It all started in 2015, when Terry and Ryan took a trip down the Rubicon Trail with a bunch of friends. There were 3 LJs in our group for that trip and one night while sitting around the fire and heckling the others about how great LJs were, someone came up with the idea to start an exclusive LJ only event. What started as silly campfire talk eventually grew into an obsession.
We started the Unlimited LJ Adventure because we loved LJs and we loved meeting new people. We love taking the route less traveled and really enjoy sharing those experiences. It was created to be a meeting for LJ owners to showcase their Jeep's capabilities and do the thing that Jeep owners love most... Pursuing an off-road adventure.
Event organizers Ryan Boudreau, Terry Mode and Jeremy Dupper
2016 - The Colorado Adventure
The first ever LJ Adventure took place in the rugged mountains of Colorado, and lasted 3 days. The event started in Buena Vista, Colorado running Chinaman Gulch trail and made it’s way to Carbondale taking on trails like Tincup Pass, Taylor Pass, Aspen Mountain, and Pearl Pass. We visited breweries, hot springs, ghost towns. camped under the stars at 11,400 feet, and even made some turns down the ski slope.
2017 - The Grand Adventure
2017 marked our second event and we decided to go bigger than the first one. This event lasted 5 days during the second week of September. We dubbed it "The Grand Adventure" because we started in Grand Junction, Colorado, followed the Colorado River westbound which was once known as the Grand River, and finished our adventure in Moab which is located in Grand County, Utah.
Spring 2018 - The Uwharrie Adventure
We doubled down in 2018 putting on two events in completely different parts of the country. The first event took place over 5 days during the final weekend in April. We ran a number of iconic trails in the Uwharrie National Forest and also visited Big Creek Rocks and Grand Overland District. We had some truly epic dinner's provided by amazing sponsors and had one really long road day as we made a B-line for South Carolina. The adventure concluded at Gulches Off Road Vehicle Park with a full day of wheeling and another delicious BBQ meal.
Fall 2018 - The Desert Adventure
The second adventure of 2018 took place in the middle of November and started in St. George, Utah. We wheeled Sand Hollow to start the week, fought crazy wind storms, and survived several unintentional wheelie contests. We then spent a frigid night at Toquerville Falls before enduring an epic road day of 100+ dirt miles en-route to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. After experiencing spectacular views that few before us have ever seen, we pitched camp on the trail staying in covered wagons and returned to Sand Hollow for one more day of trail riding.
2019 - High Altitude Adventure
In 2019, ULJA went higher than it’s even been before. We spent 5 days at the end of August exploring 10 different trails in the high mountain passes of the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado. Iconic trails such as Black Bear Pass, Imogene Pass, Engineer Pass, and others, provided spectacular scenery on top of epic viewpoints. One of the trail highlights definitely had to be driving through a tunneled out avalanche that was still 40+ feet deep at the end of summer. Most nights we were provided with delicious meals provided by our sponsors. One of those meals was at an old mine site and included a mine tour. Our favorite night was spent out on the trail where everyone kicked back, enjoyed a nice fire, and indulged in adult beverages, including some Tennessee Moonshine brought by an attendee. “We survived Thursday night” will forever be a part of ULJA history.
2020 - Rubicon Relocated Adventure
2020 marked the event’s 5 year anniversary, and as such, we originally decided to return to where the ULJA idea started… THE RUBICON TRAIL! Unfortunately, fires and forest closures in California forced us to relocate the adventure one week prior to the event. The Relocated Adventure kicked off in Moab, Utah where we spent 2.5 days wheeling Metal Masher, Pritchett Canyon, and Hells Revenge, before then moving to Grand Junction, Colorado and taking on Billings Canyon. The final 2 days were spent in Montrose, Colorado conquering some of the most challenging rock crawling trails the area has to offer.
2021 - Ozark Adventure
In 2021, we made an epic trek around The Ozarks and visited Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. For the first time we allowed towing between destinations and we put on a lot of road miles on the rigs by jumping between amazing parks such as Byrds Adventure Center, Disney, Rush Springs Ranch, and Southern Missouri Off Road Ranch. We had incredible dinners every night, had the most amazing tour at a moonshine distillery, and managed to break a Jeep just about every day. For the first time, we had a video crew documenting the event. Be sure to check out the video series on YouTube!
2022 - Saguaro Adventure
2022 took the adventure into triple digits temparatures down in the Phoenix area. Amazing trails such as Elvis, Highway to Hell, Bad Medicine, Terminator, and Predator were all conquered along with others. Arizona was particularly tough on tires, as participants patched or replaced at least a half dozen tires.
2023 - Potato Adventure
2023 took us to Terry's backyard, where we explored the hidden gems in Idaho. We started high up in the Sawtooth Mountains exploring old mining towns such as Boulder City. We toured lava ice caves where it was 28 degrees on a 90 degree day. Then followed the Snake River west to the rocky, desert terrain where we battled our way through tight lava rock canyons, over car-sized boulders, and tested every LJ in the group.
2024 - Hill Country Adventure
THE 2024 EVENT IS NOW TAKING APPLICATIONS. Applications will be accepted through January 31st. The application lottery will take place February 2nd, 6pm MST.
