Why Overlanding and Off-Roading Are Not the Same Thing
Visit a typical overlanding website, and you will see stunning photographs of heavy-duty vehicles completing (sometimes dangerous) off-road expeditions. Perhaps that's why so many people misunderstand overlanding. They assume it is the same thing as off-roading. It's not. Overlanding is a particular activity that is less seen as a sport and more as a lifestyle.
Both overlanding and off-roading tend to utilize heavy-duty vehicles with four-wheel drive and beefed-up suspensions. But you can overland in a typical SUV if you are careful about where you drive. That fact alone should give you a hint as to the main difference between overlanding and off-roading.
Overlanding Is About the Journey
The most important aspect of overlanding is getting out and enjoying the journey. You could take an overlanding trip that only lasts a couple of days. You could just go overnight. But you could take a long overland journey that has you on and off the road for weeks or months.
The point here is not to test your vehicle in the most rugged environment possible. It is to explore whatever environment you choose to drive in. For practical purposes, this means overlanders tend to combine both off-road and on-road travel.
Imagine an overlander looking to explore the rugged wilderness of New Mexico. They will take the interstate to get where they want to go, then go off-road to explore. Then it is back to a local highway to find a camping spot for the night. They take that same highway to find their next off-road adventure the next day.
Off-Roading Is about the Challenge
Generally speaking, overlanding occurs over multiple days because it is designed around the journey. As for off-roaders, they don't go out overnight. It is not about the journey for them. It's about the challenge.
Off-roading is all about finding rough terrain and traversing it with your vehicle. It is about climbing over rocks and barreling across creeks and streams. It's about going to remote locations otherwise inaccessible with motor vehicles.
The most ardent fans of off-roading tend to always be looking for new challenges. They are constantly modifying their vehicles to make sure they are up to snuff. But at the end of the day, the off-roader returns home.
Driving Anywhere and Everywhere
What it boils down to is that overlanders drive anywhere and everywhere. They build out their vehicles to accommodate whatever their particular style is. If they plan to be out overnight, they make sure they have camping gear or arrangements for other accommodations. They tie down everything with cam straps, and off they go.
What they don't worry about are the roads or a lack thereof. They are good to drive on pavement, dirt roads, and uncharted patches of wilderness. They don't care where that is as long as they get to go.
Paved and dirt roads aren't part of the challenge to the off-roader. A full day of off-roading may require traveling traditional roads to get to and from the off-roading location, but the actual sport doesn't begin until the vehicle leaves the flat road.
If you are not into overlanding or off-roading, the differences between the two may seem so minor as not to matter. Overlanding is about the journey. Off-roading is about the challenge. Our take? Do both on the same trip.
