Some anniversaries just have to be celebrated, especially milestones like the 40th year of the Early Bronco. The Early Bronco Registry (EBR) is the oldest and largest organization dedicated to any-thing and everything that is Early Bronco. This past May they held a birthday bash for the Bronco in Southern California. Although the organization is dedicated to the Classic or Early Bronco ('66-'77), all types of Broncos were welcome.
Of course, no 4x4-related affair would be complete without trail rides. The plan called for easy, moderate, hard, and extreme trail rides to be run over the three days of the event. Trips took place on trails in Big Bear; at Calico; and in Johnson Valley, home of the Hammer Trails. Of course, we decided to check out the extreme happening on Claw Hammer and Sledgehammer Trails.
For those not familiar with the Hammer Trails, they are strewn with boulders of all sizes and shapes, some as big as the Broncos themselves. When you combine this with vehicles that are relatively stock, the trail gets quite interesting. From the start the trip had Broncos bucking over boulders and creeping past chasms. This was the extreme run of the day and slow going was to be expected. After about five hours of struggling, laughing, rock tossing, and winching in the boulder-strewn canyon, the dedicated group of Bronco owners reached the end. A great evening of camp repairs by both groups was needed before the next day's run.
Scott Merrell's Bronco sports the license plate "MS MY MNY." It seems that he misses the money poured into his Bronco, but not the fun he gets using it both on the trail and as a daily driver. The carbureted 351W engine has plenty of power for trail running and for pulling his utility trailer to events. | 
Trying Sledgehammer with any vehicle is a challenge, but attempting it in an original uncut Bronco is a sight to see. The stock rear wheelwells of an early Bronco are almost always trimmed to clear bigger tires and to get rid of the rust-prone area as well. Watching the BFGs stuff inside the wheelwells was truly sweet. | 
Crawling boulders the size of Broncos is always fun and makes for great photos. The smoke issuing forth from under the hood seems to be from a flooded carb, but the Bronco still made it up the rock. |