Alaska is nothing short of a seldom-traveled paradise for off-roaders. It is the dream that's just out of reach, just a little too far to travel for most off-road trips from the continental U.S. But if you ever get the chance, take it. From glacier-fed bays and rivers filled with salmon to unmolested forests filled with moose, mosquitos, and off-road trails, Alaska is everything we'd heard it would be. And like the warnings we'd received prior to the trip; once we were there, we wanted to stay. Unfortunately, our delusions to stay and live out our days in one of the greatest and most unpopulated states in the nation came to a premature end.
But before we left, we got the chance to meet and wheel with some of the luckier individuals that call the largest of the "Nifty Fifty" home. The Alaska Extreme Four Wheelers took us about an hour outside of Anchorage to the Ruby Lake Trail to give us a taste of some wet Alaskan trail running during the short time of year you can actually wheel without three sweaters or a case of bug spray. If you're lucky enough to find yourself up this way with a 4x4 and are in sync with the Tread Lightly! beliefs, try contacting the Anchorage club through www.akextreme4x4.com and maybe they'll be able to point you toward a trail or two.
Ken Allen didn't waste any time getting through this water crossing in his '88 XJ. A rock submerged just a few inches under the surface was doing a good job of holding some of our party up. Even with 35s and a 7-inch long-arm kit, Ken's XJ dipped in almost up to the headlights. | 
Kurt Hala was our trail leader for the day, piloting his CJ-7 sitting on Swampers made possible by a spring-over suspension done at his shop, Kodiak Off-Road. He showed us right from the beginning that a little water on top of the dirtpack was more than enough to make almost every uphill obstacle a tire-spinning endeavor. | 
Gary Dollman wasn't afraid to run his near-new '03 Rubicon almost horizontal. The 33-inch Swampers held up by the 2-inch budget boost and the ARB bumpers were just enough to keep the dirt off the body and Gary came out of this obstacle unscratched one more time. Wonder how long it's gonna take to mark that clean TJ body up. It's only a matter of time in slick mud like this.... |
Curtis Anderson attacked this climb like it was a life or death situation. Or maybe he was just showing off the custom subframe bracketry he came up with to mount Rubicon Express TJ long-arms onto his '87 XJ. The reason for the custom reapplied suspension? Curtis couldn't wait for R.E.'s XJ kit, and he needed it to get the 38-inch Swampers on his 9-inch rear and Dana 44 front packed with ARB lockers and 5.13 gears. | 
Josh Schiever's "Rubiclone" (as the hood decals read) rides on 33-inch TrXus tires and is held up by a 3 1/2-inch Rubicon Express suspension. It's actually an '04 TJ X model, one of the great strip-down packages that Jeep came up with sporting the 4.0L engine and A/C, so that wheelers like Josh could add the equipment they wanted without having to first pay and then replace a lot of factory stuff with aftermarket goodies. | 
Stephanie Jasper is a true wheelin' chick with a hard-core '98 Cherokee built by Kodiak Off-Road. And yes, this one's her daily driver. Though she's a freshie wheeler of her own rig, she's been riding the trails a while and knew to outfit her XJ with 34-inch TrXus tires and a Full Traction long-arm kit to keep its agility on the highway while still being able to conquer the trails. The rear axle has been upgraded to a locked 8.8 Explorer axle complete with disc brakes. |
Al and Stacey Hofler were very tender with their 37-inch Boggered YJ. They were very careful to only try and spin the sprung-under axles while the ARBs were locked and all four tires could throw dirt at us. They still run the Dana 30 front and seem to be able to keep it together, even packed with an ARB Air Locker, while the rear is a little beefier Dana 44 model (also packed with an ARB). |  |  |