Harry Wagner loves all things off-road, whether they be rockcrawling, desert racing, or overlanding. Harry’s story starts with a childhood in Northern California, half way between the Sierra Nevada Range and the Pacific coast.  He was born to parents who loved the outdoors, and some of his earliest memories are camping in places like Yosemite, where his mother spent much of her own childhood.  Harry’s father owned a 4WD shop in Yuba City in the 80s, so weekends in the back of the family FJ40 on iconic trails like the Rubicon were commonplace.  It wasn’t until later in life that Harry realized just how special his childhood was, and it would set him on the trajectory that continues to this day. 

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Harry was active in Boy Scouts, spending his summers working at a camp adjacent to Fordyce Creek, eventually earning the rank of Eagle Scout.  For his efforts, his parents rewarded him with a Jeep CJ-7.  It was his primary transportation through high school and college in Colorado, where he got a degree in geophysics.  From there Harry spent a short stint working in the oil industry in Houston before being transferred to Caracas, Venezuela.  That experience was truly life changing, opening his eyes to a much larger world than he never knew existed and sparking an insatiable thirst for travel and appreciation for people with cultures and experiences that differed from his own. Harry still uses his geophysics degree today, performing environmental remediation work cleaning up unexploded ordnance at former military installations.  While he lives near Lake Tahoe, his work provides the opportunity to go to some of the most spectacular and remote locations in the world.

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When not searching for unexploded ordnance, Harry spends his time behind the wheel of his fleet of 4x4s, or behind the lens of a camera to document his adventures.  Since 2005 Harry has been a freelance writer and photographer for titles including Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road, Fourwheeler, Jp, and more. He has raced in King of the Hammers and the Baja 1000 and covered the world famous Dakar Rally multiple times. More recently Harry has transitioned from behind the camera to the front of the camera, making Youtube videos on various off-road topics and leading training efforts with Hoplite Venturetrek.