Inside Trail Hero With Rich Klein: Community, Charity, And Wolfbox’s Growing Role

There are plenty of reasons to go off-roading. Some people chase bigger obstacles. Others simply want to disappear down a dirt road, shut off the phone, and put a few miles between themselves and civilization.

For Rich Klein, founder of Trail Hero, the draw has always run deeper. Off-roading has been part recreation, part therapy, and eventually part calling.

That calling ultimately grew into Trail Hero, an event founded in 2016 that has become a fixture in the Southern Utah off-road scene. Held around the spectacular terrain of Sand Hollow near Hurricane, Utah, Trail Hero brings together hardcore rock crawlers, side-by-sides, overlanders, families, newcomers, veterans, and people with disabilities for something that is bigger than another week of trail riding.

At its heart, Trail Hero is about access, and this year, Wolfbox is helping the event reach a wider audience through the Trail Hero Expeditions Season 2 television series, of which the brand is the Title Sponsor.

According to Trail Hero, its efforts have helped more than 1,000 people with special needs and more than 4,000 veterans experience Southern Utah through motorized recreation. Charitable proceeds have supported organizations including 4 Wheel to Heal, the Red Rock Center for Independence, Racing Anxiety, and land-use advocacy groups, with Trail Hero reporting more than $80,000 donated annually.

But to understand why that mission matters so much, it helps to understand the person who started it.

Rich’s Journey

“Off-roading has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in an off-road family and experienced my first rollover when I was only two years old, so you could say this lifestyle found me before I was old enough to choose it,” Klein shared.

What drew him to the trail was the freedom—the excitement of exploring places most people couldn’t reach, and the therapeutic, self-healing connection to nature.

“When I saw public lands threatened with closure, I realized someone needed to step up and build a voice for motorized access, especially for veterans and people with disabilities who rely on vehicles to experience the outdoors. That is ultimately why I launched Trail Hero.”

Since 2016, the event has grown substantially, but the foundation underneath it hasn’t changed: providing motorized access to the outdoors for veterans and non-able-bodied individuals, and to do it in a fun, exciting, and inclusive way.

“Over time, that mission has evolved into a unifying movement. It has brought together people from all walks of life to stand up for the rights of non-able-bodied individuals to enjoy the same therapeutic, nature-based experiences as anyone else.”

Naturally, the “hero” in Trail Hero has nothing to do with competition wins or expensive rigs. For Klein, it’s about offering a seat to someone who’s never had the chance to experience nature due to mobility limitations. It’s about donating time, energy, resources, or financial support to keep those experiences within reach.

The Trail Makes Heroes

One of Trail Hero’s signature qualities is the unusual cross-section of people and vehicles it attracts.

Hardcore rock crawlers share the landscape with side-by-sides. Purpose-built trail rigs run alongside vehicles that might still make the Monday morning commute. Experienced wheelers mingle with families and people getting their first taste of off-road recreation.

Ordinarily, those different corners of the hobby can develop their own cultures and preferences. Trail Hero gives them a reason to put aside their differences and come together in pursuit of the common goal of creating unforgettable, life-changing experiences for others.

To Klein, there isn’t necessarily one spectacular obstacle or single headline moment that best represents Trail Hero. Often, it’s the small, human details that stand out most.

“What defines this community for me every year is watching complete strangers step forward to help someone else. You see drivers offer up a seat, help someone into a vehicle, guide them through technical obstacles, and make sure they feel completely included.

“When you see the expression on someone’s face when they reach the top of a trail—especially someone who believed the outdoors was no longer accessible to them—the machines and obstacles become secondary. Watching selfless people give their time and resources to help complete strangers is a deeply humbling experience