Elephant Hill

Tens years ago Ian Firth had an idea. As a Nissan enthusiast and an off-road enthusiast, why not put these two things together. So with that in mind he decided to start an event, goneMOAB (Gathering of Nissan Enthusiasts, Moab Utah). With a group of 10 to 15 friends they set off to Moab, Utah in their various Nissan 4×4’s and hit the trails. Fast-forward to today, where goneMOAB has gone from a small group of friends hitting one trail a day for a few days to almost 100 vehicles and over 120 people descending on Moab at the end of May for a week of trail riding and fun.

Steel Bender

This year’s event started Sunday night at the famous Moab Brewery for the annual goneMOAB Meet and Greet. Here, attendees can see old friends from previous years and meet new friends coming for the first time. They also get to meet Kevin Copeland and Joshua Palmieri, the two event organizers. Josh and Kevin have been organizing this event for the last 6 years. This also gives folks a chance to ask questions they may have and pick up their “Goody Bags”, which contain stickers and information from sponsors as well as the goneMOAB event guide. The guide has everything from the trails for the week, tips and tricks for the new off-road enthusiast to information on Moab and rules for the event.

2011 YouTube Playlist

Next Gen SAS

Monday starts the trail rides. This year the organizers put together a very aggressive schedule of having four different trails to choose from a day. This was to ensure the trails were not overcrowded and fun for everyone. Trails range from the mild to the wild, with several, like Fins-N-Things, Hells Revenge and Seven Mile Rim being run twice during the week to ensure everyone had a chance to run them.

Fins N Things

A Tribute Video to the experience that was GONE Moab “X”
(The 10th Anniversary of the Event)

Brought to you by: B&C

Throughout the week there are also evening activities such as the traditional dinner at Zak’s Pizza (which Nissan Corp was nice enough to pick up the tab for everyone again this year), to the potluck at the event organizers condo where folks can come and BBQ up some grub and check out everyone else’s rigs. This culminates at the end of the week on Friday where goneMOAB put on a BBQ for everyone. We get together and share stories from the week, watch videos and photos shot throughout the week and have the ever-popular Raffle. Every year vendors such as ARB, BFG, Powertank, 4×4 parts and many, many more donate product(s) for the raffle.  Proceeds from the raffle go to paying for the event fees, with a portion being anonymously donated to “Tread Lightly” and “Blue Ribbon Coalition”.

Playing On the Ledges

Next years event is already set, May 21^st to the 25^th. So mark your calendars now and start making your plans to join us. Make sure to check out the website for more info at www.gonemoab.com as well as joining us on Facebook.

Cheers, Joshua Palmieri and Kevin Copeland.

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