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and chairs, food, beer and enough camp-
ing gear for two nights in the backcountry.
With its new six-cylinder engine—
lighter and more efficient than its V-8
predecessors and, paradoxically, more
powerful by 83 horses—the Rubicon (or
“Ruby,” as fans call
it) hit its stride like
a thoroughbred on
thewide-open desert
two-lane. It was wily
on tight corners, of
course, like a real
Jeep. But I had to set
the cruise control
to keep my sporting
impulses in check.
In the ramble -
down formermining
camp of Darwin, at
pavement’s end, we
stopped to inquire
about the road ahead. “You’ll be fine—it’s
a Rubicon, toughest one they make,” said
a woman, who didn’t appear to be in the
pay of Chrysler Group, which owns Jeep.
She gave it a final appraisal in the gaudy
2012 JEEP
WRANGLER
UNLIMITED
RUBICON
The bells and whistles
light of the se ing sun. And then had to
ask: “What
color
is that?”
It wasn’t until we’d forded a stream,
climbed a steep pile of mine tailings and
performed a brush-crushing turnaround
at a washout illuminated only by our
headlights that we got a taste of what
the Ruby could really do. Namely, what
Jeeps have been doing for the past seven
decades:
jeeping
. (What other brand in
the history of vehicles can rightly claim
its own verb?)
Weovernightedat theFurnaceCreekInn,
a luxe-vintage safari hotel set inadatepalm
oasis above theDeathValley salt pan, with
a warm springs pool and a pith-helmeted
bellboy. Thenwe lit out overland. Connecti-
cut has roughly 21,000miles of roads; Death
Valleyhas 1,000, fewer thana thirdofwhich
have been tamed with pavement. The
other 700 range from suspension-busting
washboard tobarelydiscerniblewilderness
tracksbest suitedtocloven-hoofedanimals.
(“Ihopeyouhavegood tires,” adocent at the
visitors center had remarked, showing us
a dagger-edged rock sample froma typical
“improved” road. “This is what the natives
used to make arrowheads.”)
On a single tank of gas and stock tires,
we worked a 250-mile circuit that took us
across four basins and three mountain
ranges.WepassedaFrenchmanandaWest
African changing a shredded tire on an old
Montero.We squeezed througha rockhall-
way that would have peeled the doors off
a Hummer, and descended a stepladder of
drywaterfalls as smoothlyas ifwe’dbeen in
an inflatable ra —then, for fun,we crawled
back up to do it again.
Grinding down a wagon-width grade
into Saline Valley, we came grille to grille
with a sibling Rubicon from ’09, in silver.
The vanity plates read “DV RUBY.” We
killed engines, cracked beers and enjoyed
a tour of the owner’s $6,000worth of a er-
market upgrades. Looking at ours, briefly,
he wasn’t so sure about the new color. But
he did regret not having waited for the V6,
andwhenhe sawtheACpower outlet built
into the center console, his crest fell ever so
slightly. “OK,”headmi ed. “Now
that’s
slick.”
Guidebook author
DAVID PAGE
once drove a
1976 Jeep CJ5 from Alaska to Colorado. His
everyday safari vehicle is a 1983 Toyota Land
Cruiser with functional windshield wipers.
ARID BLISS
From ravines and gullies to mountains and sand dunes, California’s Death Valley is
packed with the kinds of terrain that both delight and daunt its visitors
Starting Price:
$33,570
Engine:
The 3.6-liter
Pentastar V-6 engine
delivers 285 hp and
a boulder-devouring
260 lb-ft of torque,
with a highway fuel
efficiency of up to
21 mpg.
Performance:
The
Rubicon has 10.5
inches of ground
clearance; can take
on a granite wall at
an approach angle
of 44.3 degrees;
and can ford a 30-
inch-deep stream.
Perks:
Included are
BF Goodrich Mud
Terrain T/A tires,
Dana 44 heavy-
duty front and rear
axles, three-way
push-button
locking differen-
tials, steel-plate
underbody armor,
a leather-wrapped
steering wheel,
heated seats and
enough high-tech
electronics to war-
rant 39 pages in the
owner’s manual.
32
APRIL 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
JOSON/GETTY IMAGES (DEATH VALLEY); OSCEOLA REFETOFF (CAR), OSPIX.COM
THEWORLD
||
Road Trip
BOARDING PASS
Looking to hit the
(off)road in Death
Valley? Hop on one of
United’s convenient
daily flights to nearby
Las Vegas from all
eight of our domestic
hubs—plus daily
service from Fresno
and Palm Springs—to
get your trek started.
Go to united.com to
see flight schedules
and book your trip.