The Jeep Easter Safari is a world away from conventional car meets.
A show and shine, it ain’t.
Most of the cars are scruffy and battle-scarred and all have been heavily modified within an inch of their lives and this season’s must-haves include high-lift suspension kits, 35-inch tyres, steel bumpers, winches, bash plates and rock sliders. Hemi V8s are desirable but not essential.
Unlike some German car meets, there’s plenty of diversity too, with old and young rubbing shoulders with not a single oversized Rolex in sight.
The general friendliness and sense of real community is almost disarming.
Before I could compare notes and ask which of the 44 trails Jeff would be tackling over the next nine days of the Jeep Easter Safari, the long line of 4x4s slowly crawl away in a cloud of choking dust.
It would take a lifetime to tire of the stunning red sandstone rock cliff faces and weathered formations, craggy canyon terrain and barren but beautiful arid desert sand dunes that the frontier town of Moab has become famous for among hikers, bikers and off-roaders and Jeep’s own connection with this part of the world is almost as old as the hills themselves.
With town officials fearing an end to the mining boom in 1967, councillors came up with the genius idea of attracting tourism to the town by using Moab to host the world’s first Jeep Safari. Surprisingly it was an instant success, with 150 Jeeps and more than 600 tourists rocking up for the first ever Woodstock for 4×4 enthusiasts.
Some 60 years on and today the Easter Jeep Safari has evolved into nothing short of a religion for worshippers of the 4×4 brand, drawing more than 45,000 attendees. Now run by Red Rock 4-Wheelers, a local passionate band of 4×4 enthusiasts, the Moab-based festival has grown without any real direct involvement by Jeep.
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Corporate branding and on-brand messaging are also pleasingly absent and the reasonable $75 charged for a day’s off-roading is far from extortionate.
Today our group’s guide has suggested we attack Porcupine Rim Trail, rated 5 out of the maximum 10 for difficulty – with the first nine permitted for road-legal vehicles, with the black-run-style 10 reserved for specially-built off-road buggies.
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Taking between 4-5 hours to travel to cover just 23km and climb 280m, Porcupine Rim both spikes the heart rate, while delivering plenty of breathtaking views over the Mars-like landscape.
If ever Jeep needed the perfect proving ground to sell a Wrangler, this is it, as suddenly its ultra-short overhangs, generous approach and departure angles, high- and low ratio transmission and fancy extra kit, like locking front and rear differentials and an anti-roll bar disconnect all suddenly make perfect sense.
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All the driver has to do is listen, point and breathe on the throttle and the Wrangler climbs better than any human could over treacherous terrain.
Even for someone who isn’t the biggest fan of tearing up the countryside, the involvement, satisfaction and accrued skills you gain from learning how to tackle the climbs and descents are all intoxicating, with the scenery almost secondary to the event.
Of course, an army of volunteers maintain all the trails and ensure little damage to the environment is done by the legions of Jeep fans and with some of the fee reinvested into the preservation of the land, it’s a win-win for everyone.
The unashamed good vibes are even extended to non-Jeep owners, with our party cheering on a wild-looking bearded local in a highly-modified VW beach buggy’s dramatic full-throttle attempts to attack a steep rocky incline. It all feels like another automotive bucket list experience all without exceeding 15km/h.
It seems apt in the very place Jeep helped earn its reputation for adventure and exploration that today the rugged off-road icon is somehow still delivering on both fronts.
