Driving any Jeep on a week-long 1,500-mile road trip is not normally an easy task. Then toss in the fact that you will be living out of the back of your Jeep for the whole trip, add in about seven extreme Southwestern rock trails ranging from Sledge Hammer in Johnson Valley, California, to Axle Alley near Florence Junction, Arizona, and you my friends have one hell of a challenging week-long ’wheeling fest. Oh, did we forget to mention that non-unibody Jeeps need not apply. That’s right—this is an XJ-only (plus one MJ) two-state Southwest rock–trail ’wheeling fest where durability, driveability, and endurance will all be put to the test.
After hearing about this trip, we knew we had to tag along to get into some of the action so we caught up with Richard Gauthier, our unofficial trail leader, and a few of North American XJ Association’s (NAXJA) Southwestern best near Florence Junction. The rest of the group had been driving and ’wheeling trails near Black Canyon City, Arizona, for the previous three days before we caught up with them. A few tires had fallen prey to the jagged rocks on trails like Predator and Judgment Day, but everyone was still in one piece and ready for more. The next day would bring Axle Alley, and our start of the week-long Best In The West XJ rock trail tour. Check out the XJ action…and XJ carnage.