Gnarly by Miles Morgan

Gnarly by Miles Morgan

Out exploring locations in Montana many moons ago in my then-new Jeep. After spending a dumb amount of money trying to make it looks rugged with a whole bunch of gear I had no idea how to use, RyDyGuy and I figured we should take it off-road and put some of these goodies to use. I locked the things that said that they lock. Disconnected the things that disconnect. Accidentally put the rig in reverse trying to get in 4Lo, and ran over the winch I didn’t mean to deploy. What we learned is that I’m a giant pansy. Things on the drive went pretty well for the first 2/3’s of the climb. Gaining confidence in my off-road skills and my Jeep with every rock, we came across a sloping section that looked a bit treacherous. Good thing we are all locked and disconnected, I thought!! I figured nothing better to do than apply a healthy does of Jeremy Clarkson-esque POWER, diving into the gulch… and instantly regretted my decision. I was 100% positive we were going to roll over. I’m not sure there are YouTube videos on how to winch out a Jeep that’s laying on it’s roof. We grooved up the rest of the trail and lo and behold came upon a grouping of trees that I recognized from Marc Adamus’s stunning work in the area. As you would expect from the Comp Master, Marc had shot the supreme tree in the field, so I worked hard to find something different and I didn’t want to comp stomp him for the 43 millionth time. Hell here were so many trees up there even I could find something kind of cool. Knowing the full moon would rise around sunset, I figured I should work that into the scene. Shot the tree wide and zoomed in for the moon but kept it’s position in the frame. On the way down, Ryan had the genius idea of videoing our hair-raising descent from the outside. Sure fire way to get chicks, I figured, so I agreed. So with our friend Rob filming from the inside, Ryan filming from the outside, and me swearing a lot, we began what I was sure was going to land us on the cover of Rugged Jeep Off-Roaders. Once again, we arrived at the tilted section and prepared for the barrel roll. I’ve rolled a plane but I really don’t want to roll a Jeep. Survival assured, heart pounding, I let out a congratulatory “F%^K YEAH” to the boys, and clamored out to see the footage. Ryan looked disappointed. “It doesn’t look very rugged from the outside”. And he was right. I literally have seen sketchier descents from someone’s driveway in the Hollywood Hills. So no chicks. And nothing to show from this trip except this image.

Miles Morgan: Photos