi-height airbag configuration which helps the breakover and departure angles and affords a 1,400-pound payload. The suspension exhibits excellent articulation from the KDSS sway bar system with minimal head toss. The multi-mode traction control system is highly effective, limiting wheelspin in the rocks or allowing more wheelspin in sand.

For travel, I found the GX 460 to be familiar and enjoyable to drive. Being a much older design, it drove in a far more analog fashion, but hardly feels crude. The interior is dated and chunky, but I appreciated the buttons and dials, as opposed to touch screens. The interior volume is 65 cubic feet,

PACKAGE

The GX is the confluence of value, luxury, and capability.

which falls toward the lower range of this test, and the plastic panels, third row, and roof height reduce storage optimization and efficiency as well as surface durability. Noise, vibration, and harshness are low, and the overall ride quality is both comfortable and composed. Limit handling falls toward the middle of the pack, with a heavy bias toward understeer. For overlanding, the GX should be viewed as an ideal foundation for travel; mechanical or structural concerns can be addressed with extensive aftermarket support. The GX shares the suspension and chassis of the Prado 150, so suspension options are numerous, as are bumpers, rock sliders, skid plates, and locking differentials.

The GX remains one of the models we most often recommend. It is one of the most reliable SUVs ever produced, along with being one of the best luxury SUV values. I would be remiss if the front bumper wasn’t mentioned, though, as it is visually incongruent with the model’s attributes and makes aftermarket enhancement difficult. The grill aside, the GX has won our affection for decades.

PROS

KDSS affords excellent articulation

Based on the Prado 150 chassis

World-class reliability and durability

CONS

Front bumper is aesthetically and functionally limiting

Limited ground clearance, approach, breakover, and departure angles

Poor fuel economy

TOYOTA |

4RUNNER TRD OFF-ROAD WITH KDSS Honest, reliable, and functional as the day is long.

PAYLOAD, 1,550 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $43,770

The4Runner is a wonder of overland greatness, combining the attributes we want in a wagon with the reliability and value of a Toyota. It is based on the international Prado 150 chassis and has massive aftermarket support. From the Winnebago Trekker in 1981 to the current 5th-generation model, the 4Runner has been popular from the start. Over a million have been sold since its inception, and the 2018 model year was their highest volume period—impressive given the decade-old model. The vehicle emphasizes capability and durability and is still built in Tahara, Japan.

On the trail, it is a pleasure to operate, only lacking factory rock sliders to meet the needs of nearly any backcountry scenario. While not as capable as the Wrangler in extreme terrain, it is closer than a casual review would reveal due to 9.6 inches of ground clearance and the general attention toward tucking up vulnerable components above the frame rails. Approach and departure angles are suitable to trail work, and the 32inch tires on 17-inch wheels provide good traction and flotation. Suspension articulation with the KDSS is impressive, damping head toss and complementing the rear locker and front A-Trac. The TRD model provides the best overall value, but the Pro also provides a robust factory skid plate and Fox suspension (KDSS is not available on the Pro version). The multi-terrain select, crawl control, and rear locker contribute to excellent tractive performance, but a lower first gear in automatic would reduce transmission heat and heavier throttle application on steep, rocky routes. Any concerns with trail performance are easily remedied by the near-endless aftermarket solutions.

For travel, the 4Runner is ready to serve, providing a robust 1,695 pounds of payload on the SR5 and 1,550 pounds on the TRD models. The interior benefits from a tall roof height and up to 89.7 cubic feet of cargo volume. The load floor becomes nearly flat but is not quite long enough for

a taller person to sleep inside. The interior feels simple and purposeful but is showing its age; the dash looks more like a 1980’s boombox than a premium SUV. The seats are also firm and lack support when compared with more modern options; no one ever buys a Toyota for its interior, though. On dirt roads, the suspension is compliant and well-dampened on larger events but feels tied down and steps out easily on corrugations. Body roll is minimal due to the KDSS; however, heavy braking is required at speed to provide appropriate turn-in and limit understeer.

The 4Runner does not feel special because of the packaging, but because of how it endures long-term use. We have driven 5thgen 4Runners with well over 100,000 miles on the clock, and they feel brand new: not a creak, groan, rattle, or vibration. If measured only by overland prowess, there are few that compare. The only areas of caution are roof loads and overheating the transmission with heavy payloads, and low-speed crawling or deep snow/sand work.

PROS

Proper payload rating

Class-leading value (including resale)

Excellent trail performance

CONS

Needs a lower first gear (and more gears in general)

Interior feels very 1984

TOYOTA

| LAND CRUISER HERITAGE EDITION The Greatest of All Time awaits its final sunset.

PAYLOAD, 1,670 POUNDS | PRICE AS SPECIFIED, $89,635

ALandCruiser is unapologetic in its purpose to haul people and equipment reliably on any road on the planet. Certainly, some apostles will (mistakingly) pronounce it as the ruler of the trail, but that was never the point. The Land Cruiser is designed to survive the trail and the thousand trails that follow. There is a reason the 200-Series Land Cruiser is the choice of dignitaries, generals, special forces, and dictators—it is durable and reliable above all else. Those attributes are the same reasons why they have become favored by around-the-world overlanders for the last seven decades.

For trail use, the Land Cruiser is big, heavy, and the body is an expensive thing to dent. However, the chassis is extremely capable with multi-mode traction control, KDSS, and robust underbody protection. Even the A-arms look built for the King of the Hammers. The suspension is a traditional coilover independent front with a fivelink, coil-sprung solid rear axle. There are no airbags, and everything looks suitable for a Hino truck. The components are so robust that we used the 200-Series axles and transfer case in the Hilux for both the Greenland and Antarctic E7 crossings without failure. Traction is rarely an issue in technical terrain, but ground clearance is, particularly on the 24-degree departure angle. The Heritage Edition thankfully does not include side steps, and the 18-inch BBS wheels are wrapped in nearly 32-inch tires. The approach angle is 32 degrees, and articulation is excellent due to the KDSS. While the vehicle is not as capable as others in the test, primarily because of body size and shape, the aftermarket has solutions in spades.

Overland travel with the 200 feels right at home, the comfortable and spacious interior reducing driver fatigue, and the generous volume swallowing any reasonable loadout. Even the roof load rating is suitable for a rack and roof tent. The conservatively rated payload of nearly 1,700 pounds is appropriate for multiple passengers, bumpers,

and equipment. On dirt roads, the Land Cruiser is stable and composed and thankfully tuned more neutral than other Toyota models. The 5.7 V8 has impressive low-end torque and smooth power application. The 8-speed transmission ensures the right ratio and benefits from a 4.79 first gear and dual overdrives. In prolonged use, it is impressive how resilient the vehicle is, even when heavily loaded. After two continental crossings of Australia in 200s, I was convinced. While the 200 overdelivers on reliability and durability, it isn’t perfect. The fuel economy would make a ’70s muscle car blush, and the overall chassis and design are close to 15 years old.

The 200-Series Land Cruiser was described by the company’s chief engineer as the strongest generation ever made, and I have never experienced even the smallest infraction from the vehicle. I remember asking a wealthy Russian why he drove a Land Cruiser (as he was driving me around Novosibirsk): “Because it always gets me home.” Indeed.

PROS

World-class reliability and durability

Globally available platform (think front windshield)

Extensive aftermarket support

CONS

Large size limits technical terrain use

Lowest fuel economy in the test

CONCLUSIONS

Injust a few years, we have gone from a dearth of choices (i.e., only really Toyota) to one of the most impressive lineups of overland SUVs in recent history. Due to industry popularity, our vehicle dreams have finally come true. Each of these options is exceptional and could arguably be an excellent choice for remote overlanding with lockers being commonplace, diesels available, and appropriate payload ratings.

The Yukon AT4 is one of the newest models to the consideration set and met all of our needs except for use in the most extreme conditions; admittedly, it is not intended for that. If a traveler is looking to haul up to seven people and gear, then the AT4 is the most suitable choice in the test. Even with the third row up, there is still room behind the last seats. If even more room is needed, it is possible to get the AT4 in the XL version, which can haul a small village. The Yukon’s comfort and refinement are impressive, but its size and lack of underbody clearance/protection restrict it to maintained routes.

VALUE AWARD

The finalists for the Value Award include the 4Runner, GX 460, and Wrangler. I enjoyed the Wrangler more than expected, as the JL platform resolves so many issues from Wranglers of old, including revised payload capacity and an available diesel motor. The engine made it a delight to drive and was one of my favorites in the test; it also yielded the best fuel economy. In any reasonable trail condition, the Wrangler is essentially unstoppable. However, the Jeep is limited as a travel vehicle, with compact storage space and the lowest payload in the group (we are grateful for the increase). Ultra-low sulfur diesel is still difficult to source internationally, and Jeep’s service infrastructure is limited outside of the developed world. Regardless, this is the best commercially available Jeep I have ever driven for overland travel.

As a luxury SUV, the GX is an impressive value, bringing the trusted underpin-

nings of the Prado to the informed buyer. In addition, there is the benefit of a V8 and seven-passenger capacity. It is only that the 4Runner offers most of those advantages, the available rear locker, and a $20,000 lower purchase price that moves the GX out of the value lead.

The 4Runner is not as capable as the Wrangler or as luxurious as the GX, but it is a pure and fully validated overlander. The reliability is class-leading, and the platform is proven internationally. With the TRD package and KDSS, it is exceedingly capable and affords a 1,500-pound-plus payload. It is no surprise that the 4Runner is one of the most popular vehicles for overlanders and one of the most-popular body-on-frame SUVs—period. With expansive aftermarket support, it would be easy to prepare the 4Runner for nearly any travel condition. The resale value is what ultimately bumped it over the Wrangler for the Value Award, providing the lowest initial cost and the lowest overall cost of ownership in the test.

EDITOR’S CHOICE AWARD

The Editor’s Choice Award goes to the product that the lead evaluator would pick for their own long-distance, remote travels. It is not a high-score award, which often favors outliers that lack excellence on a whole. On specifications and aggregate performance alone, the Defender is the superior vehicle in this test. It is better at everything performance-related except the most extreme technical terrain (reserved for the Wrangler). In addition to performance, it provides a laundry list of overland-worthy features, from a factory snorkel to an integrated air compressor to an Autohome roof tent. The list of best-in-test attributes is dizzying, including payload, roof load, road and dirt ride quality, limit handling performance, traction control tuning, ground clearance, acceleration (5.8 seconds, 0-60 mph), and even departure angle. The Defender is also a rolling computer, with its plethora of systems and sensors working to make everything easier—more comfortable

and complex. Even the park sensors tick to vibrate dust off the proximity detectors.

The Toyota Land Cruiser is easy to dismiss because of its age and lack of electronic wizardry, but that is what makes the 200 exceptional. In my conversations with the lead engineer, he explained why the 200 is the strongest TLC ever made. The durability testing alone would likely leave most competitors in the scrap heap. I consider it to be the most reliable offering and the most elegant solution to the challenge, which is to explore the remote corners of the globe. Even in stock form, the vehicle is up to the task, but it is also ready for customization to match any mission: massive axles, ladder frame, monstrous transfer case, and halfmillion-mile service life.

While the Defender is exceptional in attributes and worthy of broad praise, we are an adventure publication that travels into the deep back of beyond. That is my reservation with the 110. It is too new, too unproven, and too complicated to award our highest honor (and associated recommendation

EACH OF THESE OPTIONS IS EXCEPTIONAL AND COULD ARGUABLY BE AN EXCELLENT CHOICE FOR REMOTE OVERLANDING WITH LOCKERS BEING COMMONPLACE, DIESELS AVAILABLE, AND APPROPRIATE PAYLOAD RATINGS.

to our readers). We need to see a few years of reliability and durability to vaunt it to the top. If it does that, then we will print it on the first page, in bold, and eat our reservations with a healthy dose of groveling. Until then, give me a 200-Series Land Cruiser, a set of Slee sliders, and an Old Man Emu lift with 35- x 10.5-inch tires. I will check back in on the Defender after another lap around the globe.

OVERLAND VEHICLE COMPARISON

* Total cargo volume behind the front row of seats

* Fuel economy, as observed during testing

* Reliability modifier utilizes a scale from the most reliable to least reliable automotive marks, scoring the brands tested along that range as reported in the 2019 J.D. Power US Vehicle Dependabiliy Study.

Only the Lonely

A remote Kenya–Ethiopia border crossing near Lake Turkana’s shores becomes too much of a good thing.

By Dan Grec

Locals build simple shelters from whatever is at hand in the barren desert. Opening spread: A high vantage point gives scale to the enormity of Lake Turkana. To call the region desolate would be an understatement.

Ihavealways enjoyed solitude, and have manipulated my life in various ways to get more of it. I’m not sure what that says about me socially, though more often than not, I am perfectly content with my own company and a good book. I can go for days at a time with no interest in seeking out other people. Across Africa, I continually explored the most remote places I could reach, which generally came hand-inhand with my preference for isolation.

People often say, “You are never alone in Africa,” because no matter how remote you think you are, a person will inevitably materialize from the forest to offer a friendly hello. This frequently happens at the most inopportune moments, just as dinner is about to be served or during a bathroom moment. East Africa is, for the most part, densely populated, and lately, I have been longing for some genuine peace and quiet of the kind not seen since the extreme remoteness of the Namib and Kalahari deserts. I should be careful what I wish for.

TRIBAL STRIFE IN ETHIOPIA

For thousands of years, Ethiopia has been the source of tribal conflicts, which have escalated recently. While the country’s interior is considered safe, armed clashes regularly flare up along the international borders, and some have even closed for days at a time as a result.

The major crossing from Kenya to Ethiopia at Moyale has devolved into a war zone in recent weeks with gunfights, burning buildings, and dead bodies left in roadside ditches. I spoke to one overlanding couple who were caught in this crossfire: while attempting to leave Ethiopia, officials said it was fine to proceed, but a few miles later, they drove into an active gunfight. Rushing forward, they found themselves trapped since the Kenyan officials had abandoned their posts but left the gates locked. Make no mistake, tribal conflicts in Ethiopia are serious business.

I aim to avoid this type of violent situation at all costs. In my research into alternate crossing points, I learn of an extremely remote route along the shores of Lake Turkana, the world’s largest permanent desert lake and largest alkaline lake. Stretching for more than 180 miles north to south, Turkana straddles the border of Kenya and Ethiopia and is the biggest feature in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya. I’m a little dismayed to read that it’s also home to the densest population of crocodiles anywhere on the planet, and will be sure to keep that in mind.

There are dirt tracks following both the east and west shoreline of the lake, and both are probably passable in my Jeep, so long as it doesn’t rain. The western route is said to be the more barren, while the eastern is reportedly more beautiful and utterly unpopulated after Loiyangalani, the only town to speak of. The eastern route appeals to me, and further research indicates the border is so remote there is no legal border to cross. Since no immigration or customs officials will physically be onsite, I get myself and the Jeep stamped out of Kenya while still in Nairobi.

In a first for me, I’m legally stamped out a full week before I will leave the country.

TOWARDS TURKANA

Northern Kenya does not have the best reputation for safety, with one viral video showing foreigners being chased by knife-wielding bandits as they frantically reverse their Land Cruiser. I also spoke to a bicycle traveler who was recently held up at gunpoint on the highway. Though he had all his worldly possessions with him, his assailant was more than satisfied with just $10 USD peeled off a stack of bills. The entire situation was so casual, he said, that he asked the armed bandit for a photo. Unfortunately, the request was denied. After consulting multiple persons who have spent significant time on the lake’s shores, I feel satisfied these are only isolated incidents, and the chances of me having problems of this kind are very slim.

I spoke to a bicycle traveler who was recently held up at gunpoint on the highway. The entire situation was so casual, he said, that he asked the armed bandit for a photo.

I leave the city on a good paved highway before filling up on every last drop of gas and water at the small town of Laisamis, my last dose of civilization for hopefully a week or more. In recent years, a massive wind turbine project was built on the shores of Lake Turkana, and a new gravel road makes travel to the lake much easier. Never one to choose the easy way, I stay off this developed route and venture directly west on narrow dirt and gravel roads, passing through tiny villages en route.

Throughout the day, I pick up a couple of hitchhikers, who are all thankful for the ride and happy to pose for a photo. Most only speak a couple of words of English, and though I promised myself I would learn Swahili, I have done nothing towards that goal, which makes communication very difficult. In the early afternoon, I pull off the dirt road a hundred yards and make

Clockwise from top right: Navigation became reduced to following my gut instincts. The wearing of traditional clothing is an immensely proud tradition, denoting different tribal heritages. Recent rains created sticky mud pits in the otherwise thirsty desert. This hitchhiker and I communicated with hand gestures and smiles, and she was overjoyed to pose for a photo. Opposite: Lake Turkana is the only source of life for hundreds of miles in every direction.

camp in the shade of a range of unexpected mountains. After only 10 minutes, a local wanders right up to say hello. He explains he has been walking all day to visit relatives, and he would love some drinking water, please. We squat in the dirt to chat for 20 minutes, before he departs just as quickly as he arrived. As the stars blink into view, I realize how invigorating it feels to be in the wild after a couple of weeks in the bustling city.

In the morning, the dusty road winds on, and eventually I find my way to the new wind turbine project built in the high hills above the lake. I’m told this station was built in less than a year, which is a considerable achievement given how massive it is. I spot hundreds of individual turbines slowly rotating in the wind. When I crest a rise and the lake appears, it is an impressive sight—absolutely massive and dotted with little rocky islands.

As I drop down to lake level and turn north on the rocky track, I’m staggered to see people living in this harsh environment. They dwell in round huts, and fishing appears to be the primary food source. Remembering the crocodile population, I’m bewildered to watch as fishermen wade up to their chests, retrieving nets time and again. I can’t help but wonder how many are killed each year.

The town of Loiyangalani, home to around 5,000 permanent residents, is a literal oasis in the desert. It’s built around a warm spring seeping from the rock, and palm trees are in abundance, in stark contrast to the intensely hot and rocky landscape I have traversed today. A local explains how the three dominant tribes living here had been in constant rivalry for decades, but since clean drinking water is now in abundance thanks to

an NGO tapping the source of the spring, there is no longer a reason to fight. Gas is probably available here in drums, though after moving the 13 gallons from my auxiliary tank into the main, I’m confident my reserves and planning will be sufficient to reach the first town in Ethiopia.

I leave Loiyangalani early in the morning, again heading directly north paralleling the lakeshore, and immediately notice the difference in the road. It’s much smaller, and I get the feeling few vehicles venture in this direction. As the hours roll by, the road surface changes from rock to sand with the occasional mud section. The landscape is desolate, and I’m not at all surprised when I see untended camels searching for what little food they can scratch up. How they find anything at all is a mystery to me.

Remembering the crocodile population, I’m bewildered to watch as fishermen wade up to their chests, retrieving nets time and again.

In the scorching heat, I stop for lunch under the shade of a rare and thorny acacia tree before pushing on to Sibiloi National Park, famously known as the Cradle of Mankind. It was here on Lake Turkana’s shores where the most complete early human remains ever discovered were unearthed, commonly known as Turkana Boy.

The rangers at the entrance are startled by my arrival, and they explain it’s rare to see even one vehicle per day. Frequently they wait a week without a single vehicle passing. Absolutely nobody lives to the north in the park, and it’s unlikely I will encounter a single soul before reaching Ethiopia, still a multiple days’ drive away.

A CHINK IN THE ARMOR

For well over two years and 47,000 miles, I have relied heavily on my Jeep to explore the African continent’s most remote regions. Not only is it my transport, but also my house, providing sleeping shelter, drinking water, and food. Time and again, it has proven capable and reliable, never leaking even a single drop of oil or giving the slightest indication of a problem. Unfortunately, that has recently changed.

A month ago, in Uganda, my dreams of a grand African expedition were almost shattered when I flopped the Jeep onto its side on a remote gravel road overlooking the stunning Lake Albert. Operator error was entirely to blame, and I thankfully got the Jeep upright with my winch and the generous help of friendly bystanders. Miraculously, the vehicle came through with almost no damage more severe than dents and scratches—almost being the key word.

During the crash, the front driver’s side tire violently hit a rock wall at speed, which kicked the Jeep over onto its side. After a careful inspection, oil could be seen leaking from the front axle tube on that side, and I noticed that the inside of the tire now rubbed on the sway bar end link, something that should be

impossible if everything were straight and true. After a lot of internal debate about the possible causes, I was left with only one likely conclusion: I bent the front Dana 44 axle tube, notoriously the Achilles’ heel of the JK Wrangler Rubicon, and there was literally nothing I could do about it in remote Africa. Wrangler parts, especially replacement Rubicon front axles, are in short supply here. I resolved to keep an eye on it and hope for the best.

Now, entirely isolated from people and assistance, my mind runs wild, thinking about the possibility of a major failure. I wonder if it would be possible to walk out without the Jeep and if there would be any chance of recovering it after the fact. With blistering daytime temperatures well over 110°F, I begin to stress about the cooling fan that seems to be running almost nonstop. Minor noises and groans trouble me, and I become paranoid about dry grass collecting in the undercarriage and igniting on the scorching hot exhaust. More than once, when I clear the grass from the skid plates, I catch a faint whiff of the telltale odour of grass fire.

