Dave, Author at American Adventurist : Page 11 of 11

Author: Dave

Dave Bennett is the Founder of American Adventurist, a vehicle based adventure travel community and digital magazine. Currently based in the Deep South, Dave is a military veteran and an avid outdoorsman with over 30 years of back country experience in the most remote and challenging environments in North America, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Engaged in all facets of remote wilderness travel, Dave is an International 4WD Trainers Association Certified Trainer and a Tread Lightly! Master Tread Trainer.

One fine summer day the wife came home and dropped an ultimatum on me – take some time off for the family or else.

Never one to be threatened by a good time I obediently put in for some time off and set to work planning a family road trip. Kind of. The truth is that I hate detailed planning of my time off, I’m much happier setting off in the general direction of my objective and finding random spontaneity along the way.

Luckily, we both agreed on the end point being a visit to see family over the 4th of July in New Jersey with the rest of the trip being up to me so with ten days to burn we loaded up the Torque Wagon on a Thursday afternoon and set out from the Midwest for the East Coast.

Leaving northern Illinois, the realities of the super slab quickly set in as we faced the debacle that is Chicago traffic head on. Moving south into Indiana we were hit with thundershowers and lightning as we made a bee-line for Ohio and our first night’s rest at Maumee Bay State Park. Arriving very late, our stay there was brief with a goal of maximizing sleep for the journey ahead and we drifted off to sleep listening to the monsoon rains beating on the roof of the Four Wheel Camper.

On the road early and bound for western Pennsylvania, we dropped the hammer through Ohio and headed to the heart of Oil Country and Titusville where we peeled off from the highways in search of the forested glens and hemlock hollers of our long time friends at Clan Haggis.

Mark and Michelle Collins are blessed to live deep in Penn’s Woods and their well known hospitality was in full effect as we dined on bear and other local victuals. We camped in a quiet, forested spot next to the creek on their property and were met yet again with torrential rains as the storms rolled over the Clanhold.

With a break in the weather, and their local knowledge, we were able to explore several sites around Oil Creek and learned first hand about America’s first Oil Rush in Pennsylvania.

The rains continued to fall intermittently as they do in these parts and the Four Wheel camper once again provided an ideal shelter from the tempest outside. We awoke well rested in time for departure and bid farewell to the Clanhold as we made our way east to Washington D.C. for a windshield tour of our fair Capitol.

We had an immense stroke of good luck here as we rounded a corner on the National Mall and found the rarest of things in that City of Magnificent Intent, a parking spot. And one large enough for the Dodge Mahaul to boot. Ensuring the meter was paid, we dismounted and took in the sights of this national treasure.

We stayed the night in Stafford, Virginia as guests at the Bleau Estate. Tim’s well known hospitality and penchant for cooking was well received by all as we were fed copious portions of some of the best food in Occupied Northern Virginia. This came in the form of shrimp and carnitas tacos for dinner and we spent a restful evening here, staying up late visiting before calling it a night. In the morning, Tim was at it again as we awoke to the smell of a French Toast breakfast feast fit for the Marquis de Lafayette himself. We considered trying to finagle a couple more days of this eat/sleep/eat routine out of our fine host but we decided to get back on the road before we wore out our welcome.

Moving on, we set course for New Jersey and the Pinelands where family awaited our arrival. Contrary to what I was led to believe growing up out West, New Jersey has a lot to offer and is an amazingly beautiful state with some great food and culture as well. Our stay was amazing.

No visit here is complete without a visit to WaWa and some tongue in cheek humor courtesy of the South Jersey Deviler. If you know, you know.

Our brief respite from the road over the 4th of July came to an end as we faced the reality that we had no further plans, and several days left to burn. Looking over some maps I drew my finger south from New Jersey all the way down to the Carolinas. My mind wandered as I realized it had been awhile since I had real sweet tea, pork tenderloin and Cheerwine.

We decided to take a ferry from New Jersey to Delaware and drift as far south as possible over the next few days. With fresh territory to explore in front of us I was chomping at the bit to get rolling so we said our goodbyes again and headed south through the forested backroads toward the Cape May ferry and Delaware. The Pine Barrens are another hidden gem on the East Coast with many forested trails and it’s own unique lore.

