We’ve all seen the Yellow Scrambler, commonly referred to as "Project Too Long". If you haven’t seen it in person, you’ve seen it on the Cover of "Four Wheel Drive and Sport Utility" Magazine. It’s not the vehicle were focusing on this month, but it’s driver, Mark Werkmeister. Mark was recently named "Four Wheeler of the Year" by the United Four Wheel Drive Association. United is an international organization, which proves that Mark’s involvement with NM4W is just a miniscule part of his involvement with the rest of the Four Wheeling world.

Mark’s been a member of NM4W since 1990 and held various positions to include President, Vice President (where he instituted the beloved "Sheriff" title too), and currently serves as our Environmental Chairperson.

Originating from Nebraska, Mark’s family rented a Jeep one summer in 1972 in Colorado. They went from Lake City over Cinnamon Pass and back over Engineer Pass and were hooked! Mark’s first Jeep came after he completed college and was his third purchase after a bed and microwave…definitely had the fever! He bought a CJ-5 and it’s still in the club today (Don Miller drives it now).

Mark says there are too many trails out there to really have a favorite but he would have to say Elephant Hill and the infamous Hole in the Rock trails in Utah would be on the top of the list amongst 100 others. His most memorable trail experience was the first four wheeling trip that he and wife, Deb took after they got married. They made the Dugout Ranch loop to Elephant hill back when it was much more primitive. The first night out, they camped near an amazing little hidden cliff dwelling about 50 miles into the backcountry and cooked perfect steaks with great company.

Mark, who works as a NM Processing Engineering Manager for Intel, has written 94 articles for 4WD&SU and Four Wheeler magazines, and has been writing about his adventures since 1990. Mark has seen the sport go from the traditional family outing to the Extreme rock crawling events and believes that with the advanced technology in equipment, things that we see as extreme today will be not so extreme in a few years. Of course the backcountry experience will always be there and the four wheeling world is quite diverse.

Mark’s best advice to four wheeling fanatics is, "Get involved in keeping our trails open and providing new opportunities or your children won't enjoy the same experiences you have enjoyed!"

I asked Pat Brady to share a funny story with us about Mark and it was hard for him to choose just one. When he finally settled in on one, he wrote a book, not a story! I imagine there are lots of stories like this out there that are fun to hear about. I’m glad that Pat took the time to share this one with us: "I guess the best story I could relate would be a day out in Johnson valley. Mark was told about a new trail that was yet unnamed, that was supposed to be very extreme. The three of us, Mark, Jim, and Myself along with the wives decide to do this trail. Mark was to lead, then me and finally Jim. We wandered around trying to find the starting point with several false starts and dead ends. We finally found the beginning of the trail, we  were not 50 yards up the trail when Mark got hung up on the rear 60, this turn into the theme of the day.  Mark would go about 50 to 100 yards get hung up, back up, stack rocks, drive on. Needless to say, this made a much easier trail for Jim and myself. Of course we would thank Mark for all of the trail building he was doing. About 3/4 the way through Mark got really stuck. He could not back up or drive out the front, so out came the winch…the first rock we hooked it to rolled out, the second was much larger but it only fell over, the next was much, much bigger and we thought this should work but it also fell over and rolled down the hill.  Finally we found a rock that held and he pulled himself off. When we reached the top, we were quite tired and the wives were quite grumpy. There came a call across the CB from someone who was down in the adjoining trail, we talked a short while, we asked if he knew the name of the trail, he responds, "The no-name trail from Hell". That trail was officially named "Wrecking Ball" some time later but, we all remember it as the "The no-name trail from Hell". It is also quite interesting that now, as our equipment and our skills have changed/grown we would do that trail and another in just one day. On the last visit we did "Wrecking ball" and  "Outer limits" in just one day.  Our story is the wives were holding us back..."

Mark’s been a true asset to NM4W as well as for the sport of Four Wheeling. I’m sure there are more stories out there that you’d all like to hear from Mark. Ask him about Margarita’s and the fence in Las Cruces, or the flood at The Jaws of Death. Thanks Mark for all of your dedication to the sport!