Easter Jeep Safari 2024 Recap (Part 1):

Terry Pritchard, Events & Off-road Guru.

Nestled among the majestic red rock formations of Utah lies Moab, a sleepy town that is a paradise for off-road and outdoor enthusiasts. Every year, during the week prior to Easter, this desert town transforms into a playground and showroom for Jeep® enthusiasts and those associated in the off-road and jeep industry from around the globe. Welcome to Easter Jeep Safari, an iconic event that celebrates the spirit of adventure, camaraderie, and the sheer thrill of off-roading.

After a week-long adventure across the country where I was able to visit business customers and perspective distribution locations, I pulled into Moab, one of my favorite towns. I am always in awe of the beauty and breathtaking landscapes that surround the small town is visible from the main street or 191 as it is known on interstate maps.

The first day for me is a way to get my bearings and see some of my friends in the business. Some of which I haven’t seen since last Easter Jeep Safari. This is one of the few days that I do not have an agenda or commitments. I had been following a few individuals and the Quadratec team on social media as they trekked across the nation. So, I had a general idea of when people would arrive in town. I was hoping to run into a few people.

Driving through Main Street on my way to the wash the week worth of road dirt, salt grime and dust off the ORACLE Lighting Gladiator, I see one of my closest friends, Eric Ammerman with Greg Henderson, unloading Overkill and Murdicon 2.0 from their trailer on the side of the road. I didn’t realize at that point that Greg had brought Pathkiller, as well.

Greg (Unofficial Use Only) is a fantastic fabricator and builder and has numerous high-profile vehicles and SEMA builds on his resume. And Murdicon and Pathkiller are perfect examples of the creative and mechanical prowess that he possesses. Eric and Greg have partnered to produce two amazing SEMA builds for Quadratec, the JTe, a 2 door hybrid Gladiator, and the YJL, a modern 2 door JL retrofitted to resemble an 80s-90s era YJ Sahara complete with square headlights.

After hanging out with Eric and Greg at the shop buttoning up some last-minute details, I went back into town to meet up with my friends from my days at Quadratec. We had been talking about getting margaritas while out in Moab for weeks and we were primed for the tall, frothy beverage and Mexican food at Fiesta Mexicana. They boast of having the best margaritas in town. And it’s a great Margarita. After catching up over plenty of laughter, we all laid out our plans for the week to see if we could line up some time on the trails together. That was a great beginning to an exciting week.

I needed a good warmup trail ride to get the week started. So, I met Eric and Karen Bailey Chapman for a ride of Fins and Things, a favorite trail not too far out of town. Fins and Things is known for its beautiful vistas of the La Sal Mountains with a ton of sandstone, slick rock obstacles. This has super steep climbs and even steeper descents. Karen wanted to test out her new-to-her Rubicon and I’m not sure there is a better way to do that. Her bright yellow jeep, Eric’s Hydro Blue “Overkill” and the ORACLE Lighting Rubicon Gladiator made easy work of the trail’s demands. I enjoyed meeting several of our customers out on the trail, as well. It’s great to be recognized and get to know our customers a little closer.

I spent a little more time in town with friends showing off all the LED lighting features of the Gladiator. We have this vehicle decked out in white LED lights. Each wheel well has two of our White LED Rock Light pods. These lights truly give the wheel well a full glow and a nice silhouette for the tires. To add to the glow behind the wheels are our LED Wheel Rings in white. I am surprised at how nicely these tuck behind the wheels and mount on the brake dust shield. They are protected well in this location from rocks and other trail debris.

Sunday was another trail day. This time Eric and I paired up with Tom Zielinski. Tom is a walking Who’s Who in the industry. He is the president of Z Performance and runs 4Fest events. And if that didn’t take all his time, he is on the Board of Directors for Tread Lightly! Tread Lightly! promotes responsible recreation through restoration and education.

We headed up to Steel Bender. Here is the trail description from the Badge of Honor app:

“This trail's difficulty rating keeps moving around as the conflicting forces of erosion and trail repair modify the obstacles. The trail lies between Moab and the La Sal Mountains in the vicinity of Mill Creek, a major drainage from the mountains. It crosses the creek a few times and travels a lovely part of Mill Creek Canyon. It overlooks the North Fork of Mill Creek as it climbs to the base of South Mesa on the skirts of the La Sal Mountains. It is another variation on the canyon lands landscape, and it offers further variety to the scenery and the four-wheeling opportunities of the Moab area.”

I have done this trail before. It does have some great obstacles and it was fun to try those obstacles with a longer wheelbase with the Gladiator. I was blown away with how capable our Gladiator really is. It is not an outrageous build. The truck rides on 37” tires with a modest Mopar lift. So, it isn’t the biggest jeep out there but amazingly capable, none-the-less. We finished with the trail as we all successfully conquered the obstacles without any damage. It is always a great day on the trails when we can all say that.

In the next installment, we will get to talk about our sponsored sunset trail ride.

Jeepin’ Terry is the Events & Offroad Guru for Oracle Lighting. In his spare time, he is the host of the Jeep Life Podcast and co-founder of the Jeep Enthusiasts of Eastern Pennsylvania, one of the largest Jeep clubs in the state. His obsession with Jeeps started in the 80s with his boss’s big bad blue CJ5. Growing up in the mountains of Tennessee, Terry spent plenty of time on the trails and in the outdoors. His 2017 Wrangler, named Kylo, has been to California and back and everywhere in between, finding trails and adventures everywhere… and constantly asks for more.