PSA: If you camp alone here in the pines, keep an eye out for the Jersey Devil. See, that ‘ol Jersey Devil is a thing in these here parts, and if’n you ask any old Piney down here if he’s real or not they won’t answer. People are scared of something out in those Pine Barrens…

Leaving the Pine Barrens behind we reached the southern tip of the state and Delaware Bay. As I mentioned earlier, New Jersey really is a “Garden State” and we’ll definitely be back to explore more of it later.

Arriving at Cape May, the Cape May-Lewes Ferry was our first of several ferry rides as we made our way south and the ride proved to be a lot of fun. It was well worth the price to “cheat” the road and take advantage of this coastal shortcut.

Once the Torque Wagon was all tucked away inside the belly of the beast we hit the lounge upstairs to relax and take in the sights as we crossed Delaware Bay.

Arriving ashore in Delaware, we proceeded to the nearby Cape Henlopen State Park and Historical Area. For the record, I despise established campgrounds as much as the next guy and it chafes me to pay for camping. That said, options for “dispersed” camping on the eastern seaboard are quite rare and Cape Henlopen State Park was in the perfect location on our itinerary. This was how we discovered Fort Miles.

Fort Miles was a key piece of our nation’s coastal defense from World War II through the early 1970’s. Its dispersed gun batteries and secret installations built within the massive sand dunes of Cape Henlopen were designed to defend against the German submarine threat.

With more than 2,500 soldiers stationed on high alert, the heavy guns, mine fields and searchlights of Fort Miles defended the route to the vital trade centers of Wilmington, Philadelphia, and beyond.

As America moved into the Cold War, the role of Fort Miles shifted to highly classified missions defending against the threat of Soviet submarine operations off our coastline. Eyes and ears were focused on the sea here as soldiers stood the watch in bunkers and atop fortified towers.

Several of these silent sentinels remain, towering above the coastal pine forest at Cape Henlopen. This one is located near the campground by the beach and is open to the public. A climb up it’s interior spiral staircase rewards visitors with sweeping views of the Atlantic coastline and Delaware Bay.

Continued in Eastbound and Further Down, Part II

As the Overland enthusiast ranks have grown over the last decade, the number of facepalm worthy incidents on public lands, and on social media, is at an all time high.

In recent years, Death Valley in particular has seen a rash of theft and vandalism. Evidently, some people think it’s cool to drive illegally on the salt pan at Badwater Basin and the Racetrack Playa, or to steal fossilized footprints left by prehistoric animals as well as Native American artifacts. Some have even taken to tagging graffiti on rocks. Real cool bro. Real cool.

I’ve led several groups throughout the furthest reaches of Death Valley, and it boggles the mind that anyone would defile such a magical place.

The latest insult came in late October 2017 when unknown vandals scratched graffiti into the mud bottom of Ubehebe Crater in Death Valley National Park, an area considered sacred to the native Timbisha Shoshone people. And if you’ve been there, you know it’s a bit of a hike down into the crater (and back) where you are in full view of anyone else visiting. This area took more than just a few minutes to despoil, and yet it happened right in plain sight of anyone above who may have been at the viewing area.

To erase this man-made blight on the landscape, the National Park Service had to lay over 600 feet of hose down into the crater so that water could be sprayed over the dried mud floor. The graffiti disappeared and the natural color and patterns of the crater returned once the water dried up. This method was used instead of raking, which would have been faster, but would have further disturbed the area and encouraged invasion by nonnative weeds. All this because of a few misguided individuals.

And that’s just ONE Park. There are others, with similar misdeeds regularly plaguing the Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service. And us.

But we have to wonder, is it because people are really that bad and really don’t care? Or is it because they don’t know any better? I’d like to think that it’s because they don’t know any better.

The future of Overlanding aka off-road recreation is in doubt if we allow ourselves to lose access to public lands by not policing and educating our own.

Entities like the Bureau of Land Management, the US Forest Service and the National Park Service have limited capacity to deal with bad actors in the backcountry. Sometimes it’s just easier to throw up a gate than deal with hordes of unruly people. And while we may disagree, what choice do they have when faced with mobs of jerks?

And while I’m sure that we can all agree that closure isn’t the answer, we all know that’s where this stuff leads. More people crowded into fewer and fewer areas.

Meanwhile, SEMA was full of Overland builds again this year.

