The Alvord Adventures: Inside the UnRally Experience

The Alvord Adventures

The UnRally is purposely left generally undeined, but the following is the closest deinition the organizers came to: “a mass meeting of people showing support for an experiment in intentional disorganization.” The organizers all work at Mosko Moto, an adventure motorcycle accessory company, but the event is unbranded and non-commercial. Many of the organizers are regulars at Burning Man, and you’ll instantly feel the Burn’s inluence on the UnRally.

Everyone is welcome, but for sure adventure motorcyclists are the majority of attendees. The event is held in the Alvord Desert in June each year, over a four-day weekend, Thursday through Sunday. Participants are given GPS coordinates just a few days before the event, but you can be pretty conident that they will lead you to the Alvord Desert playa.

This is the second year for the UnRally. Last year saw about 65 people, and about 95 showed up this year—just under the event’s 100-person BLM permit. Any and all vehicles are encouraged to attend; this year about 35 cars/trucks/vans/RVs showed up, with the rest of attendees showing up by motorcycle.

“WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR A GOOD CAMPING/MOTO ADVENTURE WITH FRIENDS? FOR ME IT’S SHELTER, FOOD, WATER, FUEL, COMMUNICATION AND A PLACE TO GATHER.”

The Alvord

The Alvord Desert is a truly unique and other worldly landscape. Found in the far southeastern corner of Oregon, with the Stein Mountains to its west and Black Rock Desert to its south. The Alvord is about as remote an event site as possible, and can be a pretty serious adventure just to access.

For me that adventure entailed riding the entire length of the Black Rock Desert on my motorcycle, solo. I rode up from Reno, Nevada, an over-250-mile trip, more than 100 of which were off pavement. I saw only ive cars in over 100 miles of travel through the Black Rock.

Expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to weather. You can pretty conidently expect high winds, cool to cold nights and lots of dust on the Alvord playa. You are also likely to encounter hot days, relentless sun and possibly some impressive storms. When the playa gets wet it turns into an impassible mucky slip and slide, so remember to bring enough supplies to hunker down for a few days if the weather goes south and you ind yourself in the middle of a not so dry dry-lakebed.

The weather was pretty intense this year, with extremely high winds, passing rain showers and snow in the mountains. These conditions scared off more than a few attendees on Saturday, but those that stayed through the storms enjoyed an amazing community and a beautiful Sunday.

UnRally Necessities

What do you need for a good camping/moto adventure with friends? For me it’s shelter, food, water, fuel, communication and a place to gather. The UnRally has it all, but you need to be self-reliant and take care of your own needs.

Shelter is up to you. Bring your RV, car camp, set up a tent or just lay out in the open on the playa. Just know the weather is unpredictable, and you can nearly always expect lots of dust and wind. The event will have some comfy couches to sit on in the shade, so a camp chair isn’t necessarily required.

Dinner on Friday and Saturday is provided, as long as you’ve paid for it ahead of time. Be sure to bring your own camp cup, plate and cutlery, though, as the “reduce, reuse, recycle” ethos is in full effect at the UnRally. You’re unlikely to see solo cups, paper plates or plastic cutlery at this event.

Besides these two meals, you are responsible for your own food, water and adult beverages. You might ind some snacks and beverages for everyone to share, but again, be self-reliant and bring things to share with others. The closest place to get supplies is the tiny Fields General Store, about twenty miles away. This is also the closest fuel stop.

Communication with the outside world, and your friends out on trail rides, can be dicey at best. Verizon works pretty well on the playa, but other carriers are pretty much non-existent. It is highly advised that you carry a satellite communication device with you. Something with two-way communication, like a Garmin inReach, is best.

“THE ALVORD AND SURROUNDING REMOTE WILDERNESS IS A TRULY WORLD-CLASS OFF-ROAD RIDING/DRIVING AREA. THE UNRALLY WANTS PARTICIPANTS TO GET OUT AND EXPLORE THE SURROUNDING TRAILS, BUT DOES NOT PROVIDE ORGANIZED RIDES.”

UnRally Principles

The UnRally organizers aren’t into rules, but they have laid out six speciic principles for all attendees to consider. These principles help create an environment that brings everyone together, reduces issues and encourages crazy experiences.

PRINCIPLE #1– Principles, Not Rules.
No rules, but as a group everyone needs to agree on some basic principles to ensure the longevity and cohesiveness of the event.

PRINCIPLE #2– Active Participation.
The participants are both the entertainment and the entertained.

PRINCIPLE #3– Leave No Trace.
The Alvord is a pristine wilderness. Leave it cleaner than you found it. Pack it in and pack it out.

