By now the UA formula was pretty solid. Christian Hazel picked the general areas he wanted to start and finish around and then Trent McGee set out to make the magic happen by finding, planning, and finalizing all the intricate details of the UA route. While that was happening, Verne Simons toiled away at the official UA build, which this year was a junked TJ Unlimited Verne stumbled onto for a neat price and built it with a WWII Long Range Desert Group flavor, paying tribute to the early British SAS teams that ravaged Rommel in the North African desert. But with a starting point in Kalispell, Montana, just spitting distance from Glacier National Park, and a route that made an arc down through Wyoming and over to Rapid City, South Dakota, we wouldn't be wheeling anything resembling desert terrain. Although massive wildfires from the western seaboard blew a thick pall of smoke our way, obscuring any semblance of view for the first few days, and we had to deal with certain COVID pandemic precautions, we didn't let it get to us and enjoyed all the wonderful wilderness and epic wheeling that UA2020 had to offer. Route Recap: Kila, Montana (Blacktail Wild Bill OHV Area); Western Montana (Caruthers Lake); Western Montana (McKelvey Lake trail); Worland, Wyoming (Fenton Pass/Badlands); Keystone, South Dakota (Bikini trail). Official Vehicle: Verne's UALRJ, or Ultimate Adventure Long Range Jeep, employs some of the best parts in the industry, from the Skyjacker suspension, Ultimate Dana 60 axles, Cummins R2.8 turbodiesel engine, and Off Road Design Magnum Box/NP205 T-case system, the 38-inch Falken-shod Jeep took Christian and Verne anywhere they pointed the nose and required zero work during the event.
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