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Two 4x4s with roof tents climbing a switchback shelf road across a high scree slope under low cloud.

Overlanding Life

Community

Clubs, events and the people who make the miles better.

Why the company matters

Almost every hard lesson in overland travel has already been learned by someone in a club near you: which forest road washes out every spring, which shop understands your truck, how to get a vehicle off its side without hurting anyone. A club is also the safest way to try a trail harder than the ones you know, because you do not go alone.

Clubs matter to the ground itself as well. Roads and trails stay open because people adopt them, clear them, and turn up when a travel plan is being revised. The organisations below are where that work is coordinated.

Events

Gatherings are where you see a hundred builds in a day, take a recovery class with an instructor beside you, and meet the people behind the shops. The largest series in the United States is Overland Expo, which holds events in several regions each year with classes, vendors and camping on site. Its own site lists this year’s places and dates.

We do not print event dates we have not confirmed with the organiser, so the events section of the directory grows only as organisers list themselves. If you run one, the form below takes two minutes.

Organisations worth knowing

National bodies first. Each is described from its own site. Your state’s four-wheel-drive association, reached through the third one, is usually the quickest way to a local club.

  1. 01 Tread Lightly!A national nonprofit for responsible motorized recreation. In its own words, a community of off-roaders "committed to keeping trails open, clean, and rideable for future generations". Its winching and trail guidance is cited in our know-how guides.
  2. 02 BlueRibbon CoalitionA nonprofit that, in its own words, has "fought to preserve recreation access to America’s public lands" since 1987, with members in all 50 states.
  3. 03 United Four Wheel Drive AssociationsFormed in 1976 to represent four-wheel-drive enthusiasts. The place to find the state association, and through it the club, nearest you.
  4. 04 National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation CouncilEducation and safety training for off-highway vehicle users, and help for people starting a local organisation.

List a club or an event

Tell us its name and its own website. We check it against that site before anything is published, and we never print a date we have not confirmed.

A club

We use your email address to answer you and for nothing else.

An event

We use your email address to answer you and for nothing else.

Share your build

What you drive, what you did to it and what you would do differently is worth more to the next owner than any catalogue. Tell us about yours.

Last reviewed September 19, 2026.

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