PRINCIPLE #4– Self Reliance.
Come prepared and take care of yourself. It’s a good idea to ride with a buddy, carry an In-Reach, know your limits and carry lots of water. If you get in trouble, help is a long ways off.

PRINCIPLE #5– Everyone’s Invited.
Come one come all, but participation is capped by the BLM permit, so you must pre-register. You don’t have to be a good rider, work in the industry, or even have a motorcycle. There are no ‘cool kids’ at the UnRally. Come as you are, participate and have fun.

PRINCIPLE #6– No Commerce.
No vendor tents, no vendor lags, and absolutely no rafles. The idea is to spend a weekend together where nobody is trying to sell you stuff or promote their brand.

“THE ALVORD IS ABOUT AS REMOTE AN EVENT SITE AS POSSIBLE, AND CAN BE A PRETTY SERIOUS ADVENTURE JUST TO ACCESS.”

UnRally Infrastructure

You’ll stumble across a few oddities upon arriving on the playa, like a red door, golden telephone and a loor drain. You’ll also ind a few niceties, like porto potties, shade structure, couches and a campire. All of these things, and more, are part of the UnRally experience.

The irst thing you’ll come upon as you “enter” camp at the UnRally is a bright red door standing on its own in the middle of the playa. This door is in a frame and actually opens and closes, just like the front door on your house. The organizers liked the idea of a welcome gate, and the absurdity of a door in the middle of such a wide-open space.

There is also a golden old school push button telephone on a small table next to a chair. This is the ‘help line.’ It’s not connected to anything, and is there to remind you to be self-reliant.

Probably my favorite touch at the UnRally is a small metal drain lying on the ground. The Alvord playa is a dry lakebed, and with enough rain or snowmelt turns back into a lake. This can be very bad if you need to go anywhere, as the playa dust turns into the slipperiest mud you’ve ever experienced. Luckily, even with some rain, the drain ‘did its job’ this year and everything was Fine.

The UnRally has its own unique identity, and the event lag embodies that identity. It is modeled after classic pirate lag designs, and is called the ‘Jolly Wrencher.’ It has lots of little motorcycle details, including handlebar eyebrows. The small icons in the corners are a classic pirate lag touch. The bottom right is a moto wheel and heart, just to make the lag a bit more inviting. The upper left is the Cascadia lag, a symbol that represents the unique regional identity of the Paciic Northwest.

UnRally Toys

The whole idea of this event is to have fun with good people in a truly jaw dropping location. One way the organizers encourage this is by providing and promoting fun toys to play with.

The event sets up a soccer pitch, throwing axes and a trampoline. Who doesn’t like to kick things, do lips and throw sharp objects? They also had a land sailing board, which was scary and fun at the same time, especially with the high winds and wide open spaces.

Participants are encouraged to bring their own toys to share with the group. This year saw trials bikes, One-Wheels, sail cars, light-up bocce balls and more. Other ideas for next year are go-karts, RC cars/planes/drones, rock crawlers, mutant vehicles and whatever else you can dream up.

Another encouraged element at the UnRally is ire. This year there were propane ire barrels and big propane ire-ball poppers, alongside the big camp ire each night. Other ire elements are encouraged, as long as the leave no trace ethos is followed.

Adventure Moto Rides

The Alvord and surrounding remote wilderness is a truly world-class off-road riding/driving area. The UnRally wants participants to get out and explore the surrounding trails, but does not provide organized rides. They do have some paper maps and GPS tracks of routes they have done in the past, but encourage participants to explore and share the info they gather with the group.

You can ride or drive as much as you’d like while at the UnRally. The options in the area are nearly limitless. I was able to truly test the limits of my big adventure motorcycle, as well as my personal riding skills, this year. There is wide-open desert, big dry lakebeds, sand dunes and steep mountains. Choose your poison and roll that throttle.

There are a number of paid and free hot springs in the area. A hot soak in a natural hot spring at a beautiful remote location is a great way to break up a long day of exploration.

The UnRally Difference

The UnRally is a non-commercial event that actually costs the organizers money. They do ask for donations from participants to help cover the BLM permit, toilets, dinners and some event infrastructure, but they don’t even require that. This event is all about community and having a truly fun and different experience.

No rafles, no vendors, no classes, no guided rides, no speciied camp sites, no quiet hours and generally no rules. The idea is to gather with like-minded souls and ind, create and experience new adventures together.

The UnRally is a truly unique event that that needs to be experienced to be understood. Keep an eye out on the Mosko Moto events page (https://moskomoto.com/pages/ events-rallies) for details on next year’s gathering. It will ill up, and it will be awesome. Hopefully I’ll see you there!