Tyler in his Land Rover Series IIA high altitude off-roading around Reno, NV
Story & Photos by Tyler Mattson

[Tyler Mattson, Reno, NV, is a 17 year old junior at North Valleys High School and an Eagle Scout. He already owns three Rovers: a ’69 II-A Bugeye, a “highly modified” ’59 Series II 109”, and his “luxury ride,” a ’92 Range Rover Hunter. Here’s what happens when school is delayed one day–.ed]

I was raised on Land Rovers and don’t ever plan to change. In 17 years I’ve discovered a love for 4 x 4’s, camping and exploring the great outdoors.

One Tuesday morning, I woke up to an announcement of a three-hour delayed start for school. Yes! I made a few phone calls and set up a little outing into the unknown. We all met at the local McDonalds at 8:00 and started out away from town. Our group consisted of three vehicles: Eli’s ‘81 Jeep CJ-5, Ryan’s ‘87 Toyota Land Cruiser and my 69’ Land Rover Series II-A 88” Bugeye. We headed down to a rock quarry and started the day playing on some hills and proving our dominance over each other.

We soon made it to a mud-soaked hill that proved too steep and too slick on our first attempts. We all gave our most valiant efforts to make it to the top and after more than 15 minutes of work my II-A finally made it. That aroused the natural male instinct of “anything you can do I can do better” and a few minutes later we were all safely at the top.

Our next big challenge consisted of a rock-filled canyon full of tight turns and slippery with snow. We were doing fine until we made it to a very narrow section with a rock on one side and the canyon wall on the other. Eli’s Jeep and my II-A made it without a slip, but the much larger Land Cruiser was a different story. After a whole bunch of rock moving, a little work with a shovel and a lot of driver skill, Ryan made it through.


Approaching a rocky section of off-roading around Reno, NV

The final challenge began with a rocky hill that was the only way to the top of our final goal that morning. We started up and I remembered that the very same hill was the place where I had stripped the drive flange of my 109” on a previous attempt – and that rig had a Series III Salisbury axle. As the first vehicle up, I started the slow and methodical run. I climbed to the most difficult section and the Rover started to spin and slip. As the old saying goes, “it’s never over in a Rover,” the II-A just kept right on going all the way to the top. Next came Eli, who made the first section with no problem. The second, more difficult stretch, proved to be his shortcoming. He managed to set his CJ-5 on a pile of rocks that left him stuck good and proper. As another old saying goes “when in doubt, dig your way out.” We dug and manhandled his Jeep to the top.

In the end, the 4-wheeling gods shunned Eli and just 50 yards from the top, his Jeep quit running. We hooked up a tow strap and I tried to drag him to the top. But in a contest between big rocky hill and a Rover towing a Jeep always tilts in the hill’s favor. We ended up backing slowly and carefully down the nasty little hill.

At the bottom, we realized it was time to go to school, so again we hooked a tow strap to the Jeep and sentenced the Rover to towing it until it jump started on the road. Once on the main road the Jeep went 100 yards before quitting again. On the side of the road, we dug out the tools and began the repairs. Twenty minutes of labor and a can of starting fluid later, the Jeep stirred back to life. Throughout this whole ordeal, the rig that everyone here calls “a piece of ****” – known to the rest of us as a Series II-A, had no trouble at all; in fact, the Rover was the only vehicle to make it up every hill.

We managed to limp into the school with just minutes to spare before school started. We went to class and continued our day of the not-so-average American teenager.

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