I can’t help but think about how the passenger mirror is held on with duct tape and poor welding, and

My precious gas reserves are becoming a significant concern. I have already drained the auxiliary tank into the main, and the sandy conditions are causing much higher than normal consumption.

how the fender flares are also only held on with duct tape. Furthermore, my precious gas reserves are becoming a significant concern. I have already drained the auxiliary tank into the main, and the sandy conditions are causing much higher than normal consumption. I am usually not one to stress over things beyond my control, though out here all alone, the list is suddenly endless, and my mind will not leave it be. Adding to my woes, I am uncertain of exactly which faint track through the scrub I should follow. At first, I decide to head directly west until I reach the lake before following the shoreline north. After only 30 minutes, I decide that the route is so overgrown it can’t possibly be the mostused route. I backtrack and turn directly north; after another hour, I am again questioning my choice. All the rivers are dry, but the crossings are at least 100 yards wide and cut deep into the rocky landscape. At one such crossing, I completely lose the track, and after searching for 40 minutes on foot, I lose the light to another approaching thunderstorm. Using my brain for possibly the first time all afternoon, I drive back out of the deep riverbed to avoid a potential flash flood before making camp high on the bluff. While cooking dinner, I’m treated to a stunning display of boiling black clouds, crashing thunder, and sheet lightning. After climbing up into bed, I begin to feel more isolated than I ever have in my life. I genuinely start to worry, and my mind does not stop racing through thousands of adverse possibilities. Sleep comes in fits and spurts, with dreams about things going wrong.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ANCIENTS

I’m up and moving long before sunrise in an attempt to beat the scorching heat that is undoubtedly coming. Without a hint of breeze, the temperature has not dropped below 75°F all night and climbs relentlessly from the moment the sun crests the horizon. The prospect of trying to locate a nonexistent track is not appealing, and after debating my options all night, I backtrack yet again. I will follow the faint trail leading west, and should at least be able to mirror the lakeshore from there. With all of this backtracking, I’m using up gas reserves I don’t have, and know this is the last such decision I will be able to make. From here on, I must go forward.

I stop to explore the remains of a sizable petrified forest on foot, and am amazed to learn these perfectly preserved trees are remnants of the middle Pleistocene Epoch. The significance of my location fully hits me as I try to understand how these trees have been here

thousands of years. Opposite: On multiple occasions, I lost the faint track, backtracking repeatedly.

Enormous petrified trees hint at how lush this region was in past eras. The Mursi people of Ethiopia have maintained their traditional way of life for many

for so long. The more I think about it, the stronger my connection to the ground I am traveling across becomes. In a very real sense, this is where I come from. Although I am physically alone, the knowledge that people and other living things have been here for eons is somehow comforting, and I don’t feel alone in a spiritual sense.

I ponder these new feelings as I climb back into the Jeep, finding clarity of thought that has escaped me for the last 48 hours. In all my remote travels, I have been very aware a satellite phone is of no use to me. There is nobody to call who can help, and so it has always been the people around me that I must rely on. When I ran out of gas in Argentina, and again in Zambia, when I flopped the Jeep in Uganda, in fact, whenever I needed help, it was the people immediately nearby that came to my rescue. Now I know why I’m feeling so apprehensive about my current situation: there are literally no people for hundreds of miles. Should I require assistance, there is simply nobody.

INTO ETHIOPIA

The faint track winds on and on, with sand and minor salt pans becoming more common as I approach the lakeshore. Hours later, I arrive on the windswept and barren lake before turning north into the nothing. The track degrades yet again into a continuous series of dry sand riverbeds and washouts, forcing me to carefully pick entry and exit points to ensure I won’t be stuck in the deep sand that has become awfully soft in the intense heat.

After camping another night in isolation I slowly begin to climb up and away from the lake, before straddling a rocky ridge with commanding views to the distant horizon. In stark contrast to the barren and rocky landscape surrounding me, the northern extreme of the lake appears shallow and almost swampy with tall reeds growing in abundance. The rocky track means I continue forward at my usual slow and steady pace while trying to take in the enormous views and otherworldly landscape.

In the morning, when I see a small group of children playing, I’m a little shocked, and also more than a little relieved. As I pass through the first of many mud-hut villages dotted along the lakeshore, there are more and more people, waving as always. These are the first people I have seen in 200 miles and more than 72 hours, and I believe everything will be okay.

I watch carefully as I cross the dotted line on my GPS, now officially in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. There are no buildings, signs, or even a flag to mark the seemingly imaginary line’s significance. On the plus side, there is no chance of being

asked for a bribe here. I have not seen a vehicle in days and must continue 60 miles more before I hope to find immigration and customs.

I’m fairly sure I have to swap sides of the road yet again and concentrate hard as the first vehicle in three days approaches. I notice the steering wheel is on the left, and there are unfamiliar characters on the license plate, confirming both that I’m in Ethiopia and should be driving on the right as I had thought.

Hours later, I arrive on the windswept and barren lake before turning north into the nothing.

Ten minutes later, I see beautifully dressed men crouching on the side of the track, and I stop simply for the pleasure of talking to other humans. They look friendly enough, though I can’t help notice each cradles a battered AK-47. While the infamous rifle has been a common sight throughout the continent, I have never seen regular armed civilians. In every country to date, only uniformed police and military personnel have carried firearms, but I am soon to learn Ethiopia is very different in that regard.

Even without sharing a language, we all smile and shake hands, feeling perfectly at ease. The men soon notice my interest in their rifles, which they affectionately call “Kalish.” Though I have politely asked in the past, not a single officer has been willing to let me hold their rifle, understandably so. Without superiors and rules, it’s clear these men have no such hang-ups. The diminutive rifle is thrust into my hands by an elderly man who repeatedly moves the selector between Safe, Semi-auto, and Full-auto while pantomiming the result of each.

Estimated to be responsible for over 8 million deaths worldwide, the legend of the AK-47 needs no explanation. With tens of millions of examples of the rifle used in conflicts across the continent, they are a feature of everyday life in many countries. So commonplace is the AK, it is even featured on the official flag of Mozambique. Now holding one, I am surprised by how compact and insignificant it feels in my hands. Both the stock and barrel are too short for my liking and don’t seem fitting for the infamous reputation the rifle carries. I continue to smile and nod at my new friends while being acutely aware of the horrifying power in my hands. Even while looking down the sights and sizing up the rifle, I very carefully keep the barrel pointed down and my finger well away from the trigger guard.

I have always wondered if battered old rifles like this are even loaded, and so using hand gestures, I ask the man to remove the magazine for a closer look. After proudly showing the loaded magazine, he proceeds to remove the round from the chamber, and his ear-

to-ear grin tells me he is very proud to have handed me the fully loaded automatic weapon without a care in the world. The men are grateful when I give them water to drink, and after a warm farewell, I continue on muddy tracks, now acutely aware I have left East Africa and ventured into North Africa.

After only five minutes on a paved road, I encounter a severely damaged Toyota Hilux completely blocking the path. It has collided with a cow, spreading the carcass across a large area that is now teeming with vultures eager for a meal. The enormous birds hardly move as I creep past, their hunger clearly overpowering any fear they may have for my vehicle.

I knew I would be cutting it close with regard to my maximum range, and after just over 400 miles on horrendous sand, mud, and rocky tracks, I roll into a small town and am relieved to see men siphoning gasoline from grubby containers. With less than 25 miles of range remaining, that puts a smile on my face.

THE SEARCH FOR SOLITUDE

Being alone is a truly powerful thing. With nobody to keep us grounded, our thoughts and imaginations can run askew if left unchecked. I often say the idea of doing something difficult is often worse than actually doing it, though for once, maybe I had it backwards.

Cut off from all other people and feeling extremely isolated, my mind played tricks on me about the reliability of the Jeep and what my chances of survival would be if I became stranded. I was genuinely concerned and began to stress about things outside my control. Everything turned out for the best, but I won’t soon forget that sleepless night a hundred miles from the nearest human.

This experience taught me a new perspective on solitude, and that I’m not as cool under pressure as I thought. While solitude is still something I thoroughly enjoy, I suspect I will be a little more wary about venturing so far from other human beings in the future.

Opposite: Market day in Ethiopia brings the community together to trade the essentials of life. Regular civilian men on the roadside carry loaded AK-47s to protect their cattle. As old as they may be, these rifles are clearly loaded for action.

Thinking Outside the Oven

Cookingmeals during off-grid adventures can be rewarding, but often requires innovation, preparation, and a willingness to work with what you’ve got. I have fond memories of baking cinnamon rolls with a fry-bake and a white-gas stove in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, roasting an entire sheep in a dung-oven in Peru’s Cordillera Negra, and even cooking a pot roast underground in a sandy river bed in Utah’s canyon country.

This product comparison is different from previous Best of Breed articles in that the products reviewed are a collection of innovative but different cooking solutions. The idea wasn’t necessarily to pit these pieces of gear against each other, but instead to demonstrate their unique purposes, strengths, and ultimately, evaluate their performance and suitability for real-world use in the field.

By Matt Swartz

These cooking solutions should suit a variety of potential users: overlanders, vanlifers, and modern nomads. I have drawn on my experiences as a long-distance backpacker and full-time RV traveler in my opinions and insights. All of the items in this article are more or less portable, and all of them are generally going to be appropriate for a life full of time spent outdoors or on the road.

The selected gear is made by well-established outdoor industry brands and a few newcomers, and are mostly specialized in their design. There are some great multi-purpose cooking solutions, but also equipment purpose-built for specific tasks, since having a few specialized tools can make cooking much easier.

Quick and easy is a winning combination when preparing food on the trail, especially when the outcome is so delicious. Case in point: grilled salmon entrée with garden vegetables.

Each piece of equipment was brought to the patio as well as deep into the backcountry to see if it performed as advertised. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the test results, and hope these findings will help with your future cooking endeavors.

Camp kitchen cooking solutions for the overlander.

GOSUN FUSION

| HYBRID SOLAR/ELECTRIC STOVE

Cook with the sun or a 12-volt power source.

PatrickSherwin started GoSun in his garage in Cincinnati, Ohio. While tinkering with the evacuated glass vacuum tubes he found in a decommissioned solar hot water heater, Patrick realized their potential to harness and capture the heat generated by the sun. A CES Innovation Award and multiple products later, GoSun has established itself as a solid contender in the world of high-quality, portable solar cooking solutions. In addition to spreading the joy of solar cooking, they have made cooking a reality for many communities who do not have access to reliable electricity or conventional fuel sources.

Ever since the GoSun Fusion was announced, I’ve eagerly awaited its arrival. Solar ovens have seemed like more of a gimmick to me than a realistic alternative to cooking with propane or charcoal—until now. The Fusion is a hybrid solar/electric oven, meaning you can utilize the sun’s rays to cook during the day and cook with the built-in, 12volt heating element at night.

But before you proclaim this as the answer to off-grid cooking (as I did), it’s important to understand the limitations. The first and biggest concern is that the Fusion’s main cooking chamber is a large glass tube. There is no way around the fact that it is delicate. Those who might want to take the Fusion on the road in a campervan or overland-

ing rig will want to make sure there is a secure place to store it where it won’t bounce around.

The price may be a deterrent for some, and it’s also important to understand that cooking times can vary quite a bit. You cannot preheat the Fusion prior to putting your food in, or you risk temperature shocking the glass cooking tube. Depending on what you are preparing, cooking times may be longer than with a conventional stove or oven, and this could take some getting used to.

I prepared multiple meals with the Fusion, using both the sun and 12-volt power options. The cooking volume area is ample, and in full sunlight, I cooked portobello mushrooms, sausages, and asparagus for three people in roughly an hour. In the evening, I prepared over 2 pounds of vegetables, including carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli, utilizing the electric heating element. Future solar chefs take note: controlling the temperature of the Fusion takes patience. And when cooking with the built-in 12-volt electric heating element, I hit a maximum temperature of 215°F (this may present challenges depending on what you intend to prepare). This innovative oven is a manageable 14 pounds, and the power output is 200-225 watts in full sun.

$499 | GOSUN.CO

The Fusion’s glass vacuum chamber cooks food while staying cool to the touch. Folding reflective wings reflect sunlight and pack down small for travel. The canister’s generous volume allows for feeding a few people.

MSR WINDBURNER DUO | ISOBUTANE

This windproof stove is purpose-built to boil water fast.

FAST-BOIL STOVE

Seattle-based

mountaineer and engineer Larry Penberthy founded Mountain Safety Research (MSR) in 1969 with the goal of designing safer climbing equipment. Larry believed that a higher margin of safety would allow athletes to push the boundaries of what is achievable in the mountains.

MSR’s designs are guided by functionality, simplicity, and reliability, and their gear is handbuilt and engineered in Seattle, Washington. They are a founding member of the Outdoor Industry Association Sustainability Working Group, 300+ outdoor brands dedicated to addressing and finding solutions to sustainability challenges.

Perhaps best known for their camping stoves, MSR’s WindBurner Duo has a big reputation to live up to. At its core, the Duo is an isobutane-propane remote canister stove with an integrated set of pots and skillets—and it is windproof. It was primarily designed for boiling water fast, a task it performs with ease. In my initial testing, the unit boiled a liter of water (that’s coffee for four) in three minutes and 45 seconds (starting water temp 78°F, rolling boil at 203°F at 5,280 feet above sea level).

I appreciated the clear plastic cover that doubles as a cup, with engraved volumes to make measuring liquids easy; it snaps onto the bottom of the pot to protect the heat exchanger. I also liked the legs that are spring-loaded and retract

into themselves to make the stove more compact for stowing it inside the pot. Finally, the attached pot insulator made it possible to hold the 1.8-liter vessel immediately after boiling water.

We only utilized the 1.8-liter pot for boiling, but those looking for a more complete system should note that MSR offers a wide selection of compatible cook pots. A 1-liter personal pot, 2.5-liter ceramic-coated pot, 4.5-liter stockpot, and 8-inch ceramic-coated skillet are available. They even make a coffee press accessory that turns the 1.8-liter pot into a French press.

At 1 pound, 5 ounces, and 7,000 BTUs, the Duo is a capable and lightweight stove, great for fast-boil meals. My biggest critique is its value for overlanding. If you have access to 120-volt electricity, why not purchase a corded electric kettle for $20? This stove is designed for people who like to get way off the grid and want a purpose-built stove to heat water quickly, but who don’t necessarily have consistent access to electrical appliances.

It’s pricey for a simple stove, and the fuel canisters are not refillable, but if you need something that can make you coffee in the morning and just as easily slip into a backpack for a multi-day hike, then the compact Duo will serve you well.

$180 | MSRGEAR.COM

The WindBurner Duo is a compact, specialized stove system that excels at boiling liquids. Retractable legs deploy easily, providing a solid platform on most surfaces. The cooking pot's heat exchanger captures and focuses energy from the burner efficiently.

OMNIA | STOVE TOP OVEN

This lightweight, compact oven is a versatile addition to your kitchen kit.

The Omnia oven design is rumored to have been around since the 1940s in Sweden and other countries. The Optimus Mini, the precursor to the Omnia, was sold by Alde across Europe. In the early 2000s, Göran Lundén took over production and renamed the stovetop oven Omnia. The modern model is bigger than the Optimus was and has a red lid instead of a blue one. With a re-energized marketing effort, the oven became popular with RVers across Europe. Parent company Koala Marketing brought Omnia to the United States, where it has also been gaining momentum.

The Omnia is a curious little piece of off-grid baking gold. It looks like a retro bundt-cake pan, circular with a hole in the middle. It is surprisingly lightweight (1.1 pounds) thanks to its aluminum construction, but it sits securely in a stainless steel base that helps evenly distribute heat when placed on a stove. The Omnia lets you make baked goods on most camp stoves, and the design creates even heat from below and above, just like a conventional oven. I’d have no reservations throwing the Omnia into my vehicle on any trip as it’s much smaller than any other camp oven that I’ve seen or used. This is especially beneficial to folks who travel or live in smaller vehicles like campervans or class B and smaller RVs.

There is a bit of a learning curve for baking with the Omnia, mostly because controlling temperature is a trial and error process. The instruction manual recommends using the oven in conjunction with the low setting of your stove. I would love to see future versions have a built-in thermometer or a thermometer port to help aspiring bakers dial in the perfect cooking temperature.

I had mixed success in terms of the final presentation of my baked goods. One batch of muffins came out perfectly while a pumpkin bread had major issues sticking in the silicone baking ring (although this may have been due to user error). The good news is that everything I baked was fully cooked and tasted delicious, even if it didn’t look perfect. I recommend allowing anything that you cook to cool completely before removing it from the oven.

The bottom line is that the Omnia was the cleverest piece of gear in our test. And there is no doubt that making your fellow travelers a batch of backcountry brownies or breakfast pastries will earn you major points on the trail.

$67 | OMNIASWEDEN.COM

The Omnia is surprisingly lightweight and compact. The luxury of baked goods, anywhere, is more achievable than you might think. Fresh bread and pastries bring the comforts of home on the road.

PRIMUS TUPIKE | TRADITIONAL TWO-BURNER CAMP STOVE

A design-forward camp stove that is environmentally friendly.

or

Swedishstove maker, Primus, is one of the oldest outdoor gear manufacturers still in operation today. They’ve been innovating since 1892, and their products have accompanied many adventurers to some of the most extreme places on earth, including Roald Amundsen’s expedition to the South Pole in 1911, and Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s Mount Everest expedition in 1953.

Primus’s success is due in part to its unique approach to manufacturing outdoor gear. Every stove they produce is hand-tested before leaving its production facility in Estonia. And to compensate for the emissions and metal used in their branded fuel canisters, they invest in focused carbon-offsetting efforts. Primus’ approach to manufacturing is to “make more efficient use of resources in everything we do, to find more environmentally friendly alternatives, and to make our company as close to 100 percent climateneutral as possible.” And they really take this ethos to heart. They designed the award-winning Eta stove system, which has up to an 80 percent efficiency rating.

As far as two-burner camp stoves go, the Tupike may be the most refined example of simplicity and smart design that I have evaluated. Every part of its 9.5 pounds feels solid, and anything I have disliked about other stoves of similar design has been improved upon. It’s easy to clean, has a piezo ignition, and the handle secures the lid during carry.

One of the most ingenious yet straightforward features of the Tupike is the addition of fold-out wire legs. This allows you to utilize the entire area under the cooking surface for storing cooking utensils, seasonings, a cutting board, or even your favorite 12-ounce canned beverage. The Tupike replaces the rigid fuel connection (common on many two-burner camp stoves) with a flexible, braided hose. A wide selection of adaptors is available, allowing you to utilize many different fuel canister styles.

Burner output is a modest 10,200 BTUs; although it’s not the highest output available, it was powerful enough to cook everything in my tests. The Tupike also has an easy to remove drip tray that catches errant food pieces and prevents liquids from getting inside the body of the stove.

One feature that I found myself reaching for time and again (and even utilizing at home in the kitchen) was the included non-stick griddle. I’m convinced it’s the best possible apparatus for heating corn tortillas.

Because there is always room for improvement, the fold-out windshields that protect the burners from being blown out in high winds don’t feel especially secure. I would love to see the addition of a simple locking mechanism on future versions.

$250 | PRIMUS.US

The Tupike has a smart design—compact and good looking. Two burners and a piezo ignition meet most traveler’s needs. The stove’s fold-out wire legs allow ample space for cooking accoutrements

a favorite beverage while you work.

SNOW PEAK | DOUBLE BBQ BOX,

TABLE-TOP CHARCOAL GRILL

This simple, compact charcoal grill is big on function.

Snow Peak is exceptional when it comes to combining form and function in their products. Their approach is to “create legacy-grade gear and apparel, prioritizing minimalist and elegant design details so as not to distract from the natural beauty of the outdoors.” Their products are solidly built with stainless steel, cast iron, and titanium materials, made with a historic craftsmanship process passed down over generations in Niigata, Japan. Snow Peak also offers a Guarantee for Life, which states that “If we find that the product didn’t live up to our standards, we’ll repair it or exchange it free of charge.”

The Double BBQ Box is a unique charcoal cooker with similar dimensions to a two-burner camp stove. It has removable wire legs and is right at home on a folding table or a truck tailgate. It has a separate charcoal tray that is removable and sits within the main body of the grill. The whole unit is well insulated and shouldn’t pose any hazards to the surface it is resting upon while cooking. The unit is designed to function as a stand-alone or as part of the Iron Grill System, a modular kitchen arrangement that is infinitely customizable, allowing you to create the ultimate backcountry cooking setup.

The grilling surface on the BBQ Box was my favorite of the charcoal grills

tested for this article. It has two modular, wire, square-grid inserts that are easily removable (and can be replaced with alternative cooking surfaces from Snow Peak, like their solid grill plate). The tight wire grid prevents you from losing any food into the charcoal (one of my biggest pet-peeves of grill cooking). The two small cooking surfaces are easy to clean in a limited-size sink, perfect for your van, RV, or any outdoor kitchen.

The hand crank allows you to raise or lower the cooking surface without the need for gloves or special tools. However, make sure to remove the handle after adjusting the cooking surface’s height, or it will get very hot to the touch. Snow Peak says that you can use the lid to help cook dense meats, but I found that there was not enough clearance to actually use it while the food was on the grill. A larger-volume lid can be purchased separately.

