Easter Jeep Safari 2024

For the second event of the season, the team made its way to Moab for Easter Jeep Safari 2024! EJS was an even bigger deal than usual this year as the team was helping promote the official launch of the new 42” Baja Boss. We had numerous rigs from both our team and brand partners running the new highly anticipated tires, and we were there to put them through the paces. We were joined by Mr Robert DeJarnette from Mickey Thompson in the MT Gladiator, of course also on the new 42s. 

Day one for us was Monday as we loaded up and headed just outside of town to run The Pickle with our good friends from Motobilt. The MB crew came ready to party with Dan driving ElJefe, Bobby in his rig, Bender in the 392 JLU build, Aaron in his LJ, and Hunter in the newest build, Rowdy JT, a wicked LSX swapped gladiator with a full complement of Motobilt goodies and a fresh set of new 42s. We headed out with a pretty decent sized group before a slight hang up with the cooling system on Jordans rig. That got sorted pretty quickly and they caught up to the group at the first main obstacle. Watching the host of rigs on the new 42s tackle the terrain with ease was nothing short of impressive. Another new change to the lineup came from Nic in Rokbugy, the bug was rolling on a fresh set of Pro XS 46s and was now spooled front and rear. It was crazy to watch how different the rig reacted and responded. Combined with the rear steer, it was a game changer for sure. 

Our Ambassador Jordan was still facing intermittent cooling issues throughout the day which was a bummer and had to be addressed later but, day one on The Pickle with our friends was a great time. 

After rolling back into town, it was time to join our friends from Bestop brands at their kickoff party. It was a great turnout and always good to catch up with Justin from PRP and Adam from Baja Designs. Then it was time for grub so the team headed over to the Blue Pig for some dinner. 

On Monday evening the rest  of our team rolled into town. Trey and Jason made it in from New Mexico, and after a long journey plagued with bad weather and wheel issues, Cam, Danielle, and their kiddos finally made it in from Michigan. Jordan got his water pump replaced and the team was ready to call it a night. 

Day two was an early start for us, and it was chilly. We headed out of the house around 6:30 and made our way to the trailhead. The plan for the day was to run Behind the Rocks then cross over to run Pritchett backwards. Not too long into the trail we got hit with a freak hailstorm which was fun for the folks with half doors and no windshields but we made the best of it and had a great time running Behind the Rocks. Aside from a brief hiccup with the fluid levels in the bug leaving Nic without brakes in a pretty precarious position in the middle of a dangerously steep drop, the first section of our trail was awesome, even with the weather. 

The hail finally stopped and the sun popped out towards the end of Behind the Rocks and after some deliberation we decided to head on over to Pritchett and check it out. The main concern being how wet / slick things would be since we were going to be dropping down everything instead of climbing. By the time we got to Pritchett, everyone was shedding clothes and it was actually a little warm in just a tee shirt. While we were planning to run into a fair amount of people coming up Pritchett, it was a surprisingly light day on the trail. We ran into one decent sized group that had broken off from the Warn Industries run and our friends Mike and Dan from Revkit working on a recovery. Aside from that it was smooth sailing , albeit very different dropping down everything. We nearly made it out completely unscathed but Cam caught a pinch flat at the bottom of Chewy. We got the tire patched up and headed back to town to join our friends from Rock Krawler Suspension at Zaxs for their annual EJS party. It’s always a great time with lots of friends and something we look forward to every year. 

Day three let us sleep in a little later before we headed to run Porcupine Rim. It was definitely a much milder day on the trails for us but the weather was great and a day of more casual wheeling was welcomed. We had one little mishap with a u joint, but made quick work of it and kept on wheeling. After a lunch break some of the team needed to get back for other obligations with brands and the rest headed over to run Hells Revenge. Hells is always a really fun trail to run and the traffic was light so we made pretty good time before heading back into town to get ready for the Motobilt party at Grandpas garage. 

All in all, EJS was an absolute blast. We saw lots of friends and covered a ton of ground in our short time there. A huge thank you to Mickey Thompson, Motobilt, Baja Designs, PRP, Yukon Gear & Axle,Rock Krawler Suspension, and all of the team that came from all over the country.