Let’s get one thing straight: I didn’t want to go.
As the weeks and days counted down to my trip to Las Vegas, I was dreading every minute. My apprehension had less to do with the flashing lights and kitsch of the strip than what I had planned for myself and my husband. As a combo Christmas/Valentine’s Day/birthday gift, I purchased half a day of off-road adventure for a man who had gone rock crawling dozens of times in the West.
The idea of giving an experience, a memory together, seemed like the best gift of all.
But I realized that I didn’t really think my plan all the way through. Like the terror part.
Who knew that your life could flash before your eyes going 3 miles per hour? True fact.
To be really clear, I had never been off-roading. Driving through the Michigan woods doesn’t count. I had written about the passion of these adventure people for six years as the Ford reporter at the Detroit Free Press.
My idea of adventure is a grueling mountain hike. Listening to birds. Watching for snakes. No bikes. No cars.
Yet for years, I’d listened to my husband talk of Jeep life. An athlete who played football, baseball and hockey, then moved into running the Chicago Marathon, the man never met a challenge he couldn’t conquer. What he really liked, after all these years, were memories of going, as they say, Jeepin’ as a younger man.
Jeep versus Ford challenge
I was curious to know how the Ford Bronco held up to the Jeep. I married into a Jeep family. My husband traveled the rocks and desert and high country of Nevada, Arizona and Utah long before meeting me. And, frankly, he’s the best driver I know. He’s navigated trucks through hurricane rescues as a master electrician working rapid response during massive power outages.
The guy is fearless. Me? Not so much.
I’m the silent scream type. And this adventure proved to be no different.
So, we signed up for a half-day Bronco Off-Roadeo adventure at Mt. Potosi, about 30 miles southwest of our hotel. This half-day opportunity, involving a new Bronco and a trail guide, was available to non-Bronco owners only. A full-day program is offered for free to Bronco owners as part of their purchase. Ford said last year it decided to expand the unique program because some visitors who went along often ended up buying a Bronco afterward.
When I asked our guide if they had many non-Bronco visitors, he said interest seemed to spike after a story appeared in USA Today. (Well, that was my story that ran in November.) The programs, designed to be a crash course in design, technology and nature, is now available at Mt. Potosi near Las Vegas; Red Cliffs Lodge in Moab, Utah; Grey Wolf Ranch in Horseshoe Bay, Texas; and Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, New Hampshire.
On this cool Monday in mid-April, we pulled up to a former Boy Scout camp with breathtaking panoramic views in the middle of the desert, and see a caravan of Ford Broncos snaking past. We knew we were in the right spot. This was not a part of any Las Vegas trip I had ever taken. And it left me speechless.
First thing I did: Park the Jeep Cherokee rental alongside Audi, Jeep, Toyota and BMW vehicles in the Bronco lot.
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And then we were driven up to the staging area, where all the Broncos were lined up.
Snaking over rocks, through the desert
My husband climbed behind the wheel (as I’d requested he do) and I climbed into the passenger seat. I had zero desire to control the knobs and steering and power and drama. I wanted to watch and learn from a seasoned expert. Our guide Trevor, who could easily evacuate humanity during Armageddon, took us for hours on routes I couldn’t have imagined.
We communicated through walkie-talkies.
The experience in that pretty white Bronco made me see technology and engineering and nature and physics in a way that I never could have imagined. Hearing is one thing. Experiencing it is completely different, and it made me see the world in a different way.
For all visitors, a Bronco or Bronco Sport is provided to use for free. Guides ride with some drivers to inspire fearlessness and help teach all the proper tread lightly techniques for Bronco off-road activity. Up to three passengers may go along. But on this day, it was just the two of us.
While many people likely won’t use their Bronco or Bronco Sport to go off-roading through the woods, mud, sand or mountainous terrain, Bronco owners learn things about the vehicle they never could imagine.
Avoiding expensive noises
Broncos start around $40,000 and can run as high as $90,000 for a Bronco Raptor. Different versions include different features and levels of off-road capability, such as 35-inch tires for better ground clearance and upgraded shock absorbers.