The BBQ Box’s weight comes in at 21 pounds and can be messy to cook with. The cooking surface is elevated above the grill and doesn’t have anything surrounding it. Because of this design, grease and oil tend to spatter off of your cooking food onto whatever surface you happen to be working on.

$300 | SNOWPEAK.COM

The BBQ box had my favorite grilling surface in the group. The clever design contains embers while supplying airflow to the coals. An easily adjustable grill height lets you dial in cooking temperature.

SNOW

PEAK

| KOJIN GRILL, MULTIPURPOSE FOLDING CHARCOAL GRILL

Beautiful by design, best used as a high-temperature grill.

Japanese gear manufacturer Snow Peak was founded by Yukio Yamai in 1958. An enthusiastic mountaineer, Yukio often practiced his skill on local Mount Tanigawa but found himself regularly disappointed with the quality of the available outdoor gear. With the help of local Niigata metal workers, Yukio created his own company and began making high-quality products for outdoor enthusiasts.

Snow Peak came to the US in 1999, quickly establishing itself as a leading manufacturer of outdoor equipment. It’s a family-run business, operated by Yukio’s son, Tohru, and granddaughter, Lisa. Their approach to business is simple: “We embrace our customers’ perspective as our own and prioritize rigorous internal testing to create truly innovative equipment.”

The Kojin grill is a unique charcoal cooker. From a design perspective, it’s a piece of art. The folding, multi-panel, stainless steel body is reminiscent of a spaceship fuselage. Its vertical lines and elegant, folding metal legs are a pleasure to look at, and the domed cover is reminiscent of more traditional Americanstyle barbeque grills. Bamboo handles on the lid and front doors give the Kojin an austere yet high-quality appearance, and the easy-to-assemble folding design saves space.

As far as function is concerned, the Kojin has some creative design elements, like an internal bracket system that allows you to move the charcoal

pan, and multiple cooking grates up and down within the grill. This means that you can fill multiple racks with food if you need to cook for a large number of people, though there are some drawbacks. Because the entire bottom of the grill is completely open, it is almost impossible to control the charcoal’s burn rate. This effectively renders the Kojin incapable of slow-cooking.

Despite its limitations, and because I’m stubborn, I insisted on smoking a pork shoulder in the Kojin using charcoal and applewood. It was a challenging process, attempting to maintain a slow-and-low temperature, but I did manage to get six hours of wood smoke flavor into the pulled pork (which I finished up in my conventional gas oven). Everyone who tried the finished product was impressed with the flavor and tenderness of the meat.

Even with its shortcomings at slowcooking, the Kojin shines as a traditional high-temperature grill. The body acts as a chimney, channeling oxygen up through the charcoal. On the highest level, the cooking grate is perfectly situated to tend to the food you are preparing without having to bend over. The lid has a hook that allows you to hang it on the grill (instead of placing it on the ground), but it would have been better if the hook was in line with one of the handles so hanging it one-handed was possible. The weight also comes in heavy at 40 pounds.

$730 | SNOWPEAK.COM

The interior of the Kojin reveals adjustability for both the heat source and cooking surface. The beautiful design turns heads, be it on the patio or in the backcountry. Cooking larger quantities of food is easy in the Kojin.

WOLF AND GRIZZLY

Anewcomer

to the outdoor scene, Wolf and Grizzly was founded by engineer turned gear designer George Rizkalla. His first outdoor product, the Grill M1 edition, was successfully funded through Kickstarter in 2017. After its roll-out, it received numerous awards from the likes of Outdoor Retailer and Range.

George realized that all of the things he owned fit into one of two categories: items designed for his home that didn’t travel especially well, and specialized camping gear that spent most of its life stored in his basement (except when he had a trip planned). He wondered why there was a lack of equipment that could fit both of these niches, having both great design and aesthetics, but also capable of being brought into the field.

“I held a firm belief that if outdoor tools could be usable, durable, and well-designed, they would help us to adventure on a whim—without all the planning, searching, and packing. These tools would enable people to experience and live an outdoor lifestyle all year round—from backyard to backcountry.”

The Campfire Trio consists of the Grill M1 edition, the Fire Safe, and the Fire Set. Together, they create a portable campfire or charcoal cooking system that is versatile and the most compact in the test. It’s easy to set up, and at just under 5 pounds, it’s a featherweight

piece of kit for getting back to the basics of cooking over fire.

The M1 consists of a stainless steel frame that suspends a roll-up stainless steel cooking grate over a campfire or charcoal briquettes. It had the smallest cooking surface in our test. While this is somewhat limiting for cooking directly on the grill surface, the whole structure is supportive enough for a larger cast-iron pan, effectively allowing you to cook for two to three people.

The Fire Safe, also tested, is a stainless steel firebox that supports and contains a small wood fire or charcoal briquettes. The Fire Safe keeps the burning materials off the ground, reducing the likelihood of an escaped campfire, and preventing an unsightly fire scar (Leave No Trace). It protected the ground surprisingly well in testing, but embers occasionally escaped. Although you can attach the cooking grate directly to the Fire Safe, forgoing the Grill M1 frame, I wouldn’t recommend doing so as your food will practically be touching the charcoal and likely burn.

Overall, I was impressed with the design and function of the whole kit. The Campfire Trio is appropriate for car camping but care should be taken as this is a very lightweight piece of equipment.

$197 | WOLFANDGRIZZLY.COM

This compact grill setup can feed one or two people. Adjustable and collapsible, the grill takes up minimal space. The flexible, easy-to-clean cooking grate is flexible and rolls up for storage.

The Ryovan Project

This Japanese teahouse-inspired Sprinter conversion gets to the heart of a good build.

By Ashley Giordano

Photography by Saul Estrada

Removingyour shoes at the doorway, you slide your feet into a pair of slippers before stepping onto a wooden floor. Ducking under a pair of fabric dividers, adorned with hand-painted kanji script, you enter the space and take a seat. Your surroundings are subtle but beautiful, light-filled, and tranquil. The scent of fresh, pungent cedar fills the air. A low table sits in front of you, with a slate-colored teapot and matching bowl-shaped cup resting on top. Hot green matcha tea, perfectly blended, awaits. A laughing Buddha sits in the corner, hands clasped. His face is filled with joy. You feel relaxed. Welcome to Saul and Ayaka Estrada’s 2018 Sprinter van.

unique vision behind the concept emanates from the craftsmanship, architecture, tranquility, and balance of the Japanese teahouse. While the van physically transports the couple to the fresh powder of local ski hills or to visit family in New York State, it also encapsulates the feeling, triggers a memory, and evokes the energy of the place from which the design was channeled.

I’m perched upon a chair chatting with Saul over a Zoom call, and one thing is very clear: his passion for this project is contagious. With a background in mechanical engineering and sustainable management, Saul is the owner and principal of High Grade Partners, a high-end construction management firm based out of San Francisco. His skills, paired with his eye for design, fueled his desire to create a unique van. Ayaka’s heritage drew the couple to Japan to explore and travel; the country made a strong impression and cultivated the vision behind this build.

“Japan is very inspiring to me,” Saul explains. “The mindset and philosophy behind it revolve around quality over quantity. Japan is home to many masters who dedicate a lifetime to mastering a craft. Sake and soy sauce artisans are good examples. The focus on quality is most important. This is in contrast to the West, with our frequent overconsumption and ‘bigger is better’ mindset.” Saul notes that the Japanese also excel at making small spaces feel bigger. “I wanted to apply this to a van. It is a small space; how do you make the most of it?”

The Ryovan’s maiden voyage was from San Francisco to the east coast for Christmas.

“This trip was all about going back and visiting the people and places that have supported us along the way—we wanted to share it with them more than anything.” Opening page: The vision behind the build was to bring the craftsmanship, architecture, tranquility, and balance of a Japanese tea house to this home on wheels.

We tend to center overland vehicle builds around budget, practicality, and necessity. Our decisions are informed by purpose—we want our home on wheels to make our life easier, reliably transport us to faraway places, and meet our basic needs. But what if a vehicle is more than that? Could a vehicle, in fact, bring those places, experiences, and feelings of nostalgia to us? Can vehicle design be more than mere function and transportation, but a homage to a country, its people, the culture?

This is exactly what Saul and Ayaka set out to accomplish with their Sprinter van build, dubbed The Ryovan Project. The

The Estradas paired up with their good friend Andrew Keating, an architect and principal at Stack + Co., who helped create the build concept. Andrew also dreamt up the name. “Friends ask where the name ‘Ryovan’ came from,” says Saul. “It’s a play on words with ryokan, which is a type of traditional Japanese inn. The ryokan is all about relaxation and serenity. Rooms are very simple, and guests are invited to wear a yukata (a Japanese-style robe) and slippers, soak in the onsen (hot spring), and enjoy a multicourse kaiseki meal. We were influenced by our time spent in Japan, and by the ryokan experience in particular. This motivated us to recreate our own version that we could take with us everywhere we went.”

Although the ryokan is behind the name of the build, the traditional Japanese teahouse, or chashitsu, inspired the look and design. The tea ceremony, or chadō, is meant to invoke self-reflection while heightening one’s connection to nature through the act of drinking tea. Influenced by Zen philosophy, traditional Japanese design typically focuses on simplicity and the finest materials, including wood and tatami, elements that Saul and Ayaka incorporated into the build. While the Japanese teahouse is inherently uncomplicated, the building process is not. Similarly, the Ryovan was designed with the principles of simplicity and minimalism at the forefront, something which, Saul says, isn’t always straightforward. “Simple, we learned, isn’t always easy. We felt constant pressure throughout to add things that didn’t necessarily align with the overall vision. At different points in the process, we were tempted to do things the ‘easy’ way. In those moments, we had to remember to

Clockwise from top left: In the Estradas’ Sprinter conversion, the bed mattress is a futon that the couple stores in the headliner above the driver and passenger seats. Pressing the palms together, the Anjali mudra is a gesture commonly used in Buddhist traditions. Noren are traditional Japanese fabric dividers hung between rooms, on walls, in doorways, or in windows. Saul and Akaya designed their van to be modular in nature. This office space can also be transformed into a kitchen area, meditation space, or dance floor.

be patient with ourselves and stick to doing things the way we knew they could be done. Even if that meant doing it over again.”

For Saul and Ayaka, cutting corners was not an option. Prioritizing impeccable craftsmanship and authenticity, the couple went out of their way to find unique materials. “Our desire was to do something different and challenge the norms. We like to do things that people don’t expect,” Saul comments. As Japanese design dictates the use of cypress wood and tatami material, Saul’s challenge was to track down high-quality versions in America.

Saul decided to use wood for the Sprinter van’s interior floor, ceiling, wall slats, and furniture. Given its strength, workability, durability, resistance to decay, and ability to absorb moisture, Hinoki cypress is traditionally used in Japanese structures. In fact, one of the world’s oldest surviving wooden structures, the Hōryū-ji Temple in Nara, was constructed from Hinoki cypress. As this tree is local only to Japan, Saul found it to be cost-prohibitive to obtain in California. After considerable research, he discovered a close relative of the Hanoki known as Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), native to Southern Oregon and Northern California. This clear-grained wood emits a strong aroma, similar to lemon or ginger.

Saul chose Port Orford cedar for a few different reasons. “For starters, cedar is much lighter than many other wood species.

It is also rot resistant and has a wonderful aromatic quality to it. Port Orford cedar has a particularly distinctive smell, and the most beautiful vertical grain you’ve ever seen.” Saul tracked down Mark Metcalf, the owner of Metcalf Sawmill Products in Gold Beach, Oregon, who kiln-dried and custom-milled the wood to specification.

Saul’s next step was to source a tatamilike material. Made from rush straw, tatami mats are now commonly used as a floor cov-

PORT ORFORD CEDAR IS MUCH LIGHTER THAN MANY OTHER WOOD SPECIES. IT IS ROT RESISTANT AND HAS A WONDERFUL AROMATIC QUALITY TO IT SIMILAR TO LEMON OR GINGER.

ering in Japanese homes, though historically, their use was reserved to teahouse floors and in the homes of the wealthy. According to Saul, “This was not practical, but we thought that if we arranged it behind the wooden slats on the wall and ceilings, we could achieve the desired effect and still pay tribute to long-standing traditions. It was difficult finding tatami material that suited our needs. None of the material we found was backed with paper like we needed for proper adhesion. Tatami is also quite tricky to cut and bend. We were eventually able to track down some incredible wall coverings made out of handwoven wood pulp fibers. This stuff is made to go on walls and is exactly what we were looking for. The moment I saw this particular weave, I knew I had to have it.” It was sourced from Hartmann & Forbes, an Oregon-based company specializing in original textile window and wallcovering designs.

The Estradas wanted a space, like a Japanese teahouse, that could be an escape from everyday life. A place to reflect, turn inward, and connect with the genuine things in life. “We go camping to feed our soul and find balance,” Saul explains. “That is exactly what the teahouse is about. It was important that we have a flexible space that isn’t just all built out. Electronics are used sparingly because we’re going out in the van to escape that stuff. We also enjoy both cooking and eating out, so we might use our portable cooktop or head to a nearby restaurant when it comes time to eat—it all depends on where we find ourselves.”

Clockwise from left: To mount snowboards onto the wall, the Estradas needed something that holds tension in order to eliminate rattling. For them, Velcro cinch or rubber tie-downs work best. Saul chose lightweight and aromatic Port Orford cedar for the van’s interior floor, ceiling, furniture, and wall slats, which are backed with a tatami-like handwoven wall covering. The back tea room’s seating area and table can be converted into a bed.

SPECIFICATIONS

2018 Mercedes Sprinter 2500 4WD

POWER

3.0L turbo-diesel V6 engine

5-speed transmission (stock)

SUSPENSION AND DRIVE

Stock differential

Agile Off-Road ride improvement package (RIP) includes:

STS Bilstein auxiliary front shocks (2)

RIP front coilover conversion kit

RIP custom rear leaf springs (2)

Tuned Fox rear shocks (2)

WHEELS AND TIRES

Black Rhino Arsenal wheels in matte black

Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3 265/70R17 tires (winter)

BFGoodrich all-terrain K02 275/70R17 tires (summer)

Agile Off-Road oversized tire basket

RECOVERY AND ARMOR

Nil.

ACCESSORIES

WeBoost Drive X cell signal booster

Goal Zero Yeti 1400 lithium power station with 25-amp fast charge

Goal Zero Boulder 200 solar panel briefcase

Stinger 1000-watt power inverter

Dometic CFX 28

LED strip lighting by Super Bright LEDs

Reminiscent of their time spent snowboarding in Hokkaido’s fresh powder, one of the primary uses of the Ryovan is to act as a base camp during the winter ski season. To handle the snow-packed roads typically found on the way to ski hills, Saul and Ayaka chose the Agile Off-Road ride improvement package, which includes a front coilover conversion kit, custom rear leaf springs, and Fox shocks front and rear. This upgrade helped improve handling more effectively and increased overall responsiveness in a big way, allowing the two of them to feel safe and confident in a variety of conditions. A set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta LT3 265/70R17 tires tackle winter conditions, while BFGoodrich all-terrain K02 275/70R17 tires go on during the summertime. Black Rhino Arsenal wheels in matte black add the finishing touch.

In order to keep warm and cozy after hitting the slopes at Big Sky or Lake Tahoe, Saul and Ayaka knew they would need an interior that would stand up to harsh winter weather, minimize condensation, and resist mold and mildew. To retain heat efficiently, insulation had to be on point. “We came across the spec sheets for some of the awesome builds by the good folks at Benchmark Vehicles and decided to do something very similar. Our wall assembly includes sound deadening material, Thinsulate insulation, double-reflective bubble foil, and 1/4-inch birch plywood. The plywood was then finished with wall covering and horizontal

THE ESTRADAS WANTED A SPACE THAT COULD BE AN ESCAPE FROM EVERYDAY LIFE. A PLACE TO REFLECT, TURN INWARD, AND CONNECT WITH THE GENUINE THINGS IN LIFE. “WE GO CAMPING TO FEED OUR SOUL AND FIND BALANCE,” SAUL EXPLAINS. “THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THE TEAHOUSE IS ABOUT.”

slats. For the floors, we framed our platform in the dojo area with 2x4s. In the rear tea room, we framed with 3/4-inch strapping material. Those frames were infilled with rigid board insulation, then capped with more bubble foil 5/8-inch plywood. Topping it all off is floor underlayment, a vapor barrier, and finally, 3/4-inch-thick tongue and groove flooring material.” The couple initially used a propane heater to generate heat in the van but are currently installing a diesel-fired heater for the upcoming season.

As to the future of the build, the pair has a few ideas. “We’re thinking about phase two, three, and four, including adding modular shelving, some removable cubby units, and a built-in cooktop. I also have a concept in mind for a custom-built roof rack, and maybe even accommodations for a growing family,” adds Saul. Over time, he tells me, they have learned what they like and don’t like while still creating new ways of using the space. “We’ve thought of this project as one big experiment from day one,” he says.

The Japanese term wabi-sabi, according to author Richard R. Powell, acknowledges three simple realities: “Nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect.” Perhaps we can all learn from The Ryovan Project that a vehicle build can be more than mere transportation; it’s something to have fun with, infuse with passion, and incorporate meaning while simultaneously acknowledging that it will also change over time. For accepting the realities of wabi-sabi and then going deeper and celebrating that reality, Powell argues, is “something not unlike freedom.”

Ayaka played a huge role in the build. Saul admits that when things got tough Ayaka delivered perspective that framed challenges in a positive way, ultimately leading to the success of the project.

By Arden Kysely

Motorcycle Soft Luggage Going Soft Means Going Light

Afterpurchasing a BMW F 800 GS in 2009, I quickly sourced a set of expensive aluminum panniers, thinking that’s what you had to use on a GS. Victims of their own mass and structure, combined with progress in the textile world—namely waterproof soft luggage at a fraction of their weight and cost—those metal boxes have been collecting dust for over a decade. My first soft bag, the original 50-liter Giant Loop Great Basin, weighed less fully packed than the metal system does empty, an important consideration for overlanding. Not to mention the bone-crunching potential of metal panniers if one lands on your leg in a get-off. And fabric doesn’t dent.

To be fair, hard luggage still boasts some advantages—security being foremost for many riders. But locks can be picked, and newer soft bags can be cabled to your motorcycle. Ease of installation and removal is won by hard pannier designs using keyedto-ignition locks and quick disconnects, though some boxes use less convenient interior-access mounting systems. Likewise, soft luggage can have an excess of straps, buckles, and clips that require daily attention, or mount simply and securely with just three straps. Metal boxes do make better camp stools. Even so, my long experience with soft luggage, desire for lighter loads, and penchant for off-pavement travel have made me a convert. For sale: F 800 GS aluminum panniers.

LUGGAGE SELECTION

I chose five sets of the highest quality soft luggage with 70-80 liters of storage, adequate for most rides of a week or more, and ride tested them on my GS. If the desired luggage didn’t support that volume, an additional bag was selected to supplement it. Some systems are rackless; others require a rack for support. For those requiring a rack, I sourced the Touratech stainless steel model, which adds 9 pounds to a luggage system. Although racks provide more support than hanging soft bags across the seat and tethering them with straps, modern rackless systems mount just as securely to the motorcycle and are lighter overall.

TESTING

Built for the long haul, Giant Loop’s Siskiyou panniers were an excellent choice for the Utah BDR and the 800-mile return to California via Nevada backroads. Opening page: From scrublands to high mountain forests, the Idaho BDR challenges motorcycles, riders, and gear.

Testing began with an examination of each article for material and construction quality. Luggage was then packed with the 48-pound load I carried for 800 miles of the Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (BDR) last summer and secured per manufacturer instructions. I unloaded and reloaded the luggage as if camping, then removed it from the motorcycle and replaced it to simulate a night in a motel. Ride testing included freeway, canyons, and rough roads. Due to California’s fires and forest closures, not all luggage was run on dirt, but there is plenty of potholed pavement in the Golden State to give things a good bounce assessment. I noted whether each system stayed secure, if it hampered me from shifting position on the bike, its width versus that of the GS handlebars (38 inches with Barkbusters), and how it affected the motorcycle’s handling. The waterproofing test used a garden hose to simulate hard rain and road spray, and all models passed.

GIANT LOOP | SISKIYOU PANNIERS

Clockwise from top: Siskiyou panniers handle extra gear with secure top straps and a wide, flat platform across the rear of the motorcycle. Each pannier attaches forward with a sturdy strap while a single rear strap tensions the load, keeping them in place over rough terrain. A mesh pocket inside the lids provides easy-access storage for small items.

GiantLoop of Bend, Oregon, made their mark on motorcycle luggage in 2008 with their original horseshoe-shaped, woven fabric saddlebag; the Great Basin model arrived in 2009 with the first use of vinyl-coated polyester with ballistic nylon reinforcements, plus military-grade components. Giant Loop’s Siskiyou panniers use those same materials in a design similar to hard panniers. As waterproof as metal boxes, the Siskiyous weigh only 9.5 pounds and measured 36 inches across on my BMW. Rackless by design, they can also be used with a rack.

Setup begins by joining the panniers over the seat via large, Velcro-equipped panels. A custom fit is possible by experimenting with the panels’ angle and width; once joined, the Siskiyous are easily removed and reinstalled. A heavyduty Velcro strip connects the panel assembly to a rack plate or grab bar at the rear, with a stabilizing strap securing each pannier to a forward attachment point. Two wide support straps across the top prevent the panels from separating, and the bags are protected from melting on hot exhaust pipes by the included two Giant Loop Hot Springs heat shields.

