‘Ultimate Adventure’ Tests Your Fortitude & Terrain Mastery
Four Wheeler Network takes on the wild at Knick Glacier in Alaska for an entire week in a test of wits, guts and hardiness.
We may live in an age of hyperbole (seriously, if everything is “awesome,” then nothing is), but Petersen’s Four Wheel and Off Road annual “Ultimate Adventure 2019” more than lives up to its name. For its 20th anniversary, Ultimate Adventure 2019 participants trekked all the way to Alaska for the week-long event. As Four Wheeler Network Editor-in-Chief Christian Hazel describes it in this recent video for the MotorTrend Channel: “We run an intense 4×4 trail one day, then drive hundreds of miles to a new area the next and repeat the process, all while seeing and doing incredible bucket list things along the way.”
Don’t expect any epic fails from this crew either. These are Four Wheeler Network editors and writers, and a few lucky readers, and each one of them is riding (well, living in for a week, really) in a very built, very capable off-roader. This isn’t amateur hour; the terrain here (and by here, we mean Knik Glacier in Alaska), doesn’t suffer fools.
This video, depicting day one of Ultimate Adventure 2019 starts in Wasilla, then heads into the wilderness. As guide Trent McGee points out, “this glacier isn’t anywhere near a paved road, of course.” The group heads out down the Old Glenn highway, then kisses the pavement goodbye outside the glacier.
The Ultimate Adventure, Part I
“The first day of Ultimate Adventure is not going to be the hardest of the hardcore right out of the gate,” Hazel says. Still, he admits, “it’s pretty epic.” Because of the warm summer weather, mud and water are real obstacles. Tech Editor Verne Simons points out that the Knik River carries along ultra-fine glacial silt, also known as glacier flour. “it’s super, super fine, really hard on bearings.
If you get this in your axles or your wheel bearings, big trouble. Big, big, trouble.” Hazel adds: “This one is tricky because it’s a spider-web of trails back here. One wrong turn, and you could be seriously separated from the group, and/or end up in some giant mud hole.” Did we already mention that this is likely the easiest of the Ultimate Adventure days?
Looking at the 18 or so off-roaders here, every one of them looks to be up to the task. There are plenty of Jeeps, mostly TJ and JL Wranglers, some heavily-modded CJs, and even an old Gladiator. But we also love the ’70s Ford F-Series, late ’70s Bronco, Cummins-powered Dodge D-Series pickup, Range Rovers, and, of course, Four Wheel’s own built ’64 International Harvester.
But early on, trouble strikes. The 1976 CJ-7 driven by Rick Péwé, Editor-in-Chief of JP Magazine loses the teeth on his front ring-and-pinion setup. “Fortunately, I know the trail, it’s not too bad,” he says. “Problem is, we’re gonna be working all night trying to fix it or something else, so that’s a concern.”
Once they clear the wilderness, the glacier is in sight, along with a new problem: Rocks. “While we’re all being wowed by a glacier, it wouldn’t be too hard to cut a sidewall,” guide Steven Watson warns. Unfortunately, reader Steve Messer and his ’76 Cherokee Chief falls prey to one, and is forced to use his spare on the first day. After some time admiring the glacier, the group presses on, taking their time along the way.
On the way back, guide Cole Wininger’s 1997 Jeep TJ loses both of his right tires, but the group manages to salvage them and get them back on the rim. And to cap the day, the group finds a couple “bottomless” mud holes that most of them try. No one makes it through, but hey, that’s what winches are for.
At the end of the day, every off-roader makes it back to pavement running under its own power. Tonight, they head back to Wasilla for supplies, repairs, and a good night’s rest, because according to McGee: “Tomorrow, we are going to be camping, but there’s no guarantee that we are going to be anywhere close to civilization.”
After watching this video, the trails, water-crossings, and mud of the Knik Glacier would be enough to devote an entire week too. But, again, this is just day one of Ultimate Adventure. Summing it all up, Hazel says:
“When we started Ultimate Adventure 20 years ago, there was really no other off-road event like it. It’s often imitated, never duplicated. It’s an epic milestone reaching 20 years at this level. This year, you can expect an absolute bucket list trip.”
Mission accomplished, friend. You can watch the rest of the episodes here.
Join the JK-Forums now!
