Real Adventure Lies Beyond the Pavement
Overlanding can feel like tackling the outdoors with superpowers. Hard to reach places open up to you, your optimized rig, and however many two- or four-legged companions you can haul with you. You can shrug off the kind of weather that would bounce hikers or bikers back to a trail-town motel, and many comforts of home lie within arm’s reach—whether you’re basking by a glacier view or prepping in a big-box parking lot.
But for first-timers, the barrier to entry can feel high. Beyond your own physical fitness and core gear, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with your vehicle, sleeping setup, water, fuel, cooking, power, recovery gear, accessories, and beyond. The good news is that the modular approach is deeply customizable to your particular needs and desires—and an entire community exists to welcome and help you.
Overland Expo draws nearly 100,000 enthusiasts each year to five events across the country, where beginners and pros alike fawn over the latest gear, builds, skills, and tips. Each event hosts hundreds of exhibitors who are excited to suit attendees up with the tech, gear, and accessories essential for fun beyond the pavement.
Hankook Tire was among them at Overland Expo Mtn West, displaying its legendary Dynapro off-road lineup. That’s also where we caught up with Phoenix-based overlanding vehicle designer and builder Nick Scherr to pick his brain about show discoveries, top tips for newbies, fall favorites, test-piece tires, and why the overlanding community keeps him inspired and connected.
Discover the Latest Gear and More at Overland Expo
Whether you’re clambering over technical terrain or trying to save fuel on the highway, every ounce counts in overlanding. That’s why Scherr was particularly taken with the range of inflatable gear offered by FLATED: truck bed covers, storage containers, even couches for extreme lounging.
“The rooftop storage is especially nice because it’s lighter than a rooftop box, but it’s easier to take off the car, so you don’t really have to commit to putting a rooftop box on,” Scherr says. “And then you can just deflate it and stick it in your garage. That’s been something I’ve been really having fun using because it’s just extremely convenient.”
For overlanders, your vehicle shapes your sleeping quarters. Vans frequently feature built-in bedrooms, while truck drivers often choose between trailers and wedge or pop-up campers. Rooftop tents typically work best for cars or SUVs. Scherr chooses rooftop tents from Napier for his Nissan XTerra builds for their ease of use, quality, and durability.
“I love a rooftop tent—I like that I can transfer it from vehicle to vehicle and then still have the ability to take whatever vehicle I want to the trailhead,” he says.
Get the Right Tires
It’s not an exaggeration to say tires are the most important piece of any overlanding vehicle. They can make or break your adventure like no other piece of gear, and finding a set that offers protection, traction, puncture resistance, and performance on mud, dirt, rocks, snow, ice, and slush is mission critical.
“When you are going off-road, it all starts with your tires,” Scherr says. “That’s what’s really hitting the road, getting you to where you’re going—not the car.”
Scherr runs on Hankook Dynapro MT2 tires, and they’ve rescued him from more than a few sticky situations. While exploring trails in Alabama’s Stony Lonesome OHV Park, he encountered intimidating mud pits that would scare off even steely drivers. But not Scherr.
“I got a lot of comments saying, ‘All we do is see [your Nissan XTerra] at shows,’ ‘it’s never been off-road,’ ‘it was built to be shown,’” he says. “So I was like, okay, well, we’ll fix that. We got so deep into the mud that it was above the doors—there was mud literally pouring into the car. If I didn’t have a high-performing mud terrain tire, I would have been either digging myself in or I’d have just been stuck.”
In his backyard, Scherr likes chasing snow near Flagstaff, steep inclines in Gold Canyon, and his favorite year-round trip down Diamond Creek in the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River. He does it all on Dynapro MT2 tires and loves how quiet they run on the highway miles in between.
“It’s a confidence booster, you know?” he says. “Dynapro MT2s are like a silent partner in all my adventures.” If you’re not planning on filling your car with mud like Scherr, the Hankook Dynapro lineup also includes all-terrain options like the AT2 Xtreme and XT, designed for lighter off-road use without compromising daily driveability.
Meet the Dynapro Off-Road Lineup
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Join the Community
While it’s easy to get overwhelmed by shiny accessories and luxurious thrills, Scherr recommends beginners get their tires right, then focus on these basics: water and plenty of tanks to store it in, fuel and enough extra gas cans, recovery equipment like recovery straps and traction panels—and friends.
“I never go alone—try to have a friend or a group of people that you’re with that you can trust, especially if you’re doing tough maneuvers, so you have a spotter and everything,” he says. “There’s definitely strength in numbers when accidents happen and you need to recover, and they do happen. A friend is a necessity for every journey.”
And as much as the lifestyle celebrates and glamorizes the self-sufficient, rugged individual, those relationships will become the foundation of your overlanding experience. In every part of the country, robust, supportive communities exist to help you level up your driving skills, get better at turning a wrench, or troubleshoot the idiosyncrasies of your rig-in-progress. And while communities are often defined by vehicle make (Toyota, Ford, Nissan), rivalries and competition pale in comparison to the loyalty that binds the broader overlanding community.
“I was doing a photo shoot with a lifted Nissan truck, and I pulled over too far into a ditch and high-centered the truck,” Scherr says. “I was helped by someone in a Ford Ranger Raptor [who] pulled over and spent 45 minutes pulling me out of a ditch, and it wasn’t because we were two Ford guys hanging out. It was because he was off-roading and saw another person in need.”
“It’s not what you drive or where you’re from or who you are,” he says. “We’re all there for each other to celebrate the climbs and to help when you’re stuck.”
Hankook Tire’s Dynapro is a tire brand designed for SUVs and light trucks with strong driving and braking performance on all terrains and through every type of weather, including on- and off-road conditions.
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