The Siskiyous have zippered roll-top extensions that allow some overstuffing, and each comes with a removable, waterproof, yellow “pod” to simplify packing. The pods’ wide openings take some practice to roll up neatly. Pannier tops fasten with two straps and overhang the bags by 3 inches to fend off dust and water; zippered mesh pockets on their undersides keep small items handy. Their shape is enforced by interior plastic panels and a strap across the roll top. On the front of each pannier is a drawstring pocket that will hold a 2-liter water or fuel bottle. The 70-liter Siskiyous took on all of my Idaho gear except a chair and air mattress; those items rode atop the right pannier using the metal-buckled straps. Panelmounted D-rings provide additional lashing points, while security cable passages run beneath the panels.

The ride test confirmed my experience on the Utah BDR with an earlier version of the Siskiyous—they are stable on the bike and hang tough over the roughest ground, with no shifting or swinging to disturb the bike or rider. The inner sanctum of the pods is buried three straps, two roll tops, and a zipper deep, so the outer pockets held my water and energy bars. With everything sealed up, rain and road spray had no way in. Overall, the made-in-USA Siskiyou system is light, convenient, sturdy, and ready to travel. Available in black, orange, and gray, they carry a limited lifetime warranty.

$700 | GIANTLOOP.COM

KRIEGA

OVERLANDER-S | OS-32 AND OS-12

Clockwise from top: Overlander system bags use clean rectangular shapes for a neat look. The OS-12 used as a tail pack here can also be attached to the top of a pannier. The Kriegas use two wide straps with G-hooks to both attach the bags and close them. Nylon platforms clamped to a luggage rack are the most secure mounting option; Kriega’s OS-Base straps are an alternate method.

Kriega is a British company dedicated to creating topquality soft luggage, regardless of cost. Their Overlander-S (OS) series of five bags all spring from the same rectangular-shaped mold. It’s a clean design that lends itself to easy packing and storage when off the bike. I sourced two of the OS-32 (liter) panniers (an OS-22 is also available), supplementing them with an OS-12 Adventure Pack, one of three smaller offerings suitable for a pannier topper, tank bag, or tail pack (my choice). Built for adventure from Hypalon and 1000D Cordura, the OS-32s mount to the bike by aluminum alloy G-hooks. Sixteen Hypalon-lined Kevlar loops are deployed as anchors for extra gear, and optional shoulder straps can be fitted to dedicated attachment points. Roll-top designs rule for keeping water at bay, and Kriega luggage is no exception, enforcing a three-roll closure with short, nonadjustable side-release buckle straps. Inside is a removable, waterproof, white fabric lining.

The OS-32s require a rack, whether mounted over the saddle using Kriega’s OS straps or using their OS platforms clamped to the rack. I chose the CNC-machined nylon-6 platforms (7/16 inches thick, 2.6 pounds each), which can also carry a Rotopax fuel cell. The stout panniers are nearly 6 pounds apiece, with the 1.9-pound OS-12 bringing the total weight to 18.9 pounds; the rack weight makes them the heaviest by far. They span 40 inches on my GS; fitting an OS22 to the exhaust side narrows that by 1.6 inches.

Using Kriega’s instructions, the platforms were quickly fastened to the rack with four single-bolt clamps. Likewise, the 32s are simple to attach to the platforms using the top and bottom G-hooks on two wide straps that close across the roll top. Access requires releasing the buckles on those straps, undoing the top hooks, and opening the roll-top buckles—easier done than said. Integrated grab handles made full panniers a cinch to mount and carry. Interference from straps and luggage is unlikely with Kriega’s two-strap design and the ability to choose a sufficiently rearward luggage position. They lack strap keepers, but any surplus can be stuffed into the strap slots.

Packing the 32s is like packing a small, vertical suitcase; my BDR gear easily fits into the available 76 liters. A chair, extra layer, snacks, and first aid kit rode in the OS-12, with the remainder balanced between the larger bags. My 16-inch tent poles just fit; anything longer would have to ride externally. Overall, the Kriegas are a neat, tidy, and rugged solution to carrying adventure gear. Made in Vietnam, they have a 10year workmanship and material guarantee.

$600/OS-32 PANNIER SET, $218/OS PLATFORMS, $105/OS-12 ADVENTURE PACK | KRIEGA.US

Mosko

Moto’s Reckless is a modular system offered in several configurations, ranging from ultralight to RTW; this review addresses the standard version. The 1680D nylon covers the stiff polyethylene core of the R80 harness, which is strengthened with aluminum bars. It also incorporates a removable EVA foam base and rear fueling hole. Mounted to the harness are two holsters for the included 25-liter dry bags, and a beavertail comprising two overlapping flaps that grasp Mosko’s 22-liter Stinger dry bag. Auxiliary pockets (Aux Pox) holding 4-liter dry bags piggyback on the holsters. The structural components are crafted from 1680D nylon, with wrapped edges, rivets in stress areas, and Hypalon armor. Mosko uses 800D polyurethane-coated material for the welded dry bags, which feature light blue interiors. A tent pole bag, lightweight 20-liter dry sack, heat shield, and hardware for assembling the R80 round out the kit.

The “Revolver” part of the name refers to rider-selectable angle options for joining the holsters to the harness. Compass-like guides on the harness line up pre-drilled holes in both components for bolting on the holsters using T-nuts, screws, and washers. Once an angle was chosen, assembly was straightforward. Fitting the Aux Pox to the holsters was not—stiff fabric had to be pushed aside to align holes while mating a screw and nut inside a narrow bag. The V2.0 Reckless I carried on my Suzuki DR-Z 400S for the Idaho BDR had 4-liter pockets sewn to each holster; the Aux Pox added flexibility, as well as four more straps to the 22-strap system. Of those, two exit the lower end of the holsters to cinch the harness to a passenger footpeg or the subframe, and three hold the rear to the rack plate, cementing the R80 to the bike. The remaining straps keep things in place and unitize the system, fastening with side-release buckles or G-hooks; most have Velcro strap retainers to keep the load neat and safe. The Reckless works well, taking hard riding in stride, never budging or bouncing in the ruttiest, rockiest conditions. It weighs 15.7 pounds and measures 36 inches wide on my GS.

Packing the R80 was simple: the Stinger held my entire sleeping kit, and my chair fits perfectly in an Aux Pox, with everything else distributed evenly based on weight and need. The dry bags are easy to remove and carry to a motel room, leaving the harness locked to the bike with an optional cable. Reholstering them can be a chore, even using the bottom grab handles. Partially unpacking, pushing in the bag, then repacking was easier. The waterproof Reckless is made in Vietnam and carries a limited lifetime warranty for sewn bags, two years for welded ones.

$745 | MOSKOMOTO.COM

Clockwise from top: The latest Reckless 80L system from Mosko Moto incorporates adjustable holsters, removable auxiliary pockets, and replaceable straps. Three straps lash the rear of the harness to a rack plate, pulling against two forward straps to ensure the Reckless stays in place. The Revolver gets its name from the numerous side holster positions available for tailoring fit to bike and rider.

Touratech’s entry is the smallest set of saddlebags, just 20 liters each, requiring the largest support unit at 31 liters to reach target capacity. It should be no surprise that this rackless German-made luggage from a well-respected purveyor of adventure gear is of excellent quality. The Extremes are constructed from a three-layer fabric that keeps them light yet durable. A rubberized polymer is used on the outside for UV protection, waterproofing, and abrasion resistance; inside is welded yellow vinyl that provides more waterproofing and a smooth interior surface. Sandwiched between the two is 1000D nylon mesh to prevent tearing. The backs have edge-wrapped, sewn-on dense foam pads to protect bodywork.

The pair weighs 4.5 pounds and is narrow at 35 inches across my GS. The Extremes mount with long straps and metal buckles at the front, two over-the-seat straps, and an over-the-fender clamping strap connecting the bags at the rear. The rear clamps didn’t fit the bulky GS fender well but did stay in place over challenging roads. Compression straps run back to front over the boot-shaped Extremes to further secure loads, and roll tops with four side-release buckle straps keep them watertight. With very few straps, and the ability to loosen but not release the compression straps, access to the bags is as straightforward as mounting them, and no straps are left dangling. Collapsible pockets on the back of the Extremes hold water or fuel bottles at the ready. Fitment to my GS required a heat shield, which is not included.

Waterproof specialist Ortlieb makes Touratech’s Adventure dry bag, one of the few items in this review that comes in several colors—six in all. RF welded from a PVC-coated polyester fabric, the Adventure has an IP64 ingress protection rating (dustproof, water spray). Stiffeners along the fulllength roll top facilitate a tight closure, while straps at the sides and over the top ensure it remains that way. Packed with my entire sleeping setup, clothes, and a camp jacket, it was secured to the rack using Touratech’s recommended Rok straps. The Adventure’s 1.8 pounds brings the total kit weight to just 6.3 pounds; it is 35 inches wide.

Packing the non-stiffened Extremes was hampered initially by their floppy sides, but they held the remainder of my gear with room to spare. The boot shape facilitated packing heavy items low and forward, and their small size and carrying handles make them the easiest to remove and remount. On the road—whatever the surface—they never budged or interfered; ditto the dry bag. Touratech’s lightweight luggage is a good value and carries a 5-year warranty against manufacturing defects.

$400/SADDLEBAGS; $115/DRY BAG | TOURATECH-USA.COM

Clockwise from top: Touratech’s Extremes are the lightest of the test and hold the least gear, but are ably supplemented by the Adventure dry bag. While the metal clamps on the rear strap aren’t a perfect fit for the GS fender, they held tight through rough going. The Extremes feature an external collapsible pocket for keeping water or fuel bottles handy.

WOLFMAN

| ROCKY MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION SADDLEBAGS AND ROLIE BAG

Clockwise from top: Constructed from a custom material designed by Wolfman, these rack-mounted Rocky Mountain Expedition saddlebags feature a unique curved surface and easy access to the yellow interior. Their waterproof Rolie bags come in three sizes. G-hook straps hold the Expeditions to the rack and compress the load while two straps over the seat assist in supporting its weight. External D-rings provide attachment points for extra gear and accessories.

Based in Longmont, Colorado, Wolfman has created textile adventure luggage since 1992. Their earlier bags, like the Alfa model I tested when KLR650s owned the back roads, were sewn from sturdy fabrics but required a rain cover. Eric Hougen, Wolfman’s owner and designer, later pioneered making waterproof luggage with vinyl fabrics. Today’s waterproof, rack-mounted Rocky Mountain Expedition saddlebags are radio-frequency (RF) welded from laser-cut 840 denier nylon/TPU laminate custom-made in China to Hougen’s specs. The smooth, black material gets hot in the sun, but doesn’t hold dust and mud like woven fabric; water rolls right off.

The roll-top Expeditions hold 30 liters each, with another 2 liters possible by omitting a roll on the top (three rolls maximize waterproofing). A 12-liter (medium-sized) Rolie bag of the same material brings total capacity into the target range. Strapped to the rack plate, it held my sleeping bag, mattress, and tent. The balance of my gear, including food for three days, disappeared into the yellow-lined Expeditions with space for more. Removable plastic stiffeners facilitate packing and maintain their wind-cheating shape.

Mounting the Expeditions is simple: two over-the-seat straps center them, adjust their height, and distribute weight, and two horizontal straps with G-hooks secure the bags to the rack. Removable back panels protect them from scuffing, and lightweight handles simplify lifting and carrying. The roll tops fasten with 1-inch side-release buckles on the sides and across the top, while the G-hook straps compress and stabilize the load. Wolfman’s attention to detail shows in the straps: most are replaceable, and all have rolled and sewn ends to inhibit fraying. Wolfman fits elastic keepers to control flapping and interference.

The Expeditions were unnoticeable on the pavement, hugging the motorcycle like they were welded to it, never upsetting the bike through the turns. Miles of rough road failed to budge the gear, and my stash of snacks was just four buckles away. Removing and re-mounting the full Expeditions was more difficult than when empty, but the handles and seat straps made it workable. The Rolie bag stayed put as well, barely noticeable on the top rack. The setup weighs 10 pounds, plus 9 pounds for the rack, and stretches 41 inches across my GS. Wolfman continues to innovate in both material and design, providing an excellent, reasonably priced set of luggage for the adventurer, covered by a 1-year limited warranty.

$475/SADDLEBAGS; $105/ROLIE BAG | WOLFMANLUGGAGE.COM

CONCLUSIONS |

Thiswouldn’t be a Best of Breed if all of the bags didn’t meet the criteria, and since all have something unique to offer, it’s up to each adventurer looking at soft luggage to assess how much capacity they require and in what format. Fortunately, for those who need more space, all of the systems can be supplemented with extra storage, and most are designed to easily accommodate it. The low-weight leaders— important to me as a smaller rider—are Touratech and Giant Loop. Giant Loop’s construction seems heavier duty, while the Touratech package is narrower but stores more weight up higher. It is also the least expensive solution. Mosko’s Reckless is heavier than both, which should translate into durability, but adds complexity with a raft of straps. I vote it best for pitching off the road onto a pile of rocks (been there, done that). Wolfman and Kriega both take a 9-pound rack penalty, with Kriega also being the most expensive set. Wolfman keeps things simple, clean, and easy to use for slightly more money than the Touratech Extremes. There’s not a luggage system here that I wouldn’t trust on a rainy ride, or for seeing me through a BDR. What’s the best setup? I prefer the Touratech Extremes and Adventure Dry Bag; it is the lightest system in the group and the least expensive.

Clockwise from left: Mosko Moto Reckless 80L (V3.0) Revolver, Giant Loop Siskiyou, Touratech Extreme, Wolfman Rocky Mountain Expedition, Kriega Overlander-S OS-32 and OS-12

TOURATECH STAINLESS STEEL PANNIER RACK

As a long-time adherent to the light-is-right approach to adventure riding, I’ve always looked askance at racks, mostly for the significant weight they add to a motorcycle. After all, they are steel and built for strength. The Touratech unit I sourced for this review is no exception—constructed of 18-millimeter tubular stainless steel, it weighs in at 9 pounds. I’ve come to like it, however, as it provides a better grab bar for hefting the bike onto the center stand than BMW did, and performed as required for testing the Wolfman and Kriega luggage.

Installing the three-piece system went quickly, requiring only a few basic tools. Two forward side sections clamp to the 800’s subframe, with the upper supports bolting to the original grab bar mounting holes. A third piece connects the two sections at the rear. All of the holes lined up properly, with no need to force the fit. The resulting structure is stiff, sturdy, and appears ready to take adventure-style punishment. On the GS, a rack plate can also be fitted but is not required to complete the installation. Made in Germany, the Touratech rack comes in the raw stainless shown or epoxy-coated black.

A feature of racks is preventing bodywork from getting scuffed up by panniers. Despite my efforts to prevent damage from rackless luggage with films and tape, the thousands of miles I’ve ridden my GS with such bags are indelibly recorded in the bike’s rear plastics. As tempting as this attractive and functional rack is, I’m still a stickler about weight and will likely remain a devotee of rackless luggage to save a few pounds. My weight obsession aside, anyone shopping for a rack should consider Touratech’s offering.

$400 | TOURATECH-USA.COM

Photo by James Norris

HISTORIC OVERLAND JOURNEY MAC MACKENNEY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAC

MACKENNEY AND STEVE BURGESS

ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

Land Rover Global Expedition origins made manifest, and the first amphibious crossing of the Bering Strait.

The year was 1986, and the British government had given the go-ahead for the undersea Channel Tunnel to be built linking Britain with France. Dr. Gordon Thomas, a Canadian adventurer, was flying to the UK when he first heard the news; like many others, he thought that the tunnel would be for vehicles to use, and it got him thinking.

‘If it would soon be possible to drive from the British Isles to continental Europe, it should be feasible to cross all of Russia to its most easterly point. If you could then drive across the sea ice between Russia and Alaska, it should be achievable to drive all the way from London to New York.’

And so began the Transglobal Expedition idea (not to be confused with the Transglobe Expedition). After some quick calculations, Gordon realised that such a journey would cover more than threequarters of the earth’s surface, in the region of 21,000 miles, and take about seven months to complete. Entirely propelled by the vehicle itself and without the aid of boats or airlifts, more than 3,400 miles would be off pavement, many of them over frozen tundra.

Back home, Gordon started researching in detail and found that Europe and North America were well-documented regions, but what he couldn’t find information on was how to drive across Russia. By late 1990, after many years of asking, the Russian government finally endorsed the idea, and Gordon enlisted the help

of Dmitry Shparo, a Russian explorer. This collaboration resulted in a succession of data-gathering missions in eastern Siberia, the Bering Strait, and western Alaska during the winters of 1991 to 1995, with the main purpose of establishing a feasible route.

In Eastern Siberia, ice roads would provide the chief means of travel, which would mean driving along frozen rivers and sea ice. In 1991, Dmitry travelled through Siberia in a Ural 6WD truck, and then the following winter (February 1992), continued his reconnaissance farther east, all the way to Uelen on the shores of the Bering Strait via the frozen Kolyma River and the sea ice close to the shore.

While Dmitry was carrying out a reconnaissance of Siberia, Gordon was simultaneously investigating routes in Western Alaska. Alaska, however, has a complete absence of ice roads, and the wooded mountainous terrain would make it more difficult to cross. In 1992, he flew out to the isolated town of Nome, from where he rented a Ford Bronco pickup truck. Driving west along the road to Teller, he then made his way along the shore ice to Wales (Alaska’s most westerly settlement) before returning. Needless to say, the hire company was not informed about this potentially dangerous journey.

To increase the credibility of his expedition, Gordon registered his plans with the Royal Geographical Society in London, but

by seeking out approval he made others aware, one of whom was television executive Richard Creasey. With the promise of a TV series, Richard persuaded the Ford Motor Company to sponsor his expedition and quickly mounted an attempt to lead his own team in driving all the way from London to New York.

Using a combination of Ford Mavericks and Mondeos, supported by vast Russian Ural 6WD trucks, the team set out on 27 December 1993. Travelling during the depths of winter, the Mondeos dropped out early when the conditions got bad. And although the Mavericks were towed much of the way over the worst stretches of the Siberian tundra, they finally reached the easternmost seaboard of Russia.

In order to cross the strait itself, a prototype Canadian tracked vehicle called an Arctos was used, designed to rescue oil rig crews operating in Arctic waters. Looking like two First World War tanks stuck together and weighing in at 10 tons, the idea was that it could drive over the ice, and should it fall into the water, had the ability to crawl its way back out again. The team’s first problem, though, was moving north from Lavrentiya, where the Arctos was flown in from Alaska, to a suitable point from which to make the crossing.

Within just seven hours, one of the 2-ton tracks fell off the machine, which took a whole day to refit. At no more than a crawling pace, their northbound journey took days to complete, whereupon they suffered a punctured hull on jagged rocks. This was repaired, and they were in a position to head east towards the Diomede Islands that separated Russia from America.

Despairingly for the team, after no more than a mile or so, even worse was to follow: the hull was punctured again, this time by thick ice, and they started taking on water. Eventually, the order was given to abandon the machine, and a helicopter flew out to recover them.

From there, the team flew to Wales, and then went by snowmobile to Fairbanks, where the Ford Mavericks were flown in to meet them at the start of the main road network. The team did make it to New York, but they failed in their bid to be the first to drive continuously from London. The challenge was still open.

By late 1995, the renowned explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes had joined the partnership with Gordon Thomas, and Land Rover was approached for sponsorship. They agreed to provide three Defender 110s, and three mechanics as team members for the Transglobal Expedition. They also agreed to underwrite the cost of building a prototype amphibious unit that would be used for negotiating the bodies of water that the team would encounter en route.

This amphibious unit was essentially a catamaran made of Kevlar, equipped with a hydraulic pump that drove two sternmounted paddle wheels. With the vehicle mounted on top, the pump was driven from the rear power takeoff on the Defender. The speed and direction of rotation for each paddle could be individually controlled from within the vehicle to permit steering in water. The catamaran was dubbed the Land Rover Powered Catamaran (LRPC).

In 1996, though, the Fiat motor company, using 13-ton Iveco trucks, set out from Milan to achieve what Ford had not. They too made it to the edge of the Bering Strait but opted to turn back

as soon as they saw the extreme conditions they would have to encounter. Both the failures of Ford and Fiat can be attributed to no previous Arctic experience, no prior reconnaissance missions, and a misplaced belief that it would be possible to drive across the moving pack ice of the Bering Strait in winter.

Although an advert had been circulated within Land Rover asking for volunteers to join the expedition, only two men applied for the job of team mechanics for this epic journey: Charles Whitaker and Granville Baylis. Ran Fiennes placed further adverts with the Royal Geographical Society and Scientific Exploration Society looking for a third mechanic, which is when I first got involved with the expedition.

Having attended a selection weekend in a mountainous region of the UK run by Ollie Shepard of Transglobe Expedition fame (led by Ran Fiennes, the expedition team was the first to circumnavigate the earth along its polar axis using surface travel only), Steve Signal was chosen as the third mechanic. As a former New Zealand Army vehicle technician, he was experienced on Land Rovers, and therefore skilled enough to work alongside the other two mechanics.

