I’ve been included with the Rebelle Rally considering that its beginning in 2016, either as a rival or live program host, and over the previous 10 years, I’ve seen it develop from a scrappy rally with huge dreams to the first-rate occasion that it is today.

In a nutshell, the Rebelle Rally is the longest competitive off-road rally in the United States, covering over 2,000 kilometers, and it simply occurs to be for ladies. Over 8 days, groups of 2 should outline collaborates on a map, determine their path, and discover several checkpoints– both significant and unmarked– without any GPS, mobile phone, or ground crew. It is not a race for speed however rather a rally for navigational precision over a few of the most difficult surface California and Nevada need to use. There are 2 classes: 4 × 4 with automobiles like the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco and X-Cross for cars and trucks like the Honda Passport and BMW X5. Heavy adjustments aren’t required, and numerous groups complete for the desirable Bone Stock award.

For this 10th anniversary, I returned behind the wheel of a 2025 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness as a motorist, with Kendra Miller as my navigator, to protect my several podium surfaces and phase wins and get reacquainted with the innovation, or absence thereof, that makes this multi-day competitors so unique.

Modern rally

In the early morning, as Kendra utilizes a scale ruler to plot 20-plus collaborates on the map of the day, a tiresome job that needs extreme concentration, I have time to admire base camp a bit. We climb up out of our snuggy sleeping bags and camping tents in the pitch black of 5 am, however the primary camping tent is brighter than ever thanks to Renewable Innovations and its mobile microgrid.

This system integrates a solar and a hydrogen fuel cell system for as much as 750 kWh of power. In the morning, the numerous batteries in both systems power the brilliant lights that the navigators require to see their maps, and the Starlink systems send out the commentary program to YouTube and Facebook Live. Rivals and personnel can take a hot shower, the cooking area french fries up the early morning’s tater kids– seriously, they are the very best– and the day’s motorists’ conference begins on the PA system. We’re 100 miles from no place, and it seems like home.