There are many reasons to pick up a new sport, hobby, or activity- that’s where the spice of life is. New experiences stimulate one’s brain and promote flexible thinking, likely helping to keep us young. There are so many benefits to reap from the new experiences of overlanding.
1. A Sense of Adventure
If you’re someone who frequently and frenetically types into your search bar “travel ideas for couples” and “places to visit in the USA,” you might be an excellent candidate for overlanding. Overlanding practices allow travelers to explore remote destinations and paths untraveled. This includes dried lake beds, muddy bogs, boulders, beaches, and more. Like most great adventures, an overlanding outing requires lots of preparation and equipment. Long-distance off-roaders must equip themselves with essential overlanding gear, like off-road bumpers, communications devices, and winches, to get unstuck from tough areas. With overlanding, the travel is not just a way to get from point A to point B, it’s part of the adventure.
2. The Benefits of Being in Nature
Overlanding involves trekking through different outdoor locations. This kind of activity allows for stops and visits to any destination you can get to, whether it’s the beautiful canyons of Moab, Utah, or the sunset along the beachs of the Outer Banks. You can experience the outdoors during these stops, but if you ride open-air style with a Bimini top, you can embrace the outdoors all throughout your travels. There are so many benefits to reap from being in nature, including mood elevation, decreased blood pressure, and positive effects on cardiovascular health, to name a few. With an overlanding tent or trailer, you can do more than just pass through. Instead, you can camp out and experience what it’s like to live among these breathtaking environments. The physical and mental effects of time spent outdoors are powerful. When pondering ‘what is overlanding and why is it so popular?’, nature is a key part of the answer.
3. The Achievement of Overcoming Obstacles
Like climbers who scale Mount Everest or take on the world’s hardest hikes, overlanding is a challenge. It takes a great deal of preparation, thought, and planning to organize an overlanding trip. There are many situations you need to be prepared for in the wild, distant from civilization. Many of the skills needed to navigate and overcome physical obstacles require the proper know-how, the ability to operate overlanding gear, and problem-solving abilities. Overlanding isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes some grit to get out there and do it, so when you do, it’s no small feat! The sense of achievement you feel after doing something difficult is a satisfying, prideful moment you’ll remember forever. These types of novel experiences can also give you a new perspective and change the way you think. The great thing about the challenge of outdoor pursuits like overlanding is that they break up our everyday routines and put things into perspective. If you can get your four-ton vehicle out of a 6-foot deep ditch of mud and sludge, your morning commute down the highway won’t seem so hard. Gaining a new set of skills is a great way to build confidence and invest in one’s self, especially when it’s as badass as overlanding!
4. Opportunities to See New Places
Of course one of the main reasons to hop in a Jeep and drive miles into barren, rocky desert is to see new sights! Of all the travel ideas to consider, overlanding allows you to go anywhere. Many overlanding travel spots are, by no coincidence, places you can only get to by overlanding. They’re often remote and far removed, devoid of any roads or trails. In these remote spots, you’ll observe breathtaking views and largely undisturbed natural habitats, priming you for spectacular wildlife sightings. Overlanding unlocks rare opportunities and novel experiences to treasure for years to come. (You might acquire some pretty cool stories to tell after your first outing!)
5. Making Memories with Your Favorite People (Or New People!)
Let’s revisit our initial question. What is overlanding, and why is it so popular? One of the main reasons that really draws people into the activity is the human element. Overlanding can be a fun, memorable trip with the whole family or your closest friends. The shared experiences of discovery, overcoming challenges, and exhilarating adventures can bring people closer together than ever. When you’re out in the wilderness, there are very few distractions in the form of phones, television, and other electronics. This type of environment fosters bonding and strengthens human connections. Even if you’re traveling solo, you might come across other travelers with the same travel ideas as you. A greater amount of people in the community can be found venturing to those highly sought-after overlanding hot spots. Because they share the same wanderlust and admiration for nature, you might meet some pretty cool people on the rocks. You never know who could turn into life-long travel buddies or fond memories!
