Nighttime at the NW Overland Rally
The Northwest Overland Rally is the largest yearly Overland event in the Pacific Northwest. And it keeps getting larger every year. Held in the Leavenworth, WA area, the Rally is open to all overland adventurers, 2- or 4-wheel equipped. The three-day event features organized trail rides/tours, vendor-sponsored information sessions (including a very informative navigation classes and a very entertaining technical off-road navigation course), and nightly group bonfires with raffle giveaways. Camping is organized into rows of reserved spaces, and after set up on Friday one of the most entertaining parts of the weekend is browsing the aisles of campsites to see the unique layouts and equipment folks from all over the Northwest region set up for their car camping adventures.
This year there were over 750 attendees at the event arriving in over 500 vehicles. Sponsors included Ex Officio, American Expedition Vehicles, Torfab Landcruisers, Defenders Northwest, Mountain Khakis, Adventure Trailers, Snow Peak, and at least a dozen others (including the Expedition Overland team).
The Exploring Elements and Nitro Gear campfire
Both Friday and Saturday evenings organizers built large bonfires and held raffle giveaways, including some hefty items from some of the sponsors. The friendly community atmosphere is what really makes this one of our favorite close-to-home events, but be warned it also inevitably leads to raucous laughter around campfires late into the evening. That said though it’s definitely a very family-friendly event – dozens of kids of all ages were in attendance and many very entertaining games spontaneously broke out all during the weekend, including one awesome match of two-hand-touch football.
Evening at the Adventure Trailers “booth”
If you love backcountry vehicle camping, or really just want to get away for a long weekend and meet other adventure-minded locals, this is a great event. If you attend the event in 2015 stop by the Adventure Ready booth and say “Hi!”
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