We have had the privilege of trailing in Moab twice in 2020, but this was our first Easter Jeep Safari! I am a huge Jeep enthusiast and very active in our local Jeep community and the virtual IG community as well. What was so special about our EJS visit was connecting with other Jeepers I’ve only met online but feel like are friends. A week was definitely not enough time, and I didn’t get to run several trails I wanted to, but I did finally get to run Steel Bender!

I signed up with RR4W to do the planned 10am run to Steel Bender on Tuesday 3/27/21. There were 27 Jeeps on this trail, which is a long one to begin with, but took over 8 hours with that many jeeps! My children did not enjoy this trail, and had some serious meltdowns during and afterwards. But it was definitely a challenge and pushed me out of my comfort zone! There are a few hard obstacles on this trail (the Wall and the Fall) that looked so imposing, but with a good spotter they turned out to be definite highlights of our day!

I had a friend in town who has a Tacoma. (I know, non-jeep friend? She is pretty awesome though!) We chose to take an easier and very scenic run to Chicken Corners one day and wow! It’s just so beautiful out there! I’m so glad we got to take that trail and enjoy all those magnificent red rocks with our sweet friends.

We had a bit of a family emergency mid week (teenage daughter at home!) and with all the drama and long distance management, didn’t get to run as many trails as I’d planned. But we did get to the Expo held at Dixie 4×4 and enjoyed seeing so many wonderful vendors and getting some fun swag!

Our last full day in Moab was spent connecting with some IG friends (tiffany.the.jeep) and running the Pickle! Dustin and Lindsay (shrkb8whoohaha) recommended it and they were so right! What a great trail!! It’s fun, a bit technical and challenging and so beautiful! And I got to run it with some wonderful people too! 🙂

We can’t say enough about the jeepers, sponsors, volunteers and organizers who made our first Easter Jeep Safari so enjoyable! Thank you so much! We’ll see you again next year.

-AJG