I was chosen as the Arctic base leader for our forthcoming reconnaissance mission to Wales, Alaska, but this soon expanded to the other roles of forward recce adviser and logistics coordinator.

By September 1996, the LRPC was completed, and the first tests were conducted the following month at the Royal Marines training centre in Instow, UK. Instow faces the protected Barnstaple Bay, where water currents and waves are benign. The tests were useful in that the team established that they could easily and successfully steer the assembled LRPC in water. The reason behind the paddle-steamer blades was that they could deal with any dark ‘bergy’ ice that lay hidden just beneath the surface of the water, and could chew a propeller blade up within seconds. A paddle wheel would be able to ride up and over such ice, preventing damage. Some on-the-spot design changes were made that permitted us to achieve a speed of 6 knots at an engine speed of 1,500 rpm, but because of pump limitations, we were not able to exceed the 1,500 rpm limit.

Following these successful tests, Land Rover decided to sponsor the entire expedition and use it as the premier event to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 1998. Accordingly, the expedition was renamed the Land Rover Global Expedition with a planned start date of November 1997.

The final test before going ‘live’ was a reconnaissance of the Bering Strait with the vehicles and LRPC to see if the team could negotiate the most challenging section of the whole expedition.

At the end of February 1997, I flew out to Wales, Alaska, one week ahead of the main party to set up our base camp and establish communications. Our base camp was an empty vehicle garage belonging to Dan Richard, an American who had lived in Wales

Opposite: The LRPC conducts its first sea trials in Barnstaple Bay, home of the elite Royal Marines’ amphibious training unit. Opening page: Midnight on 7 August 2008, Steve Burgess and Dan Richards in their Land Rover Defender 110 double-cab are just two miles away from the Alaskan coastline and a place in the record books.

since being based at the nearby early-warning station during his US Air Force days. With no kitchen, hot water, toilets, or washing facilities, I set about making good as best I could. Much of the garage was full of snow, which would find its way through the tiniest gaps in the doorways; there was nothing to stop the wind for thousands of miles to both the north and south, and it is one of the windiest places on earth.

With no kitchen, hot water, toilets, or washing facilities, I set about making good as best I could.

A week later, the two Land Rover Defenders, one a prototype military

‘Wolf’ version, the LRPC, and all our other spares and provisions were flown out to Wales in a chartered C-130 transport aircraft.

We soon settled into the new surroundings that would be our home for the next 10 weeks. While the three mechanics set about testing the vehicles in the harsh conditions, I continued to make base camp as comfortable as possible, utilising anything that came to hand. Once established, we set about building the LRPC, which came in kit form like a giant Meccano set. Soon after, both Gordon and Ran joined the rest of the team, and we were ready to test the project’s feasibility.

Our intended mission in Alaska was to drive round trip from Wales to Barrow, Alaska’s most northerly point, in addition to

launching the LRPC in the Bering Strait to determine its capabilities in an environment more hostile than Barnstaple Bay. To accommodate the journey over tundra, the Land Rovers were equipped with Mattracks (a product made in Minnesota, USA).

Each wheel was replaced by a single rubber track, so that conventional steering could take place. The system consisted of a driving cog that bolted onto the standard hub, with small ‘jockey’ wheels along the base, allowing the brakes and suspension to work as normal. To prevent the track from turning into a ‘triangular’ wheel, a torsion bar was fitted, which had to be exceptionally short on the front hubs.

We quickly discovered many design flaws in the Mattracks during early exercises outside of Wales, with the torsion bars being put under tremendous load and the jockey wheels breaking off on a regular basis. One of the main issues was that as the Land Rover lacked locking axle differentials, they would frequently get stuck in the soft snow. The extra height due to the tracks, along with the vehicle’s heavy loads, meant that they would lean over more readily, causing the two high-sided wheels to break traction. With the extreme cold we encountered and therefore the complications associated with batteries, it was decided to fit mechanical winches equipped with shear bolts to prevent overloading. Unfortunately, these bolts consistently broke, causing problems with self-recovery.

Clockwise from top left: The Diomede Islands: Little Diomede is in US territory in the foreground, with the larger Big Diomede of Russia beyond—just 2.4 miles separates them, but they are worlds apart. Granville Baylis (left) and Mac Mackenney (right) organise team rations prior to embarking on a route-finding mission in their Land Rovers deep into the Alaskan wilderness. Granville checks over the Defender’s engine inside a portable vehicle shelter designed by Mac that uses the vehicles as the supporting frame. It was moose hunting season when we arrived in Wales, Alaska, and our host, Dan Richard, allowed us to cut off some prime steaks before he butchered the rest of the animal. The Land Rover Global Expedition team (left to right): Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt OBE, Mac Mackenney, Granville Baylis, Charles Whitaker, Steve Signal. Opposite: An unseasonably rapid winter thaw in late May 1997 sees the tracked Land Rover Defenders struggle when negotiating once-frozen rivers. Here, the military-spec ‘Wolf’ variant breaks through thin ice.

Notwithstanding, the team successfully travelled from Wales to Teller and back, which was the first time motorised vehicles had done so during the winter. This required negotiating a high, snow-choked pass in the York Mountains, and was largely accomplished by repeated digging, with the winches pulling on a buried ‘deadman’ in the frozen crust. The frequent failures of the Mattracks (which were repaired with welding gear at our base camp) and the persistent need to dig out the Land Rovers caused us to scratch our plans to travel to Barrow. Between the six of us, we hatched a new plan that would get us to the road system near Fairbanks.

The Bering Strait would now be crossed during mid-June (or earlier if all the ice had gone). For this purpose, the LRPC would be flown by transport aircraft from Anchorage to Lavrentiya, Russia, and brought by a Russian military vehicle to Naukan, an abandoned Yupik Inuit village south of Uelen.

Arrangements were made to be met in Naukan by experienced locals from Little Diomede Island, who ply the waters on a regular basis in pursuit of their fishing interests. They agreed to guide the team across to Wales.

Opposite, clockwise from top left: When testing the towing ability of the Mattrack-equipped Defender, we found that the LRPC plus a laden Defender onboard weighing a combined 5 tons could easily be pulled. A Mattrack-equipped Defender, onboard the LRPC in the Bering Strait. We tested by day and by night. Here, Mac guides the Defender onto the LRPC whilst ITV cameraman Kee ᾽t Hooft films the action for the planned television documentary. We spent a lot of time digging out the Land Rover from the soft snow. The lack of front and rear differentials caused us endless problems. With no locking front or rear differentials and a top-heavy load, it didn’t take much for the vehicles to break traction and the tracks to spin hopelessly in the snow as we tested the Mattrack-equipped Defenders at night. The LRPC was driven by the Land Rover’s engine via a power takeoff from the rear of the vehicle into a hydraulic pump that turned paddle steamer blades. A rear propeller was ruled out due to the concern that dark ice just below the surface would easily chew up such a drive system.

From there, we would travel by water to Teller and then by road to Nome while the LRPC was carried by truck. Launching the LRPC back into the water at Nome, the team would hug the coastline of Norton Sound until they came to Kotlik where a tributary permits them to enter the mouth of the Yukon. This entire area was the object of intensive investigation by Ran, Gordon, and Steve during our recce, using snowmobiles and a low-flying aircraft. The plan was to then travel in the Yukon, connecting with the Tanana River to the town of Manley Hot Springs. Reaching Manley was anticipated by mid-July and from there, the team could connect with the road to Fairbanks. The journey across the rest of North America would eventually take the team to New York.

The LRPC weighed two tons, so at Instow, two American WW2-era DUKWs had to launch it since the Land Rovers lacked the power to pull it across the sandy beach. In Alaska, though on the sea ice, we discovered that it was an easy matter to assemble the LRPC with one of the Defenders already mounted on top and tow the fully loaded 5-ton unit by the other Land Rover. Our major problem was to devise a method to get the LRPC over an 18-foot pressure ridge and into the water.

The pressure ridge was cut up with the aid of a chainsaw, axes, and shovels, then Charles welded an A-frame together and attached it to a Defender and pushed the LRPC straight into the water. Appropriate precautions were taken to keep the Land Rover from being dragged in with the LRPC, using winches and the other vehicle as a deadman. We practiced the launching procedure several times, including driving the Land Rover onboard until the procedure became routine.

Finally, we embarked on an amphibious test in the Bering Strait, with the strongest current there being the Wales Current (3 knots) near the tip of the Seward Peninsula. We struggled to cross it and endured an even greater struggle to return to the launch site. Nevertheless, we concluded that the tests were successful and felt that the strait could readily be crossed with a vehicle-powered amphibious unit, provided a maximum speed of 8 to 10 knots could be obtained. We had proven that the Land Rover Global Expedition was feasible.

After 2.5 months working in the Alaska wilderness, we bid goodbye to Dan and the Inuits with whom we had become so friendly and boarded the C-130 for the flight home. Three days later, we were back in ‘Blighty’, raring to get started on this incredibly challenging expedition.

The mechanics set about building the three Defender 110s that would be used to complete the mammoth journey, painted gold to represent Land Rover’s 50th anniversary. The leaders reported their findings to senior company executives, where the plan for the expedition was discussed in its entirety. Devastatingly though, it was only a matter of weeks before our dreams of adventure were shattered. The situation within Land Rover had changed dramatically, and we received messages from

them cancelling their sponsorship because of an adverse business climate. Yet again, the challenge was still open.

With so many teams attempting this experiment, it soon came to the attention of a wealthy British property developer, Steve Brooks. Using a piste-basher, normally found grading ski slopes, converted with Archimedes screws as a propulsion system, he mounted an attempt at crossing the strait during the winter of 2002. Launching onto the sea ice from Wales, his team made remarkable progress across the broken ice, but on arriving at the International Date Line for the crossing into Russian territory, they were refused entry. In defiance to the Communist authorities, they drove over a coloured tape marking the border, turned around, and dropped their trousers to the onlooking guards.

This challenge had now defeated major car manufacturers, Polar explorers, and multi-millionaires.

This challenge had now defeated major car manufacturers, Polar explorers, and multi-millionaires. But for a mild-mannered 50-year-old British beef farmer, this catalogue of previous failures from those with vast resources at hand didn’t phase him at all.

With no fanfare of trumpets or mass-media sendoff, on 29 January 2008, Steve Burgess and his fiancée, Nicky Spinks, quietly left their Yorkshire farm and headed east for Moscow. For six years, Steve had been working on his own attempt after meeting me at the Royal Geographical Society in London, where I gave a presentation on this most extreme of challenges.

Battling his way through Siberia during the dead of winter with co-driver Simon Dedman (for the Russia portion), his Land Rover Defender fought through temperatures down to -50°C as he drove on the frozen rivers to reach the easternmost seaboard of mainland Russia. His homemade track system initially fared well, but soon suffered failures like the tracks we had used on our Land Rovers, so he was forced to continue on wheels, supported by an ex-Soviet armoured tracked vehicle to drag him through soft sections of snow.

Eventually, on arriving at Uelen on the shores of the Bering Strait, only 55 miles separated him from a place in the record books. With customs and immigration officers having to be specially flown in to clear Steve and his sea-crossing teammate Dan Evans from Russian territory, when the officer said ‘go’, they had no choice but to go, regardless of the weather conditions.

With a black moody sky above, the pair set off gingerly into the dark waters, nervous as to what their modified Defender could cope with compared to the sea trials it had endured back

Opposite: Steve’s homemade tracks didn’t fare much better than our Mattrack versions when subjected to the hostile environment of the high Arctic. Here, Steve and Simon depart from the remote town of Mys Shmidta and make their way along the northern Siberian coastline.

Clockwise from top left: Steve Burgess checks his navigation as the team swims down the Alaskan coastline towards Teller. With Mac and Adam there to support the team, Dan guides Steve as he gingerly lowers the Defender into the water off of Little Diomede. Having sheltered behind a large digger on Little Diomede which provided some protection from the vicious waters of the Bering Strait, Dan guides Steve down a rough track towards the water’s edge. After seven years in the planning and six months since leaving the UK, Steve Burgess and Dan Evans make history as the first people to cross the Bering Strait in an amphibious vehicle. Having successfully crossed the Bering Strait, the first team in history to do so, the amphibious Land Rover Defender makes its way between the villages of Wales to Tin City. A test is run off Little Diomede’s coast to check sea conditions, but not long after this photo was taken, Steve and Dan had to turn back and take shelter on the island once more. Opposite: The amphibious unit, designed by Steve and Dan, consists of two large flotation tubes mounted on hydraulic arms that could raise and lower them into the water. A front deflection plate protects the engine and electrics.

in the UK. The waters were much rougher than they had encountered before, and as they passed Little Diomede, the captain of their support boat got nervous and turned back to the tiny island. Steve and Dan had no option but to follow.

Having only just managed to beach their vehicle on the rocky slipway, they sheltered from the storm for seven days before the seas finally calmed and they were free to continue. The support boat crew were found, but with little else to occupy them on the tiny island, were in no fit state to put to sea. The weather windows were short, and each time Steve and Dan were ready to launch, the support crew wasn’t, so they decided to head back home to raise much-needed funds for the expedition and bring reinforcements in the way of additional team members.

Having been friends with Steve since 2002 and aware of my eagerness to return to Alaska, I was the first person he called asking for help. I naturally jumped at the chance, and along with Dan’s brother Adam, we set out a week later for Little Diomede. With extra bodies to assemble the amphibious Land Rover and ensure that the support boat and its crew were seaworthy, we were soon underway and heading for the mainland.

At 12:50 a.m. on the morning of Friday 8 August 2008, Steve Burgess and his co-driver, Dan Evans, made history in

becoming the first team to swim an amphibious vehicle across the Bering Strait. With nothing more than dogged determination, ingenuity, and a huge helping of self-belief, they achieved what so many others had not.

At 12:50 a.m. on the morning of Friday 8 August 2008, Steve Burgess and his co-driver, Dan Evans, made history in becoming the first team to swim an amphibious vehicle across the Bering Strait.

As for me, only half the story has been told. Having been involved in this project for 23 years now with two visits to the Bering Strait—once for testing and the other for the first amphibious crossing—it’s still a very long way to New York. Will it be third time lucky for me and involvement in a successful London to New York expedition? With the concept proved, I hope so, but any future attempt will need the backing of a serious sponsor with some very deep pockets. The prize, though, is a place in the record books and recognition for achieving the last great motoring adventure yet to be completed. This story will then finally reach the end of the last chapter.

Celebrating the iconic BMW GS Series’ 40th Anniversary with a modification build specialized for adventure riding and long-duration touring.

Okay,IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS, AN INDISTINCT GELÄNDE/STRASSE CONCEPT HAD BECOME A REALITY. WITH THAT, BMW CHANGED ADVENTURE MOTORCYCLING FOREVER.

class: G as in Gelände and S as in Strasse. Any questions? Forty years ago, BMW introduced the R 80 G/S to the world. BMW’s decision to launch a new concept bike targeting the then vague enduro sector, into an untried large displacement motorcycle class, was nothing short of intrepid. There were no masses begging for pre-launch details, no press hypothesizing about the bike’s performance, no aftermarket waiting in the wings. The lead up to launch wasn’t so rosy.

Toward the late 1970s, BMW motorcycles sales were experiencing a downturn from a weak dollar (the US was BMW’s primary market). Furthermore, Japanese makers had boldly staked claims in the burgeoning enduro arena. Affordable bikes like Yamaha’s XT500, Honda’s XL250, Kawasaki’s KL250, and Suzuki’s SP370, highway-legal with motocross-esque looks, had established a following with their versatile frame geometry and suspension for variable terrain and street riding.

production rides. BMW needed something unique in the unadventurous line.

Initially without official approval from upper management, a handful of enthusiastic technicians in BMW’s motorcycle division had been tinkering with an R 80 (797cc) street bike for cross-country applications. The team lightened and redesigned the rear sub-frame, mounted a larger front rim, installed an electronic ignition, and attached a high front fender. A front disk brake became an industry first on enduros. The revolutionary leap forward was the single-sided swingarm, the Monolever, which housed the driveshaft and provided the rear suspension’s lower perch.

Prototypes went through off-pavement paces and proved capable. On tarmac, the bike’s low center of gravity enabled nimble flicking through the sweepers, and its weight and displacement made for comfortable long-distance touring. The division’s newly installed brass conducted research and determined that enduro bike owners mostly stick to blacktop, with occasional rides on rough single track or trail. Arguably, this holds true today. Corporate took note of the Gelände (terrain) and Strasse (street/road) prototype, and immediately approved production. In September 1980, at the official launch in Avignon, France, the motorcycle press largely swooned over the R 80 G/S. In less than two years, an indistinct Gelände/ Strasse concept had become a reality. With that, BMW changed adventure motorcycling forever.

RACING PARIS–DAKAR AND THE FRUITS OF LABOR

Gelände or Strasse? Opening page: Pinnacle of the air-cooled BMW GS lineage, the 1994 R 100 GS with factory Paris–Dakar components goes wherever you want to go, and then some. Gina De Pasquale puts the project bike through initial testing across varied Central California terrain.

Factory-built BMW airhead twins, with their two opposing air-cooled cylinders, had been successfully raced off road in Europe. The company also had decades of competing in and winning six-day trial events. Oddly though, they didn’t have a production offroad boxer (the opposing pistons move as two punching boxers). Handbuilt factory race bikes or muddied one-offs raced by privateers don’t always translate into reasonable

In 1981, BMW officially campaigned three G/S bikes prepared by specialty race fabricators HPN (after founders Alfred Halbfeld, Klaus Pepperl, and Michael Neher) in the newly conceived Paris–Dakar Rally (privateers had raced BMWs to limited success in 1979 and 1980). With a grueling 9,500-kilometer course, most of it off-highway, this would be the ultimate G/S proving ground. Hubert Auriol, disqualified in 1980 while still in the lead, set the record straight in 1981. Proving he wasn’t riding

PHASE 1 BUILD: NUTS AND BOLTS

LISTED HERE ARE DIFFERENT ASPECTS ADDRESSED DURING PHASE 1, FOLLOWED BY THE CHOSEN SOLUTIONS OR ACCESSORIES.

OUTDATED AND INADEQUATE FRONT BRAKE CALIPER AND DISK

Install larger Spiegler 300mm full-floating disk with lightweight aluminum disk carrier and Brembo Gold Line 4-piston brake caliper with billet fork-mounted adapter.

REAR BRAKE ARM SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE FROM OBJECTS JUTTING FROM GROUND

Reconfigure rear brake arm to point up, install heavy-duty cable made by TerryCable, fabricate billet mount to support cable and brake arm.

STOCK EXHAUST AND EMISSIONS COLLECTOR HEAVY, RESTRICTIVE TO ENGINE PERFORMANCE

Replace with stainless 2-into-1 pipe and custom exhaust.

FRONT AND REAR BLINKERS STICK OUT AND ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE

Replace front with low-profile units; relocate mount for stock rear units.

US MARKET, RIGHT-SIDE, HANDLEBARMOUNTED LIGHT SWITCH UNIT HAS NO CAPABILITY TO SHUT OFF HEADLIGHTS

Install stock BMW European market switching unit.

NO AUXILIARY FOG/OFF-ROAD LIGHTS

Install dimmable Clearwater Darla lights for better visibility and illumination.

STOCK OIL COOLER ON RIGHT CYLINDER CRASH BAR SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE BY OBJECTS OR CRASH

Replace stock oil cooler with larger unit for better cooling and increased volume, relocate new oil cooler to frame mount behind front fender, install longer braided stainless lines.

OIL FLOW TO OIL COOLER NOT TEMPERATURE RESTRICTED

Install Silent Hektik thermostat between oil cooler lines and lower engine case; restricts flow out to oil cooler until engine oil temperature has reached 90°C.

FRONT FORK SPRINGS FATIGUED

Race Tech rebuilds forks with heavy-duty progressive springs, Gold Valve cartridge emulator, new seals.

REAR ÖHLINS SHOCK FATIGUED AND WEEPING

Race Tech rebuilds shock on Öhlins carcass: new spring, new valve, new nitrogen, new preload adjuster.

UPPER REAR SHOCK MOUNT RUBS ÖHLINS SHOCK

Modify and reinforce frame to mitigate.

STOCK HEADLIGHT HAS LIMITED BEAM WIDTH AND PERFORMANCE

Install dual headlight conversion with H4 low/high/parking bulb and H7 high bulb; integrate into BMW European market handlebar-mounted switch.

LEFT HANDLEBAR-MOUNTED CHOKE LEVER AND DUAL CHOKE CABLES LEADING TO TWIN CARBURETORS SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE IN CRASH, DIFFICULT TO ASSESS WEAR, PROBLEMATIC TO ADJUST IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES

Install individual short choke pulls directly to back of carburetors for better reliability, ease of repair, simplicity.

TIRES OLD

Replace with Continental Twinduro TKC 80 front/rear.

EMISSIONS RELATED SECONDARY AIR SYSTEM (SLS) AND ELECTRONIC FUEL SHUT-OFF VALVE INCREASE ENGINE WEAR, ADD WEIGHT AND COMPLEXITY

Remove all aforementioned system components; install European starter cover and lower airbox housing that are not drilled out for SLS, fuel vapor return lines, etc.*

STOCK JETTING IN 32MM BING INADEQUATE FOR NEW EXHAUST SYSTEM

Install larger jets.

