First Overlanding Trip-Hoosier National Forest
Do you remember your first Overlanding trip? I do, because it was last weekend. I was lucky enough to sync up with a few guys from Midwest Overlanders and we drove through and camped in the Hoosier National Forest. As my wife asked me many times prior to my trip, where did this sudden desire to go come from? What made me get excited about Overlanding and how did I even hear about it in the first place?
I grew up in southern Indiana and used to go camping every weekend. When I got older, I bought a Jeep Cherokee Sport and lifted it 3” and put some 31’s on it. I did a lot of off-roading and rock climbing, which I enjoyed quite a bit. If camping and off-roading had a baby, it would be Overlanding. Combine traveling through rough terrain with carrying everything you need to survive in your rig and you can see why I was so excited to go on this trip.
Prior to even really knowing what Overlanding was, I happened upon the show “Long Way Round.” If you haven’t seen it, go to Netflix and watch it immediately. The basic story is that Ewan McGregor and his best friend, Charlie Boorman, decide to travel from London to New York City on their motorcycles. It’s a great show and it caused me to go looking for similar programs online.
I started searching Youtube for cross country travel and off-roading, wanting to find more shows like Long Way Round. I stumbled across 4xOverland, Overland Bound, Expedition Overland, Mountain State Overlanding, and others. I couldn’t stop watching these videos and it got my gears turning.
I had always been a fast car guy for the most part and have owned an 03 Nissan 350z, a 72 Datsun 240z with a Chevy V8 engine swap, and even an unlikely 04 Infiniti G35x with a rear mount turbo. So, you can probably see the trend of Nissans and extrapolate that I’m a Nissan guy.
That pretty much left me with just a couple of options for my next vehicle that would be a Nissan but also get me a capable platform to go Overlanding. I looked at Frontiers, but at the time, they were a bit out of my price range. Then I came across an 05 Xterra SE with about 94K miles on it and I picked it up.
So, now we’re pretty much caught up. I found the Midwest and Indiana Overlanders groups on Facebook thanks to someone on my Xterra forum who recommended I join the groups and started to learn how many other people had similar interests. Last weekend I took my first trip and I’m happy to report that I will definitely be doing a lot more in the future!
As we drove into the forest, things got quieter. We saw fewer and fewer people until seeing another vehicle became more of a rarity than a common occurrence. Usually when I’ve driven around the city, I’ve had music going and felt disconnected from the driving experience. As we moved further away from civilization, that disconnected feeling disappeared. I found myself shutting off the music, rolling down the windows, and really enjoying my surroundings.
Upon arriving at the campsite (AKA a set of GPS coordinates) in the forest, I drove up a steep hill and started trying to figure out exactly where we were actually going to camp. I was the first to arrive, so I wasn’t really sure where to go. I decided to just get off the main trail and move out of the way while waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive.
A few minutes later, a big, dark gray Toyota Tundra TRD Pro trundled up the path. The driver waved, and took a left. I popped it in drive and followed. We worked our way through some pretty sizable mud pits and then arrived at a large open spot in the woods.
We hopped out of our rigs, shook hands, and introduced ourselves. There were two more guys coming so we decided to go ahead and set up our stuff while we waited. A couple of hours later, everyone had arrived and set up their tents.
Once base camp was established, we went out exploring. We hit the trails, moving at a pretty good clip for wet, one lane, gravel back
roads. As we drove, it again hit me how green and beautiful it is this far off the beaten path. All my senses heightened and I gained a real understanding of what's so special about being far away from it all.
Experiences ranging from fording flooded roads to traversing overflowing creeks, imparted a feeling of adventure and fun. Working together with the other folks in your group to maneuver through things that most daily driven vehicles couldn't even dream of doing was a pretty satisfying feeling.
After about 4 hours of driving around and checking out the sights, we returned to camp, cooked dinner and consumed a few beers. We chatted about trips we’d been on, our rigs, our equipment, and all kinds of other stuff. It’s interesting when you get together with like-minded people, how many stories you all have to share.
The next morning, we woke up, packed up our equipment, and hit the road to return to our homes in different parts of Indiana. How cool is it that something like this can attract people from four different cities across the state to drive hours to go spend time in their trucks and the wilderness? The fun and adventure of Overlanding cannot be overstated. It takes a special type of person to leave their air conditioned house in order to willingly go out into the wilderness to explore.
Some of you reading this may have gone on your first trip so long ago that you don’t even remember what it was like. I’m hoping this brings back memories for you. On the other hand, if you haven’t been lucky enough to go on a trip yet, I hope this gets you excited about the possibility and gets you out into the wilderness. I have always lived by this mantra: live, learn, discover. I hope you’ll do the same!