So driving a higher-end Sasquatch version designed for maximum adventure definitely required buying the insurance package. This was all on me. No media trip. No media spin. Just the girl, her pen and a notepad. Watching and learning.
It made me a better reporter, and I better appreciate Bronco chief engineer Jolanta Coffey. Because what you see in the Off-Roadeo experience is not concept but execution.
Every minute in the Bronco is about spatial awareness. It is about understanding how braking impacts the angle of the Bronco as it balances on rocks, and how to avoid turtling or ending up as a beached whale. I’ve never considered the departure angle of a vehicle, how it comes off a rock and if it’s too fast or too aggressive, will lose clearance and trash the underside of the vehicle.
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Special markers on the hood, called trail sights, help the driver align the tires to avoid scratching against brush or rocks. It’s important to understand ground clearance and tire size and why taking air out of the tires can really help with grip.
It’s an amazing concept, setting cruise control at 4.5 mph, but we did. Using one-pedal drive helped avoid burning up the brakes on these slow, steep descents through cactus as we watched for deer, elk, fox and bobcats.
I kept tugging at my seat belt. I praised Baby Jesus more than once for grip handles. And I will never in this lifetime get used to balancing on three tires. Everything is about control and power distribution and gravity.
Paying attention to the earth underneath, and potential surprises, dictates what will happen. Rocking back and forth, I burst out laughing because I could only think of Will Ferrell’s NASCAR character in the classic 2006 film “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” yelling, “Shake and bake, baby!”
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First things first: Avoid making expensive noises.
Critical to rock crawling is understanding the height of the vehicle and how to navigate obstacles carefully. This means not rushing. This may involve dangling on three tires as they grip rocks and stones through the climb. Controlled descent is, physically, an experience that changes everything. It’s like driving your roller-coaster. Slowly.
We used cruise control that kept us at 4 mph on a descent. It held the speed. Driving these routes, I held my breath. Controlled descent mode allows the Bronco to go slowly down rocks and boulders. Slow speed and balance allow the vehicle to inch down carefully and in control. We drove in washes, where the water runs through after a rainstorm. And rock gardens.
The trail turn assist button allowed us to make a hairpin turn at the edge of a cliff. We turned right, and the right rear wheel locked up. That allowed the Bronco to pivot completely and make the tight sharp turn. Had I not witnessed the technique of the guide in the Bronco in front of us, I would have feared for my life. But the Bronco turned on a dime.
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Looking down, I learned about “hero” buttons on the Bronco dashboard that allow for miracles. The buttons resemble piano keys and do many things that can add more capability depending on the situation. For example, a driver with a push of a button can lock the front and rear wheels together to provide more traction in slippery conditions.
We balanced on three wheels more than once, tipping so far that I feared going all the way over.
The dashboard showed pitch and roll, what angles were held and when we might hold on for dear life.
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Mad skill
A man named Adam, from the west side of Michigan, made me promise during a trip on a cruise (when he learned I wrote about Ford) that I would one day try the Off-Roadeo. He said it changed the way he looked at being in a vehicle in nature, experiencing fun and adventure but respecting the land and the creatures on it.
Fact is, the Jeep is smaller and potentially easier to navigate in some tight areas. But this experience taught me that I absolutely would buy a Bronco and I would know that going over rocks hurts nothing and going around obstacles can create trail creep. It can be destructive. These guides in Nevada, whose days are spent on the mountain and in the desert, spend much of their time monitoring the landscape and caring for the trails on hundreds of acres.
Ford doesn’t own the property I visited; it leases it.
And now, my husband and I are two of more than 45,000 people who have done the Off-Roadeo. I know truly what it means to tread lightly and leave no trace. I climbed out of the Bronco, exhausted and exhilarated, and still don’t consider myself an adventure seeker. But I do think of myself as someone who now understands those who are.
Reporter Phoebe Wall Howard periodically writes experiential reviews that focus on day-to-day life with a vehicle. Contact her at 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter @phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.