Daisy - 2024 Ford Bronco Sport
Two years and 38,000-plus miles in, completely stock. Nothing changed - and that's the point; it makes the rest of this land harder. When we left Florida we sold our car, knowing we'd buy something once we landed in Vegas. My partner wanted to get out in the desert and try overlanding, so we did a lot of research in our price range, a lot of test driving, and settled on Daisy.
The honest trade-off: the mileage is lower than my partner would have liked. For what we like doing, it's worth it. If you're deciding between the Sport and the full Bronco, that's the real question - and for us the Sport, stock, has gone everywhere we've pointed it.
onX Offroad
Where we go, and how we get back
Our go-to before we head off-road. The trail reports and previews let us make an honest call for our skill level and plan where to go - or where to go back to. And we're still beginners: onX rates trails by color and we stick to greens. We've been eyeing a blue but haven't committed. We read the reports to be sure there's no rock crawling and that the ruts are actually passable at our clearance, which isn't always the case.
The feature I'd miss most is breadcrumbs. There's a road near Vegas we love - quiet, fun, with the main track looping back out to the highway. Toward the back of the loop we peel off a little further for a proper middle-of-nowhere, just-us stretch. Breadcrumbs are what make finding our way back to the official path easy.
onX Offroad →
What's always on board
Med kit, a gallon of water, a sand recovery board, a self-jumper, a spare tire and jack.
The one time it all mattered: I was out near Mt Charleston on my own and got a flat. I changed a tire for the first time - on a decline, in a curve - with my partner talking me through it over FaceTime from out of town. I was glad to have the water, the sunscreen, the spare, and the jack. The hard part was never being out there; it was the terrain - changing a tire on a slope you didn't get to pick.
What we don't carry - yet
Just as useful to know what you can skip. We run one recovery board, not a pair - there's no room for two once everything else is packed. No tire deflator or compressor yet either: we air down by hand at the trailhead and air back up at a gas station after. On the wishlist: external mounts for the boards, water tanks, extra fuel tanks, and a deflator-and-compressor setup.