With the global increase in the overlanding community, overland rallies like the famous Overland Expo in the the USA have been steadily growing in popularity. It’s no surprise that we’re seeing similar growth in Canada, and here we have OverlandNTH. From it’s humble beginnings in 2022, to hosting well over 120 in 2024 at the recent Rally held in June, OverlandNTH is showing promise in becoming the premier overland expo in Canada. They are based in Ontario and currently hold two events a year, but it won’t be long before they branch out and host events in other provinces. Known for it’s nature loving adventurers, British Columbia seems like a likely next target.
At this year’s Rally, we were proud to be a part of this great event as their entertainment sponsor. We were frequently challenged with strong winds and rain (occasionally torrential) but at no point were our spirits dampened…just our clothes. We had live music Friday night, a feast on Saturday night, campfires, and lots of great camaraderie with old friends and new. This is the best part of these types of rallies.
As in previous years, the OverlandNTH Rally was held at an abandoned runway in beautiful Muskoka, near the quant town of Huntsville. Well…that’s where it started, but unlike previous years, we would only be there for one night. The next morning we packed up the whole show and drove to the Haliburton Forest, which is Canada’s only privately owned and operated forest. This was a twist that many of us didn’t expect or plan for (we missed that sentence in this years event description and we expected a singular event location like previous years). This twist had mixed feelings from the attendees that I spoke too, and it made things significantly more challenging for the vendors (especially those who weren’t aware of the change) having to pack everything up, drive to a new location, and set everything up all over again. We all adapted and pulled it off though.
For those of us with larger rigs, or larger trailers, we drove directly to the second venue (nearly 1.5hrs away), whereas the smaller rigs opted for the trail ride through the woods. The trail ride was expected to be 3 hours, but it turned out to be much longer. More like 4.5hrs for some of the run groups.
This made for a great learning experience for many of the newer overlanders to test their rig/trailer setups in a proper overlanding scenario. I would say that based on the experiences had by many, that many now have a better understanding of what they can do real-world vs the expectations of what they thought they could do. Shake-down trips are important, and it’s important to do them close to home so that important lessons can be learned before you get thousands of kilometers from home.
There is an old military saying that says “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. Well, the same can be said when overlanding. Despite your best preparations, and organization of your gear, something will not work out the way you expected, or you will be forced to re-evaluate your capabilities.
The great thing about these rallies is that it provides an opportunity to check out everyone else’s set-ups, talk to people about their equipment, get some ideas, and hear about their adventures. Lots of inspiration can be found, especially for those who are just starting out.
In previous events, it was also a good opportunity to check out the vendors and pick up some new gear. The vendor attendance was a bit sparce at this event though (perhaps due to the challenges of having to relocate).
*One of our instructors, Stephanie, being presented with a 4-Tire Hose Kit courtesy of our partner MORRFlate >>
The next event, The Gathering (August 23-25), will be a stationary event held at the Calabogie Peaks Resort, located in Calabogie Ontario, located only 1.5hrs away from Ottawa, Ontario. Most of the day pass attendees will likely be from the Ottawa region but hopefully we will still get a good turn-out of campers from across the province, and beyond.
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