Just Can’t Wait to Get Off the Road Again

By Michele Robertson

The summer months are upon us, and with that come outdoor adventures. These adventures range from swimming at the beach to 4-wheeling out in the desert. Desert fun is what the 575 Offroad Outlaws enjoy doing almost every weekend, and they’re bringing a new event to Carlsbad.

The Jeep and Offroad Retreat will happen on Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Beach Bandshell. This event will consist of two days of fun and showing off your offroad toy. Featured will be volleyball, basketball, cornhole, and a flex ramp. There will also be vendors, activities for the kids, a few offroading excursions, and the 575 RC Crawlers will be set up and showing off their RC (remote control) buggies.

Michael Gamblin, founder of the 575 Offroad Outlaws, said, “575 Offroad Outlaws has been a club for a little over a year now. I am a board member of the Wicked Jeeps Club but felt we needed an offroad club local to Carlsbad that took on more than just jeeps.”

This is the first year for the event, and Gamblin thought it was a fitting location for an event of this caliber. “The Carlsbad area hasn’t had a full-size vehicle offroad event that I know of, and we are staged right in the middle of so many great offroad trails.

“People can expect food and drink vendors, a live DJ, and lots of door prizes, along with bouncy houses and games for the kids, as well as flex competitions and guided trail rides,” Gamblin said. Saturday’s trail ride will be at 8:30 a.m. out to the river, and Sunday will be to Hackberry Lake Off-Highway Vehicle Area.

“A flex ramp is a metal ramp that measures how much travel a vehicle has,” he said. “The flex ramp competition will include measurements of the wheelbases of each vehicle and an accurate RTI score for each vehicle for their articulation,” added Gamblin.

Those interested can show off their vehicle and participate in a competition to see whose vehicle has the best ground clearance and the most flexibility. Those vehicles can typically go farther and maneuver over steeper tracks better than other vehicles. “Longer wheelbase vehicles have an advantage over shorter vehicles,” said Gamblin.

“The Jeep and Offroad Retreat is a family-friendly event that is coming to Carlsbad to help all offroad enthusiasts. The Offroad Outlaws are here to help Carlsbad. We regularly host events like cleaning the Flume and cleaning and grooming the trails along the river. Our goal is to give back to the community and help everyone enjoy our beautiful trails,” said Gamblin.

Any proceeds from the event will benefit the Mighty Oaks Foundation, a group committed to serving military and first responder communities that have endured hardship. “We love to give back to the community and especially the ones who fought for our freedoms,” said Gamblin.

In addition to having fun and exploring the outdoors, the group also believes in leaving places better than they found them. Each weekend, they meet up and hit the trails, and while they’re out, they collect trash and litter left behind by other, less considerate adventurers.

“We spent our Saturday out cleaning the trails and filled two Gladiator truck beds with trash bags of bottles and cans,” he said.

They also help each other out with recovery if someone ends up in a bind.

“My favorite place to offroad around here is between Avalon and Lake Brantley. It’s a beautiful area packed with wildlife, plenty of water, and lots of hills and rocks to climb. We have some of the most beautiful places within an hour of Carlsbad, NM,” Gamblin said. Anyone interested in joining the 575 Offroad Outlaws, a group of 231 members and growing, can visit the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/share/g/15fWgq9L8v/, answer the questions there, and join an excursion. More information about the event is also available on Facebook.