More and more entities continue to jump on the Overland bandwagon. New Facebook groups, websites, events and blogs spring up daily. Amazingly, what was once a minor subset of the off-road culture is now mainstream. An army of hungry “Mainstream Overlanders” sprang up somewhere along the way, gobbling up anything with the word Overland in the title. This has been an awesome evolution to witness, but we’ve also witnessed this army of new folks attract some negative attention, and some predatory types.

But these Mainstream Overlanders aren’t a problem.

Like all of us they’re just having fun, enjoying the benefits of a free market while following their chosen passion that this fad captures so well. An “overlanding” fad that started out simply as camping or trail riding.

In the beginning, this budding Overland culture represented the good guys. They were all about Tread Lightly, responsible recreation and the thrill that came with exploring remote, forgotten destinations. It didn’t matter what they wore or what they drove, or if they even took any pictures once they got there. But now over a decade later, this now mainstream community is becoming a target, and a potential liability, as they spread out across the land in search of the perfect campsite or photo op.

It’s up to us to teach new people the right way of doing things, because Social Media can and will be used against you in a Court of Law.

Today there are innumerable bad role models on social media promoting unsafe, illegal, and unethical use of vehicles, equipment, and public lands. Completely resistant to any suggestions, corrections, or cautions either through arrogance or ignorance. There are innumerable examples of these destructive behaviors on YouTube or Instagram.

No doubt the BLM and USFS enforcement roles are made easier when these individuals and groups self-incriminate on social media. But if left unchallenged, their dramatization and monetization of this community of interest has potential negative impacts for everyone.

If we support or condone the aforementioned behaviors, we should expect even more locked gates to go up on public land.

As bad practices are glamorized and subsequently emulated, new or less experienced adventurers will eat this up; they will likely mirror this behavior off-highway. And why not… they saw “Overland Hucksters” do it on YouTube, so it must be right.

These exploitative attitudes and actions may not matter to some reading this. As for me, I want no part of it. American Adventurist will not look the other way, and neither should you. We refuse to tolerate any individuals or groups perpetuating unacceptable and unsafe practices.

The challenge for all of us today is to set a positive example for new people. And what it takes is Leadership by Example. Acta non verba.

The future of the community of interest depends on adherence to Tread Lightly ethos and a common respect for one another and the environment. It depends on welcoming new people into our hobby and making sure that they learn how to do things right. And it depends on all of us doing the right thing, even if that means being the guy or gal to speak up on the trail when no one else will and say “Hey! Pick up your trash dude!”

How can you help? Be a good steward of the land, know and follow the rules where you are, demand that your buddies do the same, and use the T.R.E.A.D. principles:

Travel Responsibly
on land by staying on designated roads, trails and area. Go over, not around, obstacles to avoid widening the trails. Cross streams only at designated fords. when possible, avoid wet, muddy trails. On water, stay on designated waterways and launch your watercraft in designated areas.

Respect the Rights of Others
including private property owners, all recreational trail users, campers and others so they can enjoy their recreational activities undisturbed. Leave gates as you found them. Yield right of way to those passing you or going uphill. On water, respect anglers, swimmers, skiers, boaters, divers and those on or near shore.

Educate Yourself
prior to your trip by obtaining travel maps and regulations from public agencies. Plan for your trip, take recreation skills classes and know how to operate your equipment safely.

Avoid Sensitive Areas
on land such as meadows, lake shores, wetlands and streams. Stay on designated routes. This protects wildlife habitats and sensitive soils from damage. Don’t disturb historical, archeological or paleontological sites. On water, avoid operating your watercraft in shallow waters or near shorelines at high speeds.

Do Your Part
by modeling appropriate behavior, leaving the area better than you found it, properly disposing of waste, minimizing the use of fire, avoiding the spread of invasive species and repairing degraded areas.

Let’s make sure that future generations get to visit all these places we love, not just view them from afar, barred by the fences and locked gates that went up on our watch. Because there’s another army clamoring for closure and pursuing litigation to forever lock out the freedom loving folk. They are well organized and well funded, their cause reinforced by every bad example shared on social media.

Please consider supporting reputable groups like C.O.R.V.A. or Tread Lightly! as they fight the good fight to educate and maintain access for ALL of us whether we choose to go by boots, wheels or paddles. We’re all in this together.

Land use and abuse photos from Google. Racetrack Playa photo by Jeffery Aiello.