ELECTRIC STARTER OLD AND FATIGUED

Install new Nippondenso Toyota truck starter, adapted for late-model BMW airheads, requires less amperage and is 50 percent lighter than stock.

NO EXTRA FUEL OR WATER STORAGE FOR REMOTE TRAVEL

Modify aftermarket pannier frames to hold removable Rotopax 1-gallon fuel and water cells.

STOCK PANNIERS NOT WATERTIGHT; WHEN REMOVED, HARD CASES DIFFICULT TO CARRY WITH OTHER GEAR; HARD CASE VOLUMES ARE FIXED

Adapt versatile, removable, collapsible, waterproof Mosko Moto Scout 25-liter pannier kit to existing pannier rack.

TO CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL GS SPECS AS WELL AS A LIST OF RESOURCES USED FOR THE BUILD, VISIT EXPEDITIONPORTAL.COM

BEFORE

“Before” shot of the 1994 R 100 GS project bike adorned with BMW factory Paris–Dakar parts. The yellow/black livery applied by a previous owner, while not a factory PD color option, reflects a contemporary GS color scheme aficionados affectionately call “Bumble Bee.”

* EDITOR᾽S NOTE: Verify local regulations when modifying emissions equipment.

a one-trick pony, Auriol won again aboard an HPN G/S bike in 1983. Belgian rider Gaston Rahier, atop airheads tricked out by HPN, was victorious in 1984 and 1985.

BMW didn’t dither promoting their G/S. The aftermarket picked up, as HPN and other fabricators built bikes and sold parts to discerning riders. BMW also saw where this could go with more intrepid customers, and in 1984, they built a special edition called the R 80 G/S Paris–Dakar. With an 8.45-gallon (32-liter) steel tank, a small cargo rack behind a solo seat, and no passenger footpegs, the bike oozed long-range desert and adventure touring. This early distillation of the G/S Paris–Dakar concept put the bike into its own class.

In 1987, BMW introduced the Paralever, which combined the suspension/shaft drive unit, but mitigated the elevator effect or rising motion prevalent on the Monolever rear end when under acceleration (and consequent sinking when off the throttle). BMW continued the R 80 G/S and introduced a larger-displacement 980cc motor bolted into the R 100 GS. Marzocchi telescoping forks provided longer travel up front, and a larger front disk and Brembo twin-piston calipers were installed. Other modifications included reinforcements to the frame/subframe, a 6.8-gallon (26-liter) steel fuel tank, rims with spokes lacing through the outside edge (for tubeless tires), a low windshield, along with minor dash and styling changes.

At this juncture, BMW dropped the “/” between the G and S, to become GS, which became synonymous with Geländesport (off-road sport) instead of Gelände/Strasse.

In 1988, privateer Eddy Hau raced an HPN-built R 100 GS to the Paris–Dakar winner’s podium. BMW seized the moment and released the R100 GS-PD (PD for Paris–Dakar). This model came with a solo seat, large horizontal cargo rack, and plastic engine fairing. BMW added an external tubular structure, which bolted to the bike’s frame, partially protecting the fuel tank, upper fairing, and headlight assembly. An adjustable Plexiglas windshield was added to keep wind and bugs from pummeling the rider. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature is its massive 9.24-gallon (35-liter) plastic fuel tank.

To many, the 1990-1996 R 100 GS-PD is the pinnacle of the airhead GS boxers. The aesthetic, especially with the substantial fuel tank, has flowing contours reminiscent of Honda’s XR. It’s the epitome of analog adventure bikes: air-cooled engine simplicity, easy to access dual carburetors, unsophisticated yet effective rear drum brake, reserve fuel capabilities with the tank’s dual petcocks, storage under the seat, field repairable, and an adequate factory-supplied tool kit. You can hammer it full-throttle on the Autobahn for hours, panniers stuffed to the brim and cargo rack loaded to the gills, then nimbly thread your way in first gear on a dirt road less trav-

YOU CAN HAMMER IT FULL-THROTTLE ON THE AUTOBAHN FOR HOURS, PANNIERS STUFFED TO THE BRIM AND CARGO RACK LOADED TO THE GILLS, THEN NIMBLY THREAD YOUR WAY IN FIRST GEAR ON A DIRT ROAD LESS TRAVELED TO YOUR FAVORITE SECLUDED CAMPSITE.

eled to your favorite secluded campsite. The last of the Geländesport PD airheads came with a soul thirsty for exploration.

40TH ANNIVERSARY GELÄNDE/STRASSE PROJECT BIKE

I recently purchased a low-mileage 1994 R 100 GS with all PD trappings fit for a G/S 40th anniversary project. Worry not purists; it isn’t a factory-configured R 100 GS-PD. A previous owner’s paperwork and a color code sticker indicate this is just a wayward GS. When still in production, the R 100 GS converted easily to Paris–Dakar configuration. I did this in 1993, through a shop in Hamburg, Germany, for another GS. The parts weren’t in a giant box labeled PD Umbauteile/conversion parts; one just bought individual components off the shelf.

This project bike goal is to prepare a long-distance, world-tour-ready bike that upholds the traditional reliability of the R 100 GS platform, with key component upgrades where appropriate. Within these parameters, aims are to cut weight, maximize efficiency, and increase durability, while keeping the motorcycle repairable by the rider to the greatest extent. The point isn’t to build a race replica requiring dedicated tools and specialized mechanics. Some parts derive from racing but were chosen to improve reliability or simplicity, rather than high performance.

When rehabilitating old bikes, people have differing views. Most vintage expedition and overland transports have room for improvement, especially after three decades afield. The history of this 26-year-old bike was uncertain, and many aspects clearly required attention, including multiple oil weeps. A relatively vague maintenance record passed through various hands didn’t help, so naturally, I changed oils, filters, spark plugs, corroded

Classic, unadulterated Geländesport.

Left column:

Upgraded aluminum twin headlight mount houses a 55-watt H7 low-beam halogen and a 60-watt H4 high-beam halogen, along with a 5-watt parking light.

A simple solution to increase reliability and simplicity: short choke pulls located behind the 32mm Bing carburetors. These replace the left handlebarmounted choke lever and the two lengthy cables that normally run under the tank to the carbs. The in-line fuel filters are a must.

The rear shock is an Öhlins, rebuilt and upgraded by Race Tech.

Detail of the custom stainless steel exhaust.

Right column:

The upgraded front brake consists of a Spiegler 300mm floating disk, a Brembo Gold Line 4-piston caliper, and a custom billet aluminum adaptor for the stock brake attachment to the fork.

The rear sub-frame mounted spare valve cover inspired by HPN race bikes of yore. With a flat aluminum backing built by a local airhead enthusiast, this one also stores extra engine oil. The blinker mounts have been relocated and recessed to prevent the lenses from breaking when the bike inevitably hits the ground.

The Clearwater Darla lights are a welcome, if not requisite, lighting upgrade. Round oldstyle “peanut” valve covers and braided stainless steel lines to the relocated oil cooler define form and function.

Flipping the rear brake arm around on old-school airheads to clear ground hazards is a rally racing modification popularized on HPN-built bikes. We built ours with a billet aluminum support and a longer, heavierduty, re-routed brake cable.

TREVOR DUNNE

As a youth in South Africa, Dunne raced a Kreidler 50cc and Zündapp 125cc. Sponsored by a shop in Pretoria, he wrenched on bikes to earn cash. His high school girlfriend, daughter of a US embassy employee, suggested applying to American universities. During the initial visit to California, Santa Barbara’s riviera caught his eye and reminded him of Durban, where he grew up. In 1975, he began studies at UCSB.

Dunne raced bikes and worked at Suzuki of Santa Barbara (the dealership also carried Husqvarna, BMW, and Ducati) to cover his education. With an advanced degree in industrial engineering, he landed a job with an aerospace firm. Dunne opened Dyno Cycle as a side gig and eventually left aerospace to focus full time on the shop. He has raced bikes by makers Cagiva, Ducati, Gilera, Yamaha, and BMW.

In 2000, he opened Ducati of Santa Barbara. Trevor’s daughter Daniela and son Carlin, also riders, worked there. In 2013, Carlin won the grueling Baja 250 and 500 as a solo rider. Among other accomplishments, he had four wins at Pikes Peak. At that famed mountain course in 2019, riding with the fastest time on record and just before the finish line, Carlin had a fatal accident. Daniela has established the Carlin Dunne Foundation to assist young riders with mentorships and advice and help extreme athletes with cranial injuries. Currently, Trevor focuses on custom manufacture, prototypes, vintage repair, and specialty parts.

nuts and bolts, crush rings, cable ties, and fuel lines as the baseline. Detailed inspections were essential, and certain aftermarket upgrades and modifications just as crucial.

Because R bike parts are highly interchangeable, it’s common to encounter mixand-match GS and PD configurations that meet individual preferences. Many R 100 GS-PD owners opt for the standard GS two-person seat, with only a small aft cargo area. The lower GS front fender is great for spirited riding, but some find the high motocross-type fender adequate at speed, and requisite in dirt.

PHASED BUILD: ADAPT AND OVERCOME

COVID-19 introduced significant issues and delays. Working on a vintage bike didn’t make things easy. Even without a pandemic, finding a fairly local and experienced airhead mechanic who could tackle issues well beyond the owner’s manual proved problematic. I decided to have a phased build, with the first segment largely addressing handling characteristics and general optimization. The next installment will focus on engine components, navigation equipment, performance characteristics, tools/ spares, paint, and tidying the final product.

For the first phase, I contacted Trevor Dunne, a respected Santa Barbara motorcycle shop owner, racer, and experienced fabricator. As it turns out, South Africanborn Dunne is also a factory-trained BMW

motorcycle mechanic (see sidebar). I wasn’t through the second sentence describing the concept, when he had already envisioned the build and how we could adjust and prevail.

We also had colleagues in Germany tracking down items. Finding the most ubiquitous of late-model airhead parts, like the OEM shaft drive rear boot, was difficult. When aftermarket parts appeared available, we discovered some were either out-ofstock or made of pure unobtanium. In certain instances, Dunne laboriously fabricated from scratch.

INITIAL RIDE IMPRESSIONS

The stainless exhaust’s throaty roar is more like a large displacement thumper and provides excellent auditory feedback. The suspension and brakes will require more road and trail time under load to maximize the setup’s capabilities. We rejetted the carburetors twice, and they seem very responsive across the RPM range. On an older bike, Clearwater’s Darla lights drastically improve the riding experience. Mosko Moto’s Scout 25-liter panniers easily adapted to another manufacturer’s rack, and the Scout 30-liter duffle fits perfectly on the R 100 GS-PD cargo rack.

An R 100 GS took me through war zones, deserts, and mountains. An electrical engineer in Trittau, Germany, helped mount the Paris–Dakar parts, and a police motorcycle mechanic in Ljubljana, Slovenia, synched the carburetors. I later commuted on it daily for four years. I’m secretly jealous that my R 100 GS-PD will continue on adventures long after I can’t. It’s more a lifelong friend than a bike, and this build, an homage.

With Mosko Moto Scout 25-liter pannier bags affixed and a Scout 30-liter duffle strapped to the gear rack, Gina eyes the line out of a rock-strewn arroyo. On technical topography, even with a full 9.24-gallon tank, many find that the R 100 GSPD handles more like a nimble enduro and less like a modern adventure bike.

OVERLAND ROUTES

SCOTT BRADY

THE LOST COAST OF CALIFORNIA

Despite California’s urban reputation, the state holds many adventurous destinations, ranging from the largest national park (Death Valley) to the remote and clandestine Lost Coast in Northern California. Few know about this rugged section of coastline, spanning Humboldt and Mendocino counties, with the charming enclave of Ferndale in the north, and the diminutive Rockport in the south.

For the overlander’s purposes, this unfettered land has been completely ignored by progress. The King Range of mountains is too geotechnically challenging to allow for State Route 1 to hug the coast, pushing the throngs of tourists and ground-clearance challenged much farther east. What remains is the King Range National Conservation Area, the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park, minor private inholdings, and national forest. The region is isolated, the terrain formidable, and the history of missing people, murders, and clashes between marijuana growers and ranchers is surprising. This area has the highest number of missing persons in California (35 at last count), as well as the most bears, and the highest rainfall in the state. All this variety and intrigue culminate into a calling card for exploration.

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Lost Coast is primarily comprised of a drainage divide that parallels the Pacific Coast; it’s a significant uplift that disrupts weather farther to the east, collecting storms against the prominent King Range. Weather stations typically report over 100 inches of rainfall, which collects into Usal Creek in the south and the Mattole River in the north, along with hundreds of other minor creeks and drainages. Summers can be warm and dry, with temperatures approaching 90°F.

Beyond the geologic riches, the region has a treasure of fauna, from gray whales migrating south along the shoreline to black bears investigating tents for tasty treats. It is critical to be bear-aware and stow food, trash, and toiletries in bear-safe containers. Travelers can encounter mountain lions, black-tailed deer, and large herds of Roosevelt elk. There are hundreds of species of migratory and endemic birds to engage the aspiring ornithologist.

Flora in this area is dense and varied, supported by significant annual rainfall and deep canyons. The most notable botanical areas are the large stands of old-growth forest, the coastal prairies, and even a coastal dune system along the Mattole River. The area is also famous for wild mushrooms and not-so-wild cannabis farms.

Along the breathtaking coastline, the mountains descend quickly to a narrow, windswept shore. In the north, the route touches the coast at Cape Mendocino, and while still paved at this section, it is one of the most beautiful drives of the route, punctuated by rocks shaped like shipwrecks (they fooled me). Sprawling sand beaches at Mattole included the remains of a solstice ceremony, and Shelter Cove supports one of the few communities along this 100+ mile stretch of forgotten shoreline.

THE DRIVE

This route is a perfect backroad respite from the bustle of a northwestern coastal drive, although it is worth including southern Oregon and the redwoods into the itinerary. Seeing a redwood is nearly a spiritual experience, given that they are one of the largest living things on the planet (third to the two-milewide honey fungus and the Pando aspen grove), and they are the earth’s largest trees.

For the traveler’s purpose, this route starts at the sleepy enclave of Ferndale, one of the last stops for a proper espresso (Mind’s Eye Coffee Lounge) and expensive fuel (Tipple Motors). It is worth stopping and taking a stroll along the well-preserved Victorian-era main street, complete with a blacksmithing museum, Golden Gait Mercantile, and historic cemetery. This area was originally inhabited by the Wiyot people, many of whom were massacred (primarily women, infants, and elderly) in 1860 by settlers. Today, 450 Wiyot remain, and the last native speaker died in 1962.

From Ferndale, the route starts on the poorly paved Mattole Road that climbs along Wildcat Ridge. The road then meanders until Bear River Ridge Road, where it begins a descent to the coast. It is not only steep but narrow, which resulted in me shift-

ing into 2WD low range to save the brakes on the EarthCruiser. The bottom of the grade reveals a few structures at Capetown, scattered along the Bear River. The road turns abruptly south at Cape Mendocino, revealing Sugar Loaf Island (California’s westernmost island), and a stunning stretch of pavement running tight along the beach south of Devil’s Gate. The road then turns back inland to the curious little enclave of Petrolia.

Rolling into Petrolia garnered more stares than waves; this unincorporated community is famous for being home to California’s first oil well. A few crooked streets are filled with funky houses and a wooden church from 1912. This area is known for being a banana belt, so expect the weather to be temperate yearround. The general store has gasoline available, and there is the Yellow Rose Bar, serving food and drinks. This is the turning-off point for an out-and-back drive to the Mattole Campground and beach, a windswept feature of low-lying dunes and unimproved campsites. We found ornate Maypoles set into the shore, colorfully decorated in ribbon and foliage, timed with Beltane and warmer days of spring. It is also possible to explore the mountains south of the beach and find boondocking campsites atop Strawberry Rock (thanks go to Randy Perkins for the suggestion). This detour provides access to the Punta Gorda Lighthouse if the 4WD route is open (or with a set of hiking boots).

Driving back east along the Mattole River, the road degrades further after the George C. Lindley Memorial Bridge and the precipitous climb up Shenanigan Ridge. This is the last bit of pavement, leading into the town of Honeydew and a few campgrounds. The isolated village is best known for being nearby the film sets of Jurassic Park and After Earth. This is where the unpaved segment begins in earnest, following the Wilder Ridge Road to the south, just skirting the King Range National Conservation Area. The next stop (if one chooses) is Shelter Cove, a mostly forgettable attempt at remote community living. There is a general store with fuel and limited supplies.

The route turns back south again, taking the Chemise Mountain Road, a rarely maintained dirt track that connects to Usal Road. This is when the track and geology become more notable, twisting back and forth along the elevation lines, frequent water crossings, and deep canyons. Route finding here can be more challenging with various west–east roads intersecting the Usal route. This is also the area with the least road maintenance, and occasional muddy or rutted sections, complete with exposed roots or rocks. We even observed multiple disabled or abandoned cars; locals indicated they were a result of the road closures on Highway 101 and errant GPS suggestions.

This track provides rare glimpses to the coast but is primarily made up of dense forest and the occasional unimproved campsite. Despite this being the most populous state in the US, we did not encounter another traveler. Usal Road finds civilization again at Hotel Gulch and the Usal Campground, but the fun is not over—the track affords stunning views to the ocean below, with an unceremonious end at Highway 1.

LEFT COLUMN

40°34′38.9″N 124°15′45.8″W

43°24′50.8″N 124°17′01.3″W

RIGHT COLUMN

40°08′49.0″N 124°04′31.3″W

39°46′50.3″N 123°50′05.7″W

42°18′43.9″N 124°24′52.9″W

40°08′42.3″N 124°04′29.8″W

OPENING PAGE

43°24′14.1″N 124°18′16.4″W

ACCESS

SOUTH ENTRANCE Usal Road is accessed via Highway 1 at 39°46′49.33″N, turning off the highway to the west and climbing the ridgeline above the Cottaneva Valley.

NORTH ENTRANCE The route is best accessed from the south side of Ferndale, just after crossing Francis Creek. The Mattole Road turns south off of Centerville Road and immediately starts climbing Wildcat Ridge.

LOGISTICS

TOTAL MILES 123

SUGGESTED TIME 2-3 days

LONGEST DISTANCE WITHOUT FUEL 58 miles

FUEL SOURCES

WESTPORT COMMUNITY STORE 39°38′18.14″N, 123°47′5.33″W

SHELTER COVE GENERAL STORE 40°2′11.60″N, 124°3′8.92″W

HONEYDEW GENERAL STORE 40°14′38.91″N, 124°7′48.83″W

PETROLIA GENERAL STORE 40°19′29.89″N, 124°17′14.36″W

FERNDALE TIPPLE MOTORS 40°34′37.45″N, 124°15′46.68″W

DIFFICULTY (2.0 out of 5.0)

During the dry season, the route can be completed in a high-clearance AWD SUV or larger 4WD camper. The height of the wet season should be avoided due to the potential for causing trail damage or encountering impassable conditions. A 4WD with low range is preferred due to steep and loose grades.

WHEN TO GO

The area is best accessed in the shoulder seasons of late spring or fall. Summer months can be warm and heavily trafficked.

PERMITS AND FEES

Most access to the wilderness area requires a permit, including hiking and camping at the numerous campsites within the wilderness or conservation area boundary. Camping in established campgrounds like Mattole, Honeydew Creek, Tolkan, Streamside, and Usal require fees of $8 to $25 per night, and several require reservations for busy seasons.

SUGGESTED CAMPSITES

MATTOLE CAMP

Multiple unimproved campsites with access to the beach and ocean Pit toilet, no potable water, $8 per night 40°17′24.76″N, 124°21′19.40″W

STRAWBERRY ROCK

Boondocking site at the top of a grassy knoll, accessed via Prosper Ridge

Access track is technical and eroded, but a reward for the properly equipped 40°16′49.21″N, 124°21′9.80″W

HONEYDEW CREEK CAMPGROUND

Five campsites with picnic tables and a fire ring Vault toilets and no potable water, $8 per night

40°13′54.27″N, 124°6′51.04″W

REMOTE CAMP, USAL ROAD

Boondocking site east of Flat Rock Creek Pullout big enough for a few vehicles, dense forest 39°55′58.20″N, 123°56′22.38″W

USAL BEACH CAMPGROUND

Large, dispersed camping area with limited services First come, first served primitive campsites, $25 per night 39°49′54.00″N, 123°50′50.53″W

CONTACTS

SINKYONE WILDERNESS STATE PARK parks.ca.gov

KING RANGE BLM Office blm.gov/visit/king-range

HUMBOLDT COUNTY SHERIFF humboldtgov.org/187/Sheriffs-Office

MENDOCINO COUNTY SHERIFF mendocinosheriff.com/

JEROLD PHELPS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL, GARBERVILLE sohumhealth.org/ REDWOOD MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, FORTUNA stjoehumboldt.org/

RESOURCES

It is recommended that the traveler utilize redundant GPS devices (like a phone and a dedicated GPS), along with paper maps and a compass. This track, along with all other Overland Routes, can be downloaded on our website at overlandjournal. com/overland-routes/.

