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How To Find Overlanding Trails?

Nora Nijkamp

Riding offroad while traveling the world gives me the feeling of being a real explorer. But how do you find those trails when you have never been there before? With years of overlanding experience I will share my tips of finding those fun roads.

How To Find Overlanding Trails? There are ten different ways to find overlanding trails for offroading.

  1. Open Sources and Free Route Websites
  2. Paid Websites
  3. Google Maps and Google Earth
  4. Governmental Websites
  5. Forums
  6. Apps
  7. Paper Maps
  8. Books
  9. Ask the locals
  10. Join an offroad club

Now that you know how to find the trails, we will go into detail for each method and share our best resources with you.

Difference between overlanding and offroading

In this article, we will use both terms interchangeably because it depends on which side of the Atlantic you are from what the specific meaning of each is. Here are the definitions we will use.

Overlanding: The focus is on the journey, not the destination

In Europe, overlanding is typically a long term travel style which crosses multiple countries and/or continents. However, in the USA overlanding can be a weekend away in a different corner of your own state. The similarities between both types of travel is that the activity is focussed on the journey, not the destination and that both want to find an adventure that is away from the usual tourist hotspots. Driving or riding on unpaved roads or trails is what makes a trip like this extra fun but in the sense of the European vision is not required. However, traveling to Central Asia or Africa you probably will drive roads that do not have any tarmac.

Offroading: The focus is on the technicality of driving, not the journey.

Offroading is the activity people do for fun in their free time with the focus on driving challenging terrain. What is counted as offroad is again different on both sides of the Atlantic. Europeans usually call anything that is not tarmac, asphalt or concrete offroad. So gravel roads also count as offroad in their books. To others it might mean that they are not following any track or trail and finding their own way through the natural terrain. For the purpose of this article when we say offroad, we are using the European definition of anything that is not a paved road.

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Long term overlanding trails and routes

Planning a long term overland trip that spans multiple countries and destinations, finding a route takes on a different meaning. Depending on visas, weather and safety travellers tend to follow the same rough routes around the world. If you are interested in those kind of trails, check out this article.

Methods of finding offroad trails around the world

1. Finding fun overlanding trails on open source or free route websites

You probably found this article by using google or an other search engine so I’m sure you have already tried the google method. But the internet is such a gigantic place that finding the right websites that have rich content is sometimes very hard.

Using free route finding websites has its advantages and disadvantages. Most of the times these are open source websites meaning that anyone can contribute to the collection of tracks. This is great because there will be tracks for all around the world.

The downside is that it is hard to curate so some tracks will be better quality than others. Not all of them will be legal. So if you notice a private property sign while following a track, do not continue.

Wikiloc is a great example of a free and open source website that hosts a variety of tracks. You can filter on the type of activity because there are also a lot of hiking trails on there.

Another resource to find inspiration for trails and fun roads is Dangerous Roads. It is more managed then wikiloc but still has over 13.000 roads worldwide. Not all of them are unpaved, but the premise of the website is that they are all spectacular. Looking at the pictures provided with each entry you can quickly find out if it is paved or not. A great start for planning a next adventure.

Two well managed pages with routes in the USA are Trailsoffroad (4x4) and RideBDR (moto). Both have an extensive database full with trails throughout the North American country. With Trailsoffroad you can download the GPX files for free but to read a detailed description of the track and other helpful extras you need to upgrade to a paid membership at US$25 per year.

On RideBDR you can download the gpx tracks for free, however the routes are designed with motorcycles in mind so there are sections in there that are not suitable for 4x4s. All routes are on public roads so you are free to try them out. You can buy a physical map for all the available routes as well.

The last resource is the Trans European Trail or TET, it is a managed route and it is continually updated. The routes is 100% legal to ride and does not cross any private property or illegal sections. The GPX files are free to download on the website. Please respect the local laws and other users of those roads to keep them open an accessible for all of us.

Resources - free websites

2. Finding great offroad tracks on paid websites

There are a few websites that offer similar experiences as the free options mentioned before, except they are paid. This gives you the advantage of having a dedicated team behind each route and having the security of a rich description of the tracks and them being up to date.

The Trans America Trail is a route through the USA that can be followed by a motorcycle or 4x4. It is a network of different sections that you can complete in 1 go or spread out over multiple trips. The entire loop costs US$32 to receive the GPX files by email which is quite a steal for all the work that goes into creating and maintaining a route like this.

Resources - paid websites

3. Using google maps and google earth to discover new offroad trails

Another popular way for finding overlanding trails is to use google maps or google earth to find trails in the area you would like to travel to.

For google maps you can start by looking at green areas which usually indicate a park or nature area. Then switching between map view and satellite view to take a look at what roads lead through this area.

