Overland films · Sierra Nevada
Blackrock Overland is a video journal of overland travel, backcountry 4WD driving and dispersed camping across the Sierra Nevada front, the Eastern Sierra and the Nevada backcountry.
FeaturedGenoa Peak Trail near Lake Tahoe15:47From the channel
Trail runs, camp nights and build work from the Sierra front and the Nevada backcountry.
Took a trip near the top of Genoa Peak. Got some amazing views of Lake Tahoe at 9000ft above. Taking my family and our Jeep on this adventure was beautiful. I hope you enjoy the video, we had a blast making it.
Watch on YouTube
Today I installed a Rough Country Tailgate table. This is a great upgrade for camping and Overlanding. Always have a table ready to go on your Jeep tailgate. This install is quick and easy, the instructions that came with the table were pretty good.
On a snowy weekend we decided to tackle the Jumbo Grade Trail and give all our viewers a through review of the Jumbo Grade Trail. This trail will take you from Washoe Valley, South of Reno, Nevada to Virginia City, Nevada. This off-road trail is easy and has some amazing views of the Sierra Mountains.
We decide to take a quick trip to the Ancient Bristlecone Pines near Bishop California. We decide to take the back roads through Silver Canyon, this trail will take us above 10000 ft as we make the climb to the Bristlecone Pines.
Where the routes live
This site doesn't host trail data, and it never will — keeping route information in one maintained place is how it stays accurate. Wild West Off Road Trails publishes the routes, difficulty ratings, GPX downloads and seasonal closures for everything we drive.
Routes
Turn-by-turn with waypoints
Ratings
Difficulty, stock to modified
GPX
Download to any navigation app
Access
Seasonal gates and closures
Field journal
Trip reports, gear that earned its space, and the skills nobody explains properly the first time.
A corridor guide to the 270 miles of US-395 between Reno and Lone Pine — elevation, fuel, the three seasonal Sierra crossings, and what is worth turning off for.
Read
Land status, the 14-day rule, the free permits people miss, and the two places on this corridor where the usual dispersed camping rules do not apply.
Read
Six thousand feet of climbing in ten miles, seven creek crossings and four miles of one-lane switchbacks — the hard way up to the oldest trees on earth.
ReadBefore you go
The things people ask most often about getting into this, answered without the sales pitch.
Blackrock Overland is a YouTube channel and field journal covering overland travel, backcountry 4WD driving and dispersed camping along the Sierra Nevada front and through the Eastern Sierra and the Nevada backcountry, based in northern Nevada.
Trail routes, difficulty ratings, GPX files and seasonal access notes are published by Wild West Off Road Trails at wildwestoffroadtrails.com. Blackrock Overland does not host trail data — the videos cover the trip, the sister site covers the route.
No. A stock four-wheel-drive vehicle with good all-terrain tyres, a full-size spare, recovery gear and a way to carry water will reach the large majority of dispersed camping and graded backcountry roads in the West. Capability comes from tyres, preparation and judgement long before it comes from modifications.
June through October for anything at elevation. High Sierra passes and roads such as White Mountain Road to the Bristlecones hold snow into June and can close again by late October, while lower desert routes east of the range are best in spring and autumn and uncomfortably hot at midsummer.
Most of it is Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management land and open to free dispersed camping, generally limited to 14 days in any 28-day period. Humboldt-Toiyabe and Inyo National Forests cover much of the Sierra side; BLM covers most of the country east of the range. Check the land status on a surface-management map, stay on existing roads, and camp on a site that has already been disturbed.
Subscribe on YouTube for the films, or pull the journal into your reader.
