My Fear of Overlanding

I fear not being ready for every contingency.

I fear having big mechanical problems. I fear getting so stuck I can’t get myself out. I fear my family getting hurt. I fear being so far from civilization that no real help can reach us. I fear not being able to communicate with anybody. What if I need help? What if I need to get Meghan or Kaitlyn off the mountain quick? Do I have everything I will need? What if I don’t? What if we can’t get help? This is an ongoing battle I have with myself when we are getting ready to go out, and if I let it, it can be quite paralytic.

With so many fears, why do I still want to do this overlanding thing? Why do I push myself to go out on trails? The answer, I think, is because I don’t want to let fear win. I have a true desire to go and explore. I have a desire to experience another side of the world I otherwise never would, and if I let fear win, then what’s the point?

So how have I curtailed this fear? I started out small, and I did research. Our first ventures out were to places I had already been to because of my job. They were familiar and I knew the terrain. This gave us the opportunity to get to know the Jeep and still have a safe, fun, and mostly controlled trip. Then we went up a trail that is pretty well known, and not too far from our town. The trail is well travelled, and if something were to have happen we would have been able to get help fairly quick.

Next was a trail that would take us from the 112 to the 101 through a nice mountain range. This trail is pretty remote and less travelled, but still not that far from home. I thought it would be cool to go from one side of the mountain to the other, so I plodded the path on our new Magellan TRX7, and went on a day adventure. Since we were relatively new to this I didn’t have anything for self recovery, and all we really had was a small cooler with some food and a water jug (I should have had more for this trip, but more on that later). All these trips have been pretty small, and we have yet to camp overnight. Their purpose have been to get experience out on same trails, and enjoy the day out in the mountains.

Next we went east, past Seattle, and to Snoqualmie Pass. This was the farthest we went from our house, but we still didn’t do any sort of camping. The lack of camping was really only because we didn’t have any camping gear. We also went to Ellensburg and tried to hit a portion of the WABDR.  We succeeded in hitting a very small portion before I took an offshoot thinking it was the BDR. The drive and scenery was still pretty cool, so I didn’t mind. We have been focusing on day trips because that’s the easiest and less costly side of the hobby. Camping will come later, but we have to acquire some gear for that, as we don’t have any.

The trail driving has been supplemented by going on YouTube, and learning about overlanding, recovery technics, and what I should be taking with me on trips. I listed a few channels that have been useful in a past post here. Learning which self-recovery gear I should have was the biggest eye opener of how unprepared I had been in my outings. This is the area I decided to focus on before buying more cosmetic or performance parts for the Jeep. This certainly has helped me lessen my fear when going out, and it’s stuff I take with me pretty much any time we hit the trails. I figure, yes, they would be used by us if we get stuck, but I can use the gear to help others too.

After one year of doing this does the fear still try to take over? Yes, every time, but I’m hoping that with more research and outings under my belt, that my experience will help me feel more confident. Not too confident where I become lackadaisical about being prepared and responsible, though. I don’t plan to ever stop researching and learning, so if you have anything else to add, please do. Leave a comment or send me a message with your own methods of learning. How did you go about learning and which gear did you start getting when you first started in this hobby. What have you learned in your experiences? I would to hear how others have gone about this venture.

Until next time.

Explore and increase your experience level.