Google Earth is even more detailed in this sense giving you a 3d experience on screen. Giving you a better idea of what the landscape looks like. Just navigate to the area you would like to travel to and start browsing. When you’ve found a place you would like to visit, an other cool feature available in Google Earth is the ability to draw a line on the map. You can then easily export this line as a KML file which you can use on your GPS device.

Resources - the googles

4. Looking for good overlanding trails on Governmental Websites

This one is quite specific for the USA, but most governmental bodies share data about routes, maps and camping locations on their websites. A few websites you can check out to find some overlanding trails are:

  • United States Agricultural Forest Service (USA)
  • Bureau of Land Management (BLM) (USA)
  • Off Highway Vehicle Program (OHV) (USA)

OHV are regional programs that vary state by state. Search for your local program on google by typing in OHV and your state. Some states require you to purchase a sticker before making use of the facilities so be sure to check out the regulations before you go.

Resources - governmental websites

5. Going on forums to find new overlanding trails

Another rich source of information, but one that might be hard to comb through, are forums. Yes, they still exist and are still used by many dedicated overlanders and adv riders. A few popular forums where you can find a ton of information are:

Resources - forums

6. Using apps to find overlanding tracks for planning new adventures

Who leaves the door for any adventure without a smartphone these days? Exactly. So why not load it with some useful apps for planning and executing your overland adventures.

GaiaGPS is a very popular GPS navigation app with a specific layer for 4x4 maps. This makes it a great resource while planning your overland adventure. There are even special layers for the forest service and other useful governmental bodies mentioned earlier, so you don’t have to go looking for each map at a different site but just browse through the different layers available.

Basic functionality in Gaia GPS is for free but most extra layers you need to become a premium member at US$40 per year. Even though the maps are heavily US centred they are very useful for around the world. Use my link to get a 20% discount in the first year.

After mapping out your adventure in Gaia GPS you can use the same app for navigation. This might seem trivial because you have your dedicated GPS unit but I’ve found that transferring files is not always easy or hassle free. Having a phone or iPad in your vehicle dedicated to navigation is a popular method for this reason.

Another options for apps is ONX but has trails for USA only. ONX let you browse through trails and tracks after downloading and paying for the app.

The last app I want to mention in this list is the iOverlander app. It’s not meant for finding trails and tracks but more for finding camping spots and other important points of interest. Especially on long overland adventures I’ve found it incredibly helpful. It is open source and user generated so the quality of input is variable but overall really good. People share their wild camping spots, campsites, hotels but also embassy locations and border crossing reports. It is a must have when overlanding through multiple countries.

Resources - Mobile Device Apps

7. Going old school and using paper maps to find offroad trails

Have you ever sat on the floor of your living room with a big old map spread out drawing out the route you want to take on an adventure? Isn’t that just the best?! Pouring over the map, looking at the roads and using the legend to find the unpaved roads is still one of the best ways to find adventure. I recommend the following maps to plan your next adventure.

Resources - paper maps

8. Best books for finding easy overlanding trails

Taking a book to bed and browsing through all the possible adventures you could have the next day is one of the best things. Good thing there are a few books out there that will help you plan your next overlanding route.

For the USA the FunTrek books are incredibly popular because they have clear route descriptions and maps, an easy difficulty rating of their tracks and good GPS data for the routes. They are only available for a few states, but are full of incredibly useful information. This is a great resource to start planning your next adventure.

For Europe there are the MDMOT books that cover multiple countries in Europe. Self published by Martin & Dana Motorradreisen they are created with passion for offroad riding and included descriptions, GPS data and pictures of the routes. I’ve found a few reviews in German mentioning that the tips and routes are great, but it is noticeable that the book is self published in terms of spellchecking.

Resources - best books

9. Asking the locals to find the secret overlanding trails

To find the tracks that are not listed online you can talk to the locals to find some of those trails. That can be local riders, lodge owners or park rangers who have the best information about the region.

They not only know about routes you might not find online, but also about the current situation on the tracks. Maybe the trails are blocked by snow or a big storm caused a big mudslide. Nature can be rough sometimes and knowing these situations in advance will be good to ensure your safety.

10. Join an offroad club to find the best overlanding tracks close to home

Lastly, you could join a local or online offroading club to find some routes close to home. These clubs usually have days where they go out together. As well as facebook groups where people share their latest adventures with each other. If you are drawn to the social aspect of going on an adventure together with others do search for a local off-road or overlanding club.

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Conclusion

There are many ways to find tracks both online and offline, but the best way to explore is just to get out there.

I hope you now have a good idea of how people find overlanding and offroad tracks. When you travel to further destinations it usually turns out that you don’t have to look for offroad track, but the offroad tracks tend to find you.

If you have any other tips or trick you think people need to know about, please leave them in the comments below!