Overland Route descriptions are intended to be an overview of the trail rather than turn-by-turn instructions. We suggest you download an offline navigation app and our GPX track, as well as source detailed paper maps as an analog backup. As with any remote travel, circumstances can change dramatically. Drivers should check road conditions with local authorities before attempting the route and be ready to turn back should extreme conditions occur.

Cartography

OVERLAND CONSERVATION ÅSA BJÖRKLUND

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

IN A CHANGING CLIMATE, GOING GREEN IS NOT ONLY AN ALTRUISTIC ACTION BUT A SMART AND NECESSARY BUSINESS STRATEGY FOR THE OUTDOOR INDUSTRY.

Patagonia has been at the forefront of the sustainability movement for over two decades, showing that profit-making does not contradict environmentalism and the three Rs: reusing, repairing, and recycling products. In addition, the company has helped conserve 73 million acres of wild lands and 3,575 miles of rivers through the Conservation Alliance, founded in 1989 by Patagonia, REI, The North Face, and Kelty.

Despite these successes, the apparel industry has lagged behind the food industry in terms of the demands of environmentally friendly goods. Outdoor companies are now catching up with big strides.

Today, the changing climate is a burning topic that unites the outdoor industry, although most businesses face the same threats. Weather-related disasters disrupt production and distribution schedules, produce inventory risk, and jeopardize revenue. At the same time, customers—particularly Gen Z and millennials—are increasingly demanding action and showing loyalty toward brands that take a stand on social and environmental issues.

“Climate change is an essential threat to all businesses, but the outdoor industry is uniquely at risk because we depend on the outdoors, whether trails being open for hiking and running, streams having clean water for fishing, and so on,” said Senior Sustainability Director at the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) Amy Horton.

In January 2020, 65 members of OIA joined forces in the Climate Action Corps, a collaborative group where the members take tangible steps to reduce their climate impact with support from OIA.

For sustainability to not just be a marketing spiel, it’s important to take action on all production chain levels—from manufacturing all the way to the product’s end of life. For instance, in 2010, Prana discovered a lurking problem: packaging plastics.

“Ten years later, our industry is finally starting to notice, which is amazing. We have been working diligently to reduce our reliance on plastic packaging, initiating our signature roll-packing method, which eliminates the need for a polybag on 80 percent of our annual products. Through this process, we have eliminated over 17 million plastic bags from 2010-2019,” said Prana’s Director of Sustainability Rachel K. Lincoln.

This sort of race between leaders and followers only has winners when the goal is conserving our great outdoors.

Klean Kanteen was the first company to kick plastic when it launched its line of stainless steel water bottles in 2004. Reusable

bottles are now mainstream, a development that Klean Kanteen applauds, while taking the next step ahead. This year, the company was certified climate neutral, meaning it has achieved carbon neutrality for its entire greenhouse gas footprint through a combination of emissions reductions and offsets.

“If there is an opportunity to leave a lighter footprint or do less harm, we will stubbornly pursue the better way even if it creates additional obstacles,” said Klean Kanteen’s Senior Sustainability Manager Danielle Cresswell. “As a family and employee-owned company, our approach to sustainability boils down to this: it’s the right thing to do.”

GET INVOLVED

Next time you shop for gear or apparel, choose a brand that you know takes sustainability seriously. Member brands are listed on websites such as the Outdoor Industry Association, the Conservation Alliance, and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition.

By using the roll-pack method, Prana has removed over 17 million polybags from their shipping department from 2010-2019. Reusable water bottles help reduce the world’s enormous plastic litter problem.

Photo by Ian McWilliams, courtesy of Klean Kanteen.

Image courtesy of Prana.

OVERLAND MEDICINE DR. JON S. SOLBERG, MD, FAWM

Global Travel in a Pandemic World

Protect yourself and others through preparation and planning.

Asresponsible international travelers, we should strive to minimize infectious disease risk to ourselves and the populations we visit by planning and executing our travel plans carefully. Use the following timeline/checklist to ensure you’re prepared for your next adventure.

SIX TO EIGHT MONTHS PRIOR TO TRAVEL

TAKE APPROPRIATE COURSES Enroll in an advanced first aid or wilderness medicine course.

CHECK IMMUNIZATIONS Check that your routine immunizations are up to date by using the Centers for Disease Control Adult Vaccine Assessment Tool (www2.cdc.gov/nip/adultimmsched/).

SEARCH FOR TRAVEL ADVISORIES Visit the US State Department website (state.gov) and search your destination(s) for travel advisories about crime, civil unrest, terrorism, natural disaster, and health issues related to travel. Travel advisories are countryspecific, color-coded, and issued in four levels:

• Level 1, Exercise Normal Precautions: All international travel poses some risk.

• Level 2, Exercise Increased Caution: Be aware of heightened risks to safety and security.

• Level 3, Reconsider Travel: Avoid travel due to serious risks to safety and security.

• Level 4, Do Not Travel: A greater likelihood of life-threatening risk exists. Do not travel to the country; leave as soon as it is feasible.

RESEARCH HEALTH INFORMATION Visit The Centers for Disease Control website (cdc.gov) to answer questions such as:

• Which vaccines are required for country entry? Will I need to present a Yellow Card (proof of yellow fever vaccination) at the border?

• What common health items at home may not be available at my destination (diabetic and contact lens supplies, prescriptions, and over-the-counter medications)?

• Which antibiotics are effective for preventing malaria in my region of travel?

• Where can I find a qualified local doctor or hospital overseas?

CHECK FOR COUNTRY-SPECIFIC HEALTH NOTICES Check the CDC website for country-specific travel health notices about disease outbreaks, special events or gatherings, and natural disasters. Travel health notices are issued in three levels:

• Watch Level 1: Practice usual precautions for this destination, including updated routine vaccinations and appropriate mosquito avoidance.

• Alert Level 2: Practice enhanced precautions. There may be additional precautions listed for specific at-risk groups.

• Warning Level 3: Avoid all non-essential travel to this destination. The outbreak is of high risk to travelers.

TWO TO THREE MONTHS PRIOR TO DEPARTURE

VISIT

DOCTORS

AND OBTAIN MEDICATIONS Visit your medical doctor and dentist for routine exams, update your routine immunizations, obtain two weeks extra (minimum) of your regular medications, and stock your travel kit with prescriptions for diarrhea, vomiting, altitude sickness, etc. Carry all prescriptions in their original packaging.

CONSIDER TRAVEL INSURANCE OPTIONS

• Trip Cancellation Insurance: Covers your financial investment, but not medical expenses.

• Travel Health/Medical Insurance: This is a complex arena. Before you buy, see if you already have some coverage with your credit card company, health insurance provider, or any clubs to which you belong (American Automobile Association, Divers Alert Network, etc.). When applying, tell the truth about pre-existing conditions and activities in which you will engage, lest you find out after the fact that you didn’t qualify for coverage in the first place. Always read the fine print before purchasing. Most policies expect you to pay cash or use a credit card at the time of service and submit your receipts when you return home.

• Medical Evacuation Insurance: Covers evacuation to a highquality hospital or all the way to home for those traveling remotely or to areas with questionable health care facilities. Many policies offer 24-hour physician support call centers.

Note: An excellent resource on this topic is the Guide to Travel Health Insurance, 2016 Edition, downloadable after joining (free) and making a ($30) donation to the independent, nonprofit, International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT, iamat.org).

PURCHASE WATER PURIFICATION DEVICE Purchase and practice using a water purification device. Seemingly clean drinking water can transmit disease. Treat all except bottled water before consumption. Ultraviolet light sterilization pens, chemical tablets, and filter pumps are effective, portable, durable, and more affordable now than ever before.

FOUR

TO SIX WEEKS PRIOR TO TRAVEL

GET TRAVEL VACCINES Visit Your County Health Department or a Travel Clinic, both of which are likely more qualified than your personal physician to recommend and administer specialized travel vaccines and prescribe malaria prophylaxis. Locate travel clinics by visiting the International Society of Travel Medicine (istm.org) or the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (astmh.org)

ONE TO TWO WEEKS PRIOR TO

DEPARTURE

ENROLL IN THE SAFE TRAVELER PROGRAM Enroll in the US State Department’s Safe Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), which pushes up-to-date, travel-pertinent information right to your smartphone and helps the local embassy contact you in the event of an emergency.

PREVENTION WHILE ON OR OFF THE ROAD

MOSQUITO PREVENTION Mosquitos and ticks spread terrible diseases. Regularly apply DEET insect repellent on all exposed skin and wear clothing impregnated with permethrin, a humansafe synthetic insecticide and repellent. Some travel clothing brands are pre-treated, or you can treat your own with a soaking kit obtained from a quality sporting goods store.

FOOD SAFETY AND HYGIENE Many infections are transmitted by food and fecal material. Use alcohol gel or wash your hands after every trip to the toilet. The American produce industry washes their product with chlorinated water to prevent diarrhea caused by salmonella bacteria; farmers’ markets do not. Enjoy locally sourced produce but stick to peelable fruits and vegetables or cook it adequately before consumption. When camping, bury human refuse 8 to12 inches deep and at least 100 feet away from all water sources. Dig a common latrine if camping more than three to a group.

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) Respiratory diseases like COVID-19 and influenza are spread by respiratory droplets larger than 5 microns in diameter that are expelled from infected persons during a cough or sneeze. The infectious particles fall to the ground within 6 feet, unless they are trapped inside a cloth or paper face mask. Infected persons without any symptoms can transmit COVID-19, so we primarily wear face masks for the safety of others, not our own. Include a couple of comfortable cloth face masks in your travel kit and wear one in situations where you cannot maintain 6 feet of social distance. Sneeze or cough into your elbow and use hand sanitizer regularly. Gloves are not necessary.

Infectious disease particles smaller than 5 microns in diameter (like tuberculosis) cause airborne transmission by floating between individuals who breathe the same air. Exhaled particles can be trapped inside a standard paper or cloth face mask, but once airborne, these small particles require special air-purifying respirators (APR) such as an N-95 mask to prevent spread. N-95 masks do not keep the average traveler safer than a paper mask does, and they should be reserved for healthcare providers.

ADVICE FOR THOSE VISITING LIVE ANIMAL MARKETS

Experts feel COVID-19 developed in bats and was transferred to humans through an intermediate host animal. If you plan to visit or work in a live animal market, wear a cloth face mask, practice good hand hygiene after touching animals or animal products, avoid touching your face, and avoid contact with sick animals, spoiled animal products, and animal refuse. Do not touch any animals living in the market area, such as stray cats or dogs.

QUARANTINE

Some travelers are being asked to quarantine for 14 days due to COVID-19. Quarantine is the restricted movement and observation of healthy persons who may have been exposed to a contagious disease, thus allowing time for the infection to manifest symptoms. Quarantine has an interesting history and was used to slow the spread of plague in the 14th century when incoming ships at Venice were forced to harbor for 40 days (Italian: quaranta giorni). Persons already known to be ill with a contagious disease self-isolate by restricting their contact with healthy persons to prevent the spread of their disease.

Sick persons who refuse to self-isolate may be forced into civil commitment at a hospital or other facility. Forced quarantine, isolation, and civil commitment infringe on civil liberties, and this authority is granted to the CDC via the US Constitution’s Commerce Clause and the Code of Federal Regulations. The CDC is authorized to detain, examine, and release persons arriving into the US and traveling between states if they are suspected to be carrying any of the communicable diseases listed in Presidential Executive Order 13295, including severe acute respiratory syndromes.

WHEN TRAVELING CARRY ALL PRESCRIPTIONS IN THEIR ORIGINAL PACKAGING.

International quarantine laws are complex. The US State Department has no authority to demand release or provide repatriation services for American citizens quarantined by a foreign government.

No matter your preferred method of travel or next destination in this arena of global disease transmission, I wish you safe travels and hope you find this checklist informative and practical. In the meantime, I encourage you to ward off scurvy by visiting the airport bar and urge you to continue pressing the airlines to embrace social distancing by adding a few more inches of legroom for me back in Economy. Doctor’s orders!

Propane—It’s a Gas

Everything you never knew about this liquid, and travel solutions to use it.

SKILLS GARY WESCOTT

Photo by Maksim Lobanov

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY AND MONIKA WESCOTT

Clockwise from top: POL and OPD valves require a wrench to tighten their left-hand threads to prevent leaks. The OPD valve has a float rod inside the tank that prevents overfilling. The ACME valve eliminates the need for a wrench to tighten it and also incorporates the OPD valve feature. The newer ACME valve has large right-hand threads that can be hand tightened. Left: Gas or combination gas/ CO2 detectors are a must if using propane in a closed environment. Opening page: An old LPG tank, used in a tea house along the trail in the Himalayas region.

Let’s start with the basics. No matter where your adventures take you, you’ve got to eat, and at least some of the time, that means cooking. There are many fuel choices, including wood, alcohol, kerosene, white gas, unleaded gasoline, diesel, induction, butane, and propane. Location and weather determine whether fire is a good option. There are stoves that use alcohol for camping, and backpacking stoves like the MSR WhisperLite Universal that will cook a meal burning anything from kerosene to disposable butane canisters. There are stoves that burn diesel, popular in some expedition vehicles, and we can’t forget induction stoves or even a microwave if you run a generator or maybe lithium batteries and a strong inverter. Most of those won’t compare to a good sausage or steak grilled over an open campfire or a portable barbeque grill.

Without going into all the pros and cons of the various options, for clean, efficient, affordable cooking, there is nothing as popular as propane anywhere in the world, and for a good reason. Otherwise known as liquefied (yes, liquid) petroleum gas (LPG or LP Gas), propane has the clear advantage of being easily portable, consistent in quality, and available anywhere there are roads and people living. Aside from cooking, many campers/ RVs/expedition vehicles use propane to operate absorption refrigerators and power furnaces. Earlier Airstream trailers even had an option for inside gas lights.

DANGERS

As with anything flammable, including wood, there are risks, but properly installed, propane is one of the safest ways to cook, heat, and cool things. Even if propane is not ignited, the buildup of the gas can be deadly due to inhalation. Safe use of it in a camper requires a propane/gas detector. In its natural form, propane is colorless, odorless, and tasteless. To make propane safer, an additive called ethyl mercaptan gives it the odor most people recognize so they can smell gas and determine if there is a leak. Propane vapors are heavier than air. For this reason, they may accumulate in low-lying areas along floors or in storage compartments. Propane is flammable when mixed with air (oxygen) and can be ignited by many sources, including open flames, smoking materials, electrical sparks, and static electricity. It is critical that all propane tanks be stored upright and are securely anchored in place. All that being said, accidents with propane are rare.

VALVE TYPES

Propane is very cold and can cause freezer burn or frostbite if it contacts the skin. So, the question is, how do you get this LPG into your travel cylinder and out of it to heat coffee? You need a valve, and there are three types.

POL VALVE

Some older style propane cylinders use a POL valve, named for the manufacturer that devised it. POL is an abbreviation for Prest-O-Lite. These valves have the familiar female left-hand threads in the valve, and those threads are still currently used in many countries, including the US, Canada, Mexico, and much of Central and South America where tanks are filled by weight or the known volume embossed on the tank. The POL valve needs a wrench to make the connection tight enough to prevent leaks. Be cautious; with an oldstyle POL valve, if you open it with no hose attached, propane is freely released.

OPD VALVE

Starting in 2002, the Department of Transportation legally began requiring all LP cylinders from 4 to 40 pounds to have an overfill protection device or OPD. As the name implies, it prevents the overfilling of a propane cylinder. A cutaway of a tank shows the OPD valve has a float rod inside. When the liquid propane reaches the safe full level, the rod “floats” up and prevents more LP from entering. This action is similar to that of a float valve in a toilet. If you are not sure, propane bottles equipped with OPD valves are recognizable by the triangular hand wheel at the top of the valve itself—three lobes instead of the five or more on older valves.

Next to the float rod, there is a short tube on the right that goes to a small pressure-release breather port located on the side of all three types of valves. When the “liquid” propane reaches that level, liquid gas will blow out of the port, telling you that the cylinder has reached its full safe capacity.

ACME VALVE

Following on the heels of the POL and the OPD valves was the ACME valve, which has larger external right-hand threads. One of the big benefits of the ACME connector is that it is designed to be attached to the tank without tools. The OPD valves and the newer ACME valves have an additional built-in safeguard that prevents the escape of gas when the tank is not attached to a hose, even if the valve is open. If you screw a protective plug or a hose with an open end into the ACME or OPD valve, you defeat this safeguard. All of these valves still incorporate the female internal counterclockwise threads used for filling. All older hoses with male left-hand threads will still work.

LIMITATIONS

Traveling through Peru in 1988, we needed to fill our single 20-pound propane tank. Getting into the main and only propane refill center in Lima was like

breaking into Fort Knox. After much discussion and waiting overnight, the tank was filled. Several months later, in southern Chile, the tank was empty again. On a tip from a local, we went to a small shop on a back street in town. The owner had a big 30-gallon tank on a bench, upside down. Hooking a small adapter hose to our tank and opening the small bleeder screw on our old-style POL valve, he quickly filled our tank and turned off the flow of liquid propane as soon as a stream of white liquid gas began to escape from the small bleeder port. This was an interesting development.

The wheels were turning. Why couldn’t we do that in any country all over the world? It turns out we could, with the correct adapter. Most countries, including the US, often use replacement exchange cylinders. Instead of hauling your 20-pound barbeque tank down to the filling station, you bring it to the local grocery store and exchange it for a full one. It’s a great system, but it won’t work in Italy or many other countries because they don’t want your old empty tank. You would need to buy a new tank, pay for the propane, and the new cylinder would be a different size with a different hose fitting that would not be consistent with your camper’s connection. A propane filling station would most likely not have a POL-type, left-hand-thread hose to fill your tank. Propane companies in every country design their unique valves on their unique exchange tanks. That’s the problem.

PROPANE IS VERY COLD AND CAN CAUSE FREEZER BURN OR FROSTBITE IF IT CONTACTS THE SKIN.

Top: Turning the full exchange tank upside down allows the liquid propane to flow out into your empty tank. Bottom: When liquid gas starts to flow out the small bleeder screw, the tank is at its maximum safe fill level.

SOLUTIONS

The simple answer for the overland traveler is to carry a couple of 3-foot-long hoses, each fitted with a POL coupler with its male external counterclockwise threads that will fit into the POL, OPD, and the ACME female valves on your tank. Carry one hose that has the male counterclockwise POL threads on both ends, often usable throughout North and South America.

If you are traveling in countries that do not use POL-type female internal threads on their exchange tanks, it’s not a problem. Go to a hardware store, buy an exchange coupler that everyone uses in that country, and fit it to the open end of your transfer hose. Now find a place which has exchange tanks, often small hardware stores or gas stations. Rent or ask to borrow the exchange tank and pay for the propane, which is all they are selling. Find a convenient place near the store, and make sure bystanders wondering what the heck you’re doing are not lighting up a cigarette. After attaching the transfer hose between the two tanks, set the full tank upside down, slightly higher than your empty tank. Remember, you’re dealing with a liquid, using gravity to pour it from one tank to another.

Next, open the small bleeder screw with a screwdriver; half a turn is enough (you will hear gas escaping). Then open the main valves on both tanks and listen to liquid propane pour into your tank. It might take four or five minutes, depending on the diameter of the hole on your hose adapter. As soon as a stream of liquid starts to blow out of the bleeder screw port (caution, gloves are a good idea here), close it, and turn both tanks off. Your tank is full, and if there is any propane left in the exchange tank, the owner of the shop will be happy or won’t care because he will just have it refilled for the next customer.

Please note that the OPD float valve is only actuated during the filling process, not during operation. It does not restrict flow out of the cylinder. It’s only a secondary safety mechanism to prevent accidental overfilling.

Cylinders with overfill protection devices will allow liquid propane into gas lines and hoses if tipped over or

THE SIMPLE ANSWER FOR THE OVERLAND TRAVELER:

• CARRY A COUPLE OF 3-FOOT-LONG HOSES, EACH FITTED WITH A POL COUPLER WITH ITS MALE EXTERNAL COUNTERCLOCKWISE THREADS THAT WILL FIT INTO THE POL, OPD, AND THE ACME FEMALE VALVES ON YOUR TANK.

• CARRY ONE HOSE THAT HAS THE MALE COUNTERCLOCKWISE POL THREADS ON BOTH ENDS.

inverted. Bottles equipped with OPD or ACME valves and older tanks with the POL valves still must be filled by weight or capacity, usually stamped on the tank as required by law.

If you are not a mathematician, you can drive yourself crazy trying to figure out the relationship between the water capacity (WC) and the tare weight (TW) or empty weight of your tank. Here is a great website mathscinotes. com/2016/01/propane-tank-math/ to use for reference.

In the meantime, be aware that even if you know your tank’s capacity, you cannot legally or safely fill it more than 80 percent of that amount. Propane weighs 4.23 pounds per gallon. A typical 20-pound tank is so called because it can legally hold 20 pounds of propane (20 divided by 4.23 = 4.7 gallons or 17.79 liters). That is the maximum amount a filling station is allowed to pump into your dead-empty, 20-pound tank. When you have your tank filled at a commercial LP filling station, they are looking at the quantity of liquid gas

We carry a selection of 3-foot hoses, each fitted with the common POL left-hand connector that fits our LP tanks. Exchange tank connectors vary from country to country. Tanks are stamped with both their water capacity (WC) and their tare weight (TW).

being pumped in gallons or liters. If your tank is not dead-empty, then the little bleeder screw port on the side of all main valves is the best indication that your tank is full to its safe capacity, and that is what they will be watching. The second purpose of the bleeder screw port is to release gas pressure, so there is room for the liquid propane you are pumping in. New tanks must be purged from air to allow filling.

