Who are we?
Wander Up Overland is a small, start-up family business owned by proud Escanaba, MI residents Lynn and Amber Hartman. They have been married for over 20 years and share three wonderful and adventurous children ranging in age from 8-15. The family loves to travel and immerse themselves in new cultures and readily seeks exciting new ways to experience the outdoors. The family’s travels have taken them all the way north to swim in the Arctic Ocean, south to zipline through the Costa Rican rainforests, and plenty of stops in between. They are true global adventurers.
The Hartman’s are lifelong Michiganders. They moved to the beautiful Upper Peninsula in 2012 and haven’t stopped exploring all the natural splendor the UP has to offer since. They’ve acted as tour guides to many visiting family and friends over the years and are excited to share their love and knowledge of the area with others.
CONTACT
contact@wanderupoverland.com
Our first overlanding experience
WHY OVERLANDING?
Despite Amber’s best efforts for most of their marriage to convince Lynn that camping is a wonderful way to experience the outdoors, Lynn long maintained that “camping is just taking everything you do every day and making it harder.” All that changed in 2022 when the family decided to journey to a place that held much historical significance for the family, Inuvik, a small town in Canada’s remote Northwest Territories. Together, with Lynn’s brother Lee, the family quickly learned that they would need to travel the notoriously rugged Dempster Highway to get there and renting Jeeps with roof top tents provided the perfect option for the voyage. The crew set off from Whitehorse, Canada and ultimately traveled all the way to the village of Tuktoyaktuk on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, stopping at Inuvik along the way.
This overland adventure was an intense introduction to the pastime and included many memorable experiences like hiking in the Tombstone mountains, swimming in the Arctic Ocean, encountering Arctic wildlife like moose and fox, and sampling local indigenous delicacies like Beluga whale meat. It was, however, not for the faint of heart. Forest fires, flat tires, clouds of mosquitoes so thick they sounded like rain on the tent at night, and the utter lack of night itself during the Arctic’s Land of the Midnight sun could have spelled an end to overlanding for the Hartman’s. Camping with roof top tents proved to be so safe, easy, comfortable, and fun that even in the face of these challenges the family was hooked! It is the perfect way to really get out there and experience the outdoors. Amber and Lynn knew they just had to share this joyful activity with others and have been working hard to make overlanding an accessible option in the UP ever since!