FARMINGTON—James Graves hadn’t been involved with the Red Rock 4-Wheelers (RR4W) club until his twin brother invited him down to Moab to see what the club was all about. That was in the late 1990s and now the Farmington man is one of the leaders. Even his daughter Sarah has gotten into the action. Graves was recently honored by the club as the 2025 Red Rock 4-Wheeler of the Year.

“My wife and I were just getting married when he (brother) invited us down,” said Graves. “Just seeing the scenery of Moab and all that down there we went back in 1997, 1998 and 1999 and really enjoyed it. We skipped 2000 because my son was born, then went back in 2001-2002.”

Graves said he was with his wife on a trail and met some of the club members. “We said ‘hey we like helping people. We’d love to help out.’ That’s when I became an associate member. There are members of the club that don’t live in Moab.”

At that time they allowed only 350 associate members, he said. “I told one of the leaders that I would love to come down and help out with the trails or the club. He told me I had to apply to be in the club and then if there’s an open slot they’ll put me in.”

In 2002, there was an opening, said Graves. “I got in right away. That Labor Day was my first time helping as lead. From there it just snowballed.”

Graves became a trail gunner on Fins-N-Things in 2004. “Let’s say you have 30 people on the trail, participants that show up for Jeep Safari,” he said. “They register, pay and sign up for a trail. A gunner is the leader. The leader is the first person on the trail and they will guide the whole group through the trail.”

There’s no specific trail that someone has to do, said Graves. “I lucked out. I just happened to be on Fins-N-Things. I was a gunner from 2004-2019. All those years I’d be down at the Easter Jeep Safari helping out.”

Graves has an off-road business and in 2008-2009 started going down during the Easter Jeep Safari for a vendor show. “So the whole week, 10 days before Easter there are trail runs every day. This is a huge event. I happen to be going down over the years little by little and I guess paid my dues, if you will. I love helping people so that’s why it was an easy fit for me to go help on the trails.”

The club needed some people to help organize and coordinate the Labor Day Campout event, he said. “I became co-committee chair. I’m now the committee chair for the club. So I’m down there at least two times a year.”

Easter Jeep Safari has been a huge event for the family, said Graves. “My 18-year-old daughter has been involved with it all of her life because we’ve gone down as a family to help out. But this year since my daughter is 18 she will be one of my gunners on one of the trails I lead over Easter week.”

So it’s a tradition, he said. “She has a jeep, I’ve got a jeep so it makes it easy.”

Graves drives monthly from Farmington to Moab to attend RR4W meetings. “I have no rhyme or reason why I’ve gone down so much,” he said. “I just happen to love the club and the associations. I have many friends down there and so for me to drive four hours is nothing to go spend an hour and a half for the meeting and then drive four hours back that night at one in the morning.”

The RR4W club wants to support the off-road industry, said Graves. “The club is a very, very big piece of that in Moab for off-roading.”

Graves said he’s only the second person to receive the honor who lives outside of Moab. “I didn’t expect it. I wasn’t looking for it. It was something that the club gives one person every year. I don’t need the recognition.”

It’s not going to change the work he does with the club, said Graves. “I’m always going to go down there until I die probably. I joke with people that I have this disease called Jeep. It’s incurable. Once it gets in your blood it never goes away.”