To make it even more simple, you know when your tank is empty because the flame goes out on your stove. Weigh it right then and write that number with a felt pen on your tank as “empty.” Take it to a professional filling station, fill it, and now mark its “full” weight and note how many gallons it took to fill it. Those three numbers can be very valuable in the future.

That brings up a final critical caution. If you have a tank that does not have a POL, an OPD, or an ACME valve with the small bleeder screw port, it’s very important that you do not overfill it—80 percent is maximum You can do this by using a small scale to weigh your tank as it is being filled, and do not fill beyond the rated “full” stamped weight for that tank. Alternately, the next time you have it professionally filled, mark the full and empty weights on the tank. Despite all the fancy propane level gauges on the market, the best and most reliable way to know how much fuel is in your tank is to weigh it. A fishing scale or one such as Power Tank

REGULATORS

One of the big advantages of cooking, heating or cooling with propane is that it’s pretty foolproof. Now that you know how to fill your tanks anywhere in the world, nothing can go wrong, except one thing. All propane devices need to have a regulator. The actual pressure inside your propane tank can reach somewhere between 100 and 200 psi. A regulator drops that pressure down to where most appliances operate at about 0.4 psi. The problem for overland travelers is that as important as a regulator is for your propane system, they do fail. When they fail, they default to off, so no more gas. If you’re traveling in the US, most good hardware/RV stores can sell you a replacement. If you’re traveling in far-off countries, it’s a good idea to carry a spare. Otherwise, you’ll be cooking on a fire. That’s fun unless you happen to be crossing a 14,000-foot pass along the Silk Road in Tajikistan or camped at the top of the 15,377-foot, Chungara-Tambo Quemado Pass in Chile where finding firewood can be a challenge. If that’s the case, get ready for a cold night.

uses to measure the air in their reusable air tanks works perfectly (powertank.com).

We have refilled our standard 20-pound Manchester LP tanks in many countries in South America, Europe, and Asia. Some of the unique exchange tank adapters will interchange. For example, the French adapter works in Turkey and Mongolia. If you can’t find the correct adapter in the local hardware store, a talented, small fabrication shop can usually make one for you, as they did for us in Russia.

Cylinders are subject to recertification (also known as requalification) every 12 years from their date of manufacture, stamped on the tank (02 05 = February 2005), and every five years after that. The recertification process is simple and can usually be done while you wait at a qualified propane service and filling center. Foreign countries never check. For further resources, visit propane101.com/opdcylindervalves.htm.

Clockwise from top left: Marking your tank with its full, empty, and fill capacity is helpful when replenishing on the road. Weighing your LP tank is the best way to measure how full or empty it is. We use a Power Tank scale to determine the amount of gas in our tanks. LP tanks must be inspected and recertified 12 years from their date of manufacture and every 5 years after that.

The Little Bread Loaf That Could

The history of the UAZ-452, a Soviet-era motor miracle.

Bold but brutal, the UAZ-452 is a true one-of-a-kind experience— a perplexing mix of oddity and simplicity that has stood in open defiance to any automotive design trend of the past 50 years. It is a motorized anachronism that just won’t die. Whilst the more sensible among us may choose to steer clear of this blast from the past, many others, including myself, couldn’t be any happier about its stubborn persistence.

Fittingly given the nickname Bukhanka, the Russian word for bread loaf, this wonderful feat of Soviet engineering has been capturing the hearts of Red Army veterans and wayward overlanders alike for more than a half-century. Created from necessity and beloved for its straightforwardness, the bukhanka, like much of the Soviet Union, was built to function. Unfortunately, no one thought to ask if it needed to function well.

Red hot and unapologetically loud, the bukhanka is devoid of just about every modern creature comfort that motorists have come to expect from even the most humble of rides. Bobble-head inducing

A modern Bukhanka, making easy work of a mountain pass in Georgia.

from the slightest of bumps, the buhanka is, inexplicably, manufactured without shock absorbers. An entirely manual operation, the four-wheel-drive shaft requires two hands and often some form of divine intervention to operate. Once in low-range 4WD, there is a better-than-decent chance you’ll be stuck there until a second prayer is answered. The seats are unmovable, the fuel gauge unreliable, and safety was, at best, a third concern for the manufacturers.

At first glance, many see nothing but a coffin on wheels. And in some respects, they are right. In the hands of a milquetoast motorist, the UAZ-452 is a sea as rough as they come. Yet, with the right mind behind the wheel, this loaf of bread is an unstoppable force—constantly breaking, but never breaking down. As the Russian saying goes, a bukhanka can always be fixed by the swing of a sledgehammer.

Understanding its niche, the vehicle is unlikely to evolve. Its current model, the UAZ-452, has been in production and remains effectively unchanged since 1966.

Just as many great stories do, the history of automotive’s most, or only, beloved loaf starts with the solving of a rather large problem. Or, in this case, a series of them. The first problem began in 1941, the problem was German, and it was fast approach-

ing—Operation Barbarossa had just begun.

Responding to the rapidly advancing Wehrmacht, Stalin ordered the relocation of key Soviet industrial centers to the east. As the blitzkrieg known as Operation Typhoon hastened for Moscow, ZiS, the capital’s main automotive manufacturer, was moved 500 miles east to Ulyanovsk. Situated along the Volga, Ulyanovsk already had a budding industrial center and plenty of available labour. Just a year later, the relocated factory was producing its first vehicle, the ZiS-5, a 3-ton truck capable of hauling 25 soldiers around at a time.

By 1943, it had become clear that the German forces would lose the battle over the Eastern Front. ZiS was moved back to Moscow, rebuilt in part with captured German machinery, and the factory in Ulyanovsk was given its name, Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (UAZ).

As the ZiS-5 resumed production elsewhere, UAZ teamed up with the already well-established GAZ, a Russian manufacturer that had been producing Ford-modelled cars since 1929. First producing the GAZ-AA (based on the Ford Model AA) in 1947, UAZ later joined in producing the iconic GAZ-69, the Willys Jeep of the USSR. By 1956, the factory was not only assembling the famous GAZ-69 but manu-

facturing them from scratch, too. Thanks to this partnership with GAZ, just over a decade after opening its doors, UAZ had become the top manufacturer of four-wheeldrive vehicles in the Soviet Union.

In the years following the Second World War, the USSR found itself preparing for another—one that many at the time thought to be a near inevitability, a nuclear war. This leads us to our second problem, the enormousness of the union at its height.

Stretching 6,800 miles (10,900 kilometres) from east to west, the Soviet Union covered nearly half (11) of the world’s 24 time zones. Within its boundaries were the greatest temperature swings found anywhere on Earth. In Siberia resides a mighty taiga; south of that, the Great Steppe. The union covered deserts as dry as they come, unforgiving marshlands, and many of the world’s most treacherous mountain passes. In short, one could throw a near endless list of superlatives onto a page and still likely fall short of describing the extent of what resided between the borders of the USSR.

After WWII had largely depleted the resource stocks in the heavily populated European areas, finding a way to tap into the less accessible natural resources found east of the Ural Mountains became vital. Once largely ignored, conquering the inhospitable terrain of Siberia quickly became a state priority.

Effective on the Eastern Front, the GAZ-69 was built in response to a war fought across a relatively small landscape, one that paled in comparative variability to the totality of the Soviet Union. To gain access to what lay beyond the frozen waste, the USSR was in desperate need of a groundbreaking invention. A vehicle that could transport necessary supplies and resources, of war or otherwise, whilst also keeping men and women safe and warm. But, unlike any previous car built in the

A series of early design variants for the UAZ-452. Included (clockwise from top left) are the standard van, microbus, ubiquitous farmers truck, and legendary ambulance. Opposite left to right: Built in the 1950s, the GAZ-69 would become the foundation upon which the Bukhanka was born. Setting up camp for the night in our converted Bukhanka in the Georgian countryside.

USSR, this new vehicle also needed to traverse tundra and conquer mountains effectively. It had to breeze past river crossings and skate on ice. What the Soviets needed was a miracle, the greatest thing since sliced bread. What they got was a bread loaf, the next best thing.

Having recently acquired full design and manufacturing capabilities, UAZ was assigned this new task, directly requested from the Red Army. Rather than wasting time developing a new engine in an hour of immediate need, in 1958, UAZ took the engine and four-wheel-drive system of the GAZ 69 and threw a rather large metal box over it, calling it the UAZ-450. It was a stunningly basic move that created the first cab-over vehicle of the Soviet Union.

The first model, the 450A, was a fourwheel-drive ambulance with room for two stretchers. At the time, it was believed to be the best car in the world for remote use. In 1959, that belief was put to the test as 35 of them were dispatched to some of the most demanding regions of the Soviet Union, including Oymyakon in Yakutia, the coldest inhabited place on Earth.

Delivering as promised, the bukhanka proved to be essentially indestructible. With such a simple design, any driver who fancied themself a mechanic (and they all did) could fix almost any problem on the go. It was fast to make, cheap to produce, and

ran on just about any grade fuel imaginable. With the grace and finesse of a drunken sailor, the vehicle conquered any and every terrain thrown at it—all the while carrying payloads of up to 1,750 pounds (800 kilograms).

After the massive success of the 450A, three more models were brought into production: the 450D, a drop-side pickup; the standard 450 model; and the 450V, an 11-seater microbus.

The bukhanka quickly won over the people’s hearts as it turned into a civilian favourite almost overnight, becoming the darling of the Soviet automobile industry. In 1966, each model was renumbered to 452, with slight improvements made to the payload, horsepower, and the ability to drive through 50 centimeters of snow. That same year, a special 452S model was designed specifically for arctic conditions. With far greater insulation, it was tested to keep the car’s interior at 30°C, even with an outside temperature of -60°C. By the end of 1966, UAZ considered the design to be perfected, and the bukhanka could be found covering all corners of the USSR. Its appearance, both inside and out, has not changed since.  Fast-forward a little over 50 years, and the bukhanka has sustained dozens of uses: ambulances, fire trucks, police vans, public busses, mountain taxis, and rescue missions, to name a few. And let’s not forget its ubiq-

IT WAS FAST TO MAKE, CHEAP TO PRODUCE, AND RAN ON JUST ABOUT ANY GRADE FUEL IMAGINABLE. WITH THE GRACE AND FINESSE OF A DRUNKEN SAILOR, THE VEHICLE CONQUERED ANY AND EVERY TERRAIN THROWN AT IT.

uitous use in Soviet and post-Soviet agriculture. This bread loaf is as versatile as they come.

Beyond the Eastern Bloc, the bukhanka continues to carry tourists up the volcanoes of Vesuvius and Etna in Italy. Regarded as an icon of style across Japan, Honda borrowed UAZ’s design for the briefly conceptualized T880. Now, as the post-Soviet states have opened themselves up to the world, the bukhanka has emerged as a fascinating option for overlanders across the globe. At a price tag slightly over $10,000 straight out of the factory, it’s easy to see why.

Equal parts fascinating and frightening, the bukhanka has forged an indelible role in our global pursuit of venturing beyond beaten paths. It’s an unapologetic piece of Soviet history, best paired with fearlessness and a sledgehammer.

Whodoesn’t love the simplicity of foil packet meals? Especially when camping. Just assemble your ingredients, seal them inside using aluminum foil and parchment paper, and place them over your heat source. A campfire, charcoal grill, or even a propane stove all get the job done. Dinner is ready in no time, and there’s no cookware to clean.

While there are hundreds of different foil packet recipes out there, one of our all-time favorites is a good old-fashioned shrimp boil. It’s a fun and forgiving combination with a lot of different ingredients and flavors that capture the essence of campfire cooking, particularly in warmer months.

The one thing we do a little differently with our foil packet meals is to line the interior with parchment paper. You could do straight aluminum foil if you want, but it can sometimes give a little off-flavor to the food. So we just line the interior with a sheet of parchment paper and seal it up like normal. The foil protects the parchment paper from the flame, and the parchment paper protects the food from the foil.

Shrimp Boil Foil Packet

Shrimp, smoky sausage, buttery corn, and zesty lemon combine into a surefire hit.

SERVES 2

COOK TIME 10 minutes

ASSEMBLY TIME 5 minutes

EQUIPMENT Aluminum foil, parchment paper, heat-resistant gloves or tongs

1 ear of corn, cut into 8 pieces

1 medium zucchini, sliced thick

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 pound uncooked shrimp

2 andouille sausages (precooked)

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

4 tablespoons butter

Fresh parsley, chopped

1 lemon, quartered Salt, as needed

To start, tear off an 18-inch piece of heavy-duty foil for each packet, along with a 16-inch sheet of parchment paper for each. Place the parchment paper in the center of the foil, so the foil forms a border of about 1 inch all around the edges. Divide the corn, zucchini, minced garlic, shrimp, spices, and butter equally between the two packets, placing the ingredients in the center of the parchment.

To form the packets, bring one of the foil’s short edges to meet the other, then crimp around all edges to seal. Each packet should be tightly sealed all the way around to prevent steam from escaping, while leaving a little bit of room at the top for the steam to build and circulate.

Cook the packets on a grill (or the grill grate over your campfire) for 8 minutes over medium heat, flipping occasionally. The packets will puff up as the steam expands inside, so be careful not to accidentally puncture them with the tongs when flipping over.

Remove the packets from the grill and allow to cool slightly. Open the packets carefully as they will be full of hot steam. Top with freshly chopped parsley and a squeeze of lemon. You can either transfer to a bowl or mold the foil packets into a makeshift bowl and save yourself from clean-up duties. Enjoy!

Continued from page 136

len by thousands, and the streets were alive in anticipation of the contest. Before the race, all vehicles had to go through scrutineering, an inspection by officials to ensure they met the mechanical standards of the competition. A crowd of race fans thronged the Range Rover in the queue. Elias handed out felt-tipped markers and invited people to sign the truck’s hood. This proved so popular that soon fans were asking the drivers to sign anything at hand—their phones, their foreheads, even their breasts. “Us four schmucks were like superheroes,” Kasra said in disbelief. “For the first time in my life, I felt like a star.”

The premise of the race is simple: teams have 32 hours in which to complete the route. In the amateur class, each driver could spend eight hours at the wheel. The professionals start first, reaching speeds in excess of 135 mph while receiving directions from helicopters flying overhead. Arithmetic dictated that Steve had to average 22 mph to finish the race. How hard could that be?

Leaving Ensenada at 2:05 p.m., Elias and Michael made a strong start despite losing the exhaust after 10 miles. By the time they reached checkpoint one, they had moved into first place, even passing professional racers who had gotten bogged down in the dust. Elias was upbeat about the Range Rover’s performance: “It was like driving through talcum powder and quicksand. The truck was in its element.

Arithmetic dictated that Steve had to average 22 mph to finish the race. How hard could that be?

This $400 vehicle was doing better than million-dollar trophy-class cars.” Twilight settled upon the desert, and we waved as Steve zoomed past, its unmuffled engine screaming.

Meanwhile, the support crew was in its own race. We had to get ahead of Steve to prepare a pit stop, but first, we needed to refuel. Beside the road was a shack with a hand-painted sign in the colors of the Mexican flag advertising gasolina Kasra and Kris chatted with the proprietor, a smiling middleaged woman named Amalia. Astonished by our story and attuned to our excitement, she hastily brought out the gasolina, which was arranged neatly on shelves in rows of Sunny Delight jugs—the contents still orange but no longer “Tangy Original.” Amalia cheerfully decanted nearly all the fuel she had into our trucks and jerry cans. The transaction concluded with hugs, and we drove deeper into the night.

For hours we lost radio contact with Steve, and the crew became anxious. Rob described the feeling like a blackout period at NASA’s mission control when the astronauts orbited behind the moon. Eventually, through choppy transmissions, we learned that a shock absorber mount had sheared off. When Steve growled into our makeshift field hospital at 3:30 a.m., Frank and company worked furiously by headlamp to effect repairs. The whining drill and rattling impact wrench pierced the wind. Another hour of surgery and Steve was back on course, heading into the San Felipe loop, the most remote portion of the race.

Exhausted, Rob, Kasra, and I pulled into a scrubby clearing to sleep. We couldn’t unwind, so we sat in the darkness talking. Periodically, race cars bounced by in the distance, their blazing beams of light scything up and down through the empty blackness of the desert.

“Look at the anonymity of these lonely souls passing in the night,” said Rob. “There’s hundreds of people out here doing the same thing but all having separate experiences.”

Outside the truck, a brooding wind and swirling dust added to the sense of desolation. Suddenly, a racer on a motorcycle appeared out of the darkness and asked us where the next checkpoint was. He had lost his GPS, his lights had stopped working, and he was riding aimlessly through the desert. Kasra gave him a headlamp and pointed him north.

After the exhilaration of the night, my grip on reality and time was slipping. When a faint streak of light appeared in the sky, I thought it was another errant racer. Rob, Kasra, and I climbed out of the truck and stood in the bitter cold to watch the sunrise. The doubts and isolation of the night melted as the wintry sky turned hazy pink. The feeble sun emerged from the Sea of Cortez, spreading a soft light across the barren scrublands to the distant mountains. We watched wordlessly, realizing that in the intensity of the competition, we had lost sight of the beauty surrounding us in this arid landscape. Somewhere out in the San Felipe loop, the Rover battled onward.

“I remember the sunrise, the color of the sky,” recounted Elias. “We had repaired the suspension and were doing 9095 miles per hour across Laguna Diablo. Even at that speed, blasting across the dry lakebed, it was complete stillness, perfection, everything felt right.”

In the end, we did not finish. Although the factory Rover drivetrain was unbowed, the field repairs on the suspension could not withstand the relentless battering from the terrain. The drivers made the painful decision to retire the following evening. Although not far from the end, we were tempting fate. We had chewed through our stock of spare tires, the checkpoints ahead of us were closing, and on the next section, two trucks had driven off a cliff in the darkness.

This was probably not what Charles Spencer King had in mind when he sat down at the drawing board to design the Range Rover, but I think he would have appreciated what we did with his creation. A group of friends had resurrected a 22-year old truck and raced it across the desert. Perhaps more importantly, a community of strangers had coalesced around it, drawn together by a shared passion for Rovers, sense of adventure, and competitive spirit. Through determination, resourcefulness, and camaraderie, we had achieved something else—unity in the face of adversity.

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San Felipe Blues

The iconic Range Rover, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, gives the Baja 1000 a go, rewarding its support team with the bond of a lifetime.

Theraw wind prowled through the desert night, blowing grit into my eyes and ears. Unloading jerry cans from the roof rack of a Land Rover Discovery, I skirted the swarm of activity surrounding the nearby Range Rover perched on a red Hi-Lift jack like a dinosaur skeleton in a museum exhibit. It was 3:30 a.m., and a small team of mechanics was frantically replacing a broken shock mount and spring perches. The rigors of off-road racing were grinding down both machine and man.

This team was 13 hours into the annual Baja 1000 competition, and the Range Rover had covered nearly a third of the 693-mile course that snaked through the mountains and valleys of Mexico’s western peninsula. In a cloud of dust, the truck rumbled into life, its missing bones reattached. Watching its glowing tail lamps vanish into the darkness, I wondered what I had gotten myself into.

A few months earlier, I was on the phone with Elias Christeas, a Rover enthusiast in Los Angeles I had met on a Landy discussion forum who was helping troubleshoot repairs on my truck. “What are you doing in November?” he asked. “Why don’t you come down to Baja with us?” Elias and three friends had purchased a white 1989 Range Rover from a scrapyard for $400 and had plans to enter it in the most grueling off-road race in North America. They needed a support crew. This was an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

An unfamiliar face met me at the airport in L.A. Kris Newsom loaded my gear into his black Discovery, and we

headed for the border. Another online acquaintance, he was part of the all-volunteer crew converging from across the country to join the race. Discussing our ambitions to win our category in a Range Rover, he pontificated as we cruised down the highway, “I think we’re all on a quest to discover if the impossible is merely improbable.”

At a gas station rendezvous, the team made introductions. Elias, a former Rover mechanic, was a compact bundle of boundless energy flashing a near-constant grin. Kasra Ajir was a Hollywood talent agent and autocross racer with a booming laugh. Michael Rady was an actor, quiet but drawn by the lure of adventure. And Rob Dietz was a racer at heart who, according to Kasra, took any opportunity to go fast with a take-no-prisoners approach. Also joining the support team were Marty Powell, a used parts dealer from Kentucky with a flair for Shakespeare references and jaunty cloth caps, and Frank Rafka, a medevac helicopter dispatcher whose mechanical ingenuity and no-nonsense attitude would prove a beacon of hope in our darkest moments. The star of the show was Steve, the Range Rover strapped to a trailer. Steve bristled with lights, chunky tires, and a roll cage, ready for 1,000+ kilometers of racing. As we started our convoy toward Mexico, Rob reminded his teammates aboard the rented Ford F-350 pickup towing Steve, “Don’t say anything at customs, the rental agreement doesn’t let us take it over the border.”

The seaside town of Ensenada had a carnival atmosphere. As the start and finish of the race, its population had swol-

Illustration by Michele Dallorso