Texas Rovers' SCARR Event Celebrates Twenty Years

The Texas Rovers club celebrated two decades of their iconic SCARR event from April 11-14, 2024. Over 325 attendees and 158 Land Rovers gathered at Barnwell Mountain Recreation Area in GIlmer, TX, celebrating the Land Rover community in Texas and nearby states.

SCARR stands for South Central Area Rover Rally -- South Central being Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. The name doesn't mean much at this point, though, as the event has become one of the biggest go-to Land Rover events in America, attracting regular attendees from all corners of the nation. The first event was held in 2004, with about 20 attendees. Now it's one of the largest Land Rover club events of the year.

The trails at Barnwell Mountain stretch over 1,850 acres, with something for everyone from a beginner with a stock 2024 Defender, to an experienced off-road driver with a custom-built trail vehicle. Trail runs can be guided or unguided depending on your comfort level. The entire park is reserved for the Land Rovers from Thursday to Sunday, so the adventure is yours and your group's to choose. Saturday evening features a group dinner, raffle, and campfire, this year with music by The 3AM Band, headlined by "Texas Pete" Gerbine and a mainstay of the Land Rover event scene.

There's a joking tradition that rain is a constant at SCARR, turning the East Texas dirt into thick mud. Dry and dusty, this event is not -- if you're looking to get deep in the trails, come equipped with the right tires and recovery gear. This year was pretty dry, but a rainstorm rolled through right before the event (the same rainstorm that quashed many people's Total Solar Eclipse viewing dreams in Texas), so there was some drama to the off-roading.

The family-friendly nature of the event goes beyond just having kids on trails -- there's a huge kids zone as part of the layout, so they aren't relegated to spending all day on the trail for something to do. This year there were radio-control Land Rovers, stenciled tire track t-shirt making, and face painting.

This year featured two special tribute runs. The first was the traditional women-only Barbara Toy Tribute Run, which has been a cornerstone of SCARR since 2015. The run pays tribute to Barbara Toy, the 1950s and 1960s adventuress who put the Land Rover through its first real-world international travel trials. This year, each participant received a copy of the reprinted edition of In Search of Sheba, Toy's story of her journey from Britain to Ethiopia.

The other run this year was a tribute to Allen Avery, the late owner of event sponsor North Texas British, who died recently while visiting family in Australia. His heavily built Range Rover Classic, "Strangerover," was an icon of SCARR. To pay tribute to Allen, his widow Janet drove it on one final drive at Barnwell, followed by over eighty other Land Rovers. A banner was tied to the vehicle all weekend for people to pay tribute and share their memories.

SCARR remains one of the highlights of the North American Land Rover social calendar, and anyone who has attended will tell you it's one of their favorite Land Rover events ever. If you haven't been before, put it on your calendar now for spring 2025, and make your way down to Texas for some good wheeling and great hospitality.