Burro Wash proved to be an ideal trail for our Wheels Event, providing enough of a challenge to push your driving skills, while letting our Rovers through unscathed.

Back in April, while attending Overland Expo in Amado, Arizona, we decided we had to invite renowned off-road expert, and veteran of the Camel Trophy Expeditions, Tom Collins.  Tom first participated in the Camel Trophy back in 1987 for the Madagascar Expedition.  If you want to get acquainted with Camel Trophy, check out this YouTube Video.  After Madagascar, Tom stayed with the Camel Trophy program and was instrumental in the next 10 years of  Camel Trophy for the US team.

So we had a location, and an expert.  It’s time for the trails.  Tom and I met in Torrey a few weeks before Memorial Day to pre-run trails and get a feel for the location.  As I drove into town at 11:30pm, it was 42 degrees an clear.  When I woke up at 6:30am, it was overcast, snowing, and 30 degrees!  So, Tom and I met for breakfast and laid out a game plan.  Due to the snow, Boulder Mountain was inaccessible, and we had to hunt for other options. After 2 days, and 18 hours of running trails, we narrowed down our trail list and put together some amazing options.

Saturday

Our plan for the day was to run 2 trails, with Lunch back in Torrey in between.  We met at 9am for a trail meeting, topped off with fuel and were off to the trail.

“Rock Trail” was the first for the day, and it was a blast.  A couple stream crossings, some rock gardens to play in, and plenty of beautiful scenery all around.

For the afternoon trail, we headed over to the other side of Boulder Mountain.  This trail was a bit more scenic with amazing vistas, an alpine pond, and some snow.  The route was a bit easier going for the Rovers, until we came across a minor obstacle.

The 50mph winds the day before had knocked over a good sized tree.  So, we could double back the way we came, or being the brave adventurers we were (or just a little heavy on the testosterone), we got out the axe and went to work.

After some chopping, and winching, we had cleared the tree from the road and were back on the trail.

It was a great afternoon, and we were all excited to make it back to Torrey.  Saturday night was our catered Dutch Oven Dinner from Cow Camp Catering.

Needless to say, dinner was AMAZING.  Roast beef, pork roast, au gratin potatoes, strawberry lemonade, and more.  Everything was homemade, and couldn’t have been better.  After Dinner, we all sat around and listened to Tom Collins relate some of his experiences with Land Rover, while enjoying peach and berry cobblers with ice cream .

Sunday

This is our big trail day.  We planned on being out on the trail the whole day, so we brought lunch with us.  This was also going to be a big change of scenery from the previous day, since we were heading to the east side of Capitol Reef National Park.  We drove through Capitol Reef and headed towards Caineville, Utah.  The first task of the day was crossing the Fremont River.

The trails were mostly 2-track, with some slick rock and gravel sections as well.  I’ll let the pictures do the talking here.

We stopped for lunch on the trail, and enjoyed some Subway sandwiches.  They were good, but they weren’t a catered Dutch Oven dinner.

And, to finish off the trip for Sunday, we had to cross the Fremont River again.

That evening, we all gathered around and listened to Tom Collins talk about his time in Camel Trophy.  From signing up and the audition process, to competing in Madagascar, and then coordinating the other Camel Trophy events around the world.  His stories are incredible, and if you ever get the chance to listen to them, do it.

We’d like to thank our wonderful owners who came along with us for the event, and invite all those who couldn’t make it to join us on our next event.

Land Rover has been a sponsor of the Muddy Buddy series for a couple years and this was the first time they held an event in Southern Nevada.  On the Friday before the race, we hosted a carb-loading pasta party for the competitors here at the Land Rover dealership.  We had Bob Babbitt come out and talk about the Challenged Athletes Foundation, the charity supported by Muddy Buddy.  We also heard from Scout, a competitor and recipient of a prosthetic leg by the Challenged Athletes Foundation.  It was a great evening.

On Sunday, we were proud to be supporting 3 teams at the event.  We had 3 sales guides, a former sales guide, and our receptionist and her husband competing.  They all had a blast and it was such an amazing event!  Browse through the photos below to get a sense of the fun!

We scouted out a very technical trail and led the owners one at a time through the various obstacles. It’s one thing to own the most capable luxury 4×4 on the planet, it’s another thing to know how to use it on the trail.  Once done with the trail in the morning, we enjoyed lunch from Einstein Bro’s, and set off for the dunes!  In the sand dunes, we worked with the owners on driving technique, showed them how to make use of their Terrain Response systems, and had a small training class.  We demonstrated how to properly use a snatch strap to extract a stuck vehicle, how to field repair a tire puncture, and how to properly air down for the sand.

All in all, it was an amazing trip and a great day.  We’d like to thank all the owners that joined us and hope to see more out at our next trip.