The Rebelle Rally My Land Rover was buried up to the axles at Big Dune, a lone sand dune somewhere outside of Death Valley. As I pulled out my MAXTRAX and started shoveling, I realized that the Rebelle Rally was no joke. The almost year I had spent training and preparing for this event kept me calm. But on the other hand, getting traction in the sand dunes with a 7,000-pound vehicle can take a few tries! However, throughout this endeavor I realized I was having the time of my life! The Rebelle Rally consists of eight days off-road, traversing some of the most diverse and untouched terrain the United States has to offer. It starts in northern California, in Lake Tahoe, and winds its way through the California and Nevada deserts before ending 2,000 kilometers later in the Imperial Sand Dunes, also known as Glamis,
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at the border of California and Mexico, making it the longest off-road rally in North America. Sound fun? It’s a blast! And the best part, “this just so happens to be for women because, if it weren’t all women, women wouldn’t sign up to do it,” Emily Miller (founder) says. Miller, who has competed for years, had finished the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, a female-only rally in Morocco, and wanted to bring that same opportunity to women in the States. Most recently Miller won the Carta, another navigational-based rally! Miller has trained thousands of drivers, many of them women, and loves seeing the confidence driving off-road brings to them. The Rebelle is designed this way for women to be able to use the car in their driveway and learn the skills necessary. No tube-chassis vehicles needed.
