Welcome to Moab…Mecca for some of the best four-wheel trails in the U.S. as well as extraordinary scenic views of what water and wind can produce in nature.
For decades, this area has been home to annual Easter and Labor Day Jeep Safari events run by the Red Rock 4-Wheelers club. The latter have been and continue to be terrific stewards of the trails and strong advocates for keeping these trails open to vehicle access. My first major four-wheel event experience was actually an Easter Jeep Safari back in 1988, when I traveled with a group of friends from Albuquerque all driving first generation Broncos. From that point, I knew Moab was the place to go to test your vehicle and your own nerve at the wheel.
Fast forward to the present. I received my 2022 4DR Bronco Badlands/Sasquatch in October last year and immediately marked two events on my calendar that were “must attend” to evaluate my new 6Gen Bronco’s capabilities. The first was the 57th Annual Easter Jeep Safari in Moab and the second was the Bronco Safari in Moab, a newer annual event run for 10+ years by the Utah Bronco Club to which I had never attended. After several months of vehicle prep (aftermarket bumpers, suspension upgrade, additional skid plates) and a few test runs at King of Hammers and Death Valley, I believed I had the Bronco ready to tackle most trails at Moab. To get to the main topic of this article, though, I’ll just say the Bronco performed superbly at Easter Jeep Safari on a variety of tough (6 & 7 rated) trails. However, my only disappointment with the Jeep Safari was that I usually had the only Bronco in the trail group, which were dominated by those pesky Jeepers as expected. They often had lots of snarky remarks to share about the new shiny Bronco at the beginning of the day, but mostly became believers by the end of the day as the Bronco rolled over a number of obstacles that more than a few Jeeps had to bypass or struggle to overcome. Overall, I had a fun and successful week of trail runs that fully initiated both the Bronco and the wife into extreme four-wheeling.
Several weeks and a couple cans of black Rust-Oleum later (to cover over the love scratches on my skid plates courtesy of Easter Jeep Safari), I was back on the road from San Diego to Moab to have another go at the trails during Bronco Safari. For this trip, I took the southern route up to Moab through Monument Valley and the Valley of the Gods. These areas of northern Arizona/southern Utah are beyond beautiful and should be experienced if you have the chance to take this route. Additionally, you’ll get to drive on Forrest Gump Hill road along the way, where they filmed Forrest finishing his cross-country runs in the movie. More than a few crazy tourists were in their running gear on the road imitating the scene to post on social media, I’m sure.
Arriving in Moab on Monday, May 1st, the first thing that struck me and was notably different than my visit a few weeks earlier was that the main road through town and many parking lots were dominated by all generations of Broncos. Welcome to Ford four-wheeling heaven! And it only got better when I pulled up to the Old Spanish Arena, where the Utah Bronco Club was setting up shop for the safari event. First gens tricked out to the max, warrior 2nd gens, and a full range of 6Gens including the most 2-doors I’ve seen in one spot to date were present. Welcome mat for Broncos in Moab was out and owners definitely responded.
The first day of the event came and went by way too fast. For my first trail run, I decided to take the Bronco out on an old friend, Hell’s Revenge. The trail was led by one of the Utah Bronco Club presidents, Steve St. Clair, who asked me to act as mid-gunner since I had done this trail often in the past. A good mix of all gens joined the run (about 30 in total) including a few stock 6Gens. Most notable Bronco of the day was a first gen that had been converted to an EV using a Tesla platform. Unfortunately, his OEM brake linkage gave out during the day on a downhill stretch, but thankfully no one was injured and repairs were made quickly. Same vehicle did also get into trouble on the uphill section of Hell’s Gate and had to be winched up, so the driver was not having his best day. This trail obstacle actually got a few 6Gen Broncos too, which had picked a poor line coming up. Even so, everybody that went out returned under their own power, so a good day in the end.
Second and third days of the Bronco Safari event I headed out in the mornings with a friend (Tony Costa) driving a 2DR 6Gen, who was only able to attend these days. We wanted to do a couple trails that weren’t being offered as event runs those days and we now had the new Bronco Trails App onboard to help with navigation. The first day together we headed out to the Flat Iron Mesa trail, which I had mostly completed at Easter Jeep Safari but didn’t finish a few of the toughest obstacles due to a long day of struggling to get a number of Jeeps through other obstacles. When we arrived at the trail head we were thrilled to find three well-built 1st gen Broncos ready to go on the same trail. Following a brief conversation, we decided to join forces for the day. This was a brilliant decision, as we ended up tearing through the full trail including all major challenging obstacles in about 5 hrs, a really good run time for this trail. Sometimes a smaller group of capable drivers & vehicles definitely makes for a better trail experience, especially on the tougher trail runs.
Next day we weren’t able to get out to the trails until mid-morning (stupid business telecon), so went to the Seven Mile Rim trail, which we thought we could complete in a couple of hours. Bronco Trail App failed us at first and tried to take us on a fenced off path, but after searching around a bit we found an alternative route to the trail head. With just two Broncos, we motored through this trail in good time all while easily overcoming a challenging variety of obstacles. Best part, though, was the finish through a sand wash/creek area where we were able to let it rip in Baja mode. Unfortunately, at the end of the trail run, Tony had to head out for home before we could celebrate another good day in Moab over a well-earned dinner.
From left to right: Three 1st gen Bronco friends on Flat Iron Mesa trail, Mike’s (Velocity blue) and Tony’s 6Gen Broncos, Mike coming through Easter Egg Hill on Flat Iron Mesa trail
Friday, May 5th was my last day to participate in the safari, so I signed up for a trail that I knew would be a good challenge, Steel Bender. This trail includes several creek crossings (water depth running about 30-36 inches), numerous stairstep climbs and descents, and a couple rock wall challenges. Our rear gunner driving a lifted Toyota pickup (which he identified as a Bronco) had the worst experience among the group that day, shearing his rear drive shaft on one of the above-mentioned rock walls. Fortunately, he expected as much and was prepared with a spare. As for myself, after making easy work of most of the obstacles in the new Bronco, the trail leader asked if I wanted to go back and try again in 2-wheel drive. This was a nice compliment to finish off the week, as well as having a Bronco with no major damage so that I could make the long drive home.
Comparing the week at Bronco Safari to my previous outing at the Easter Jeep Safari, I would highly recommend attendance at the Bronco version, where you will feel both part of the past and reemerging legacy of Bronco worthiness at Moab. I also want to throw a lot of praise at the Utah Bronco Club, who have taken best parts of the Jeep Safari and made them better with their own twists to running the event. See you there next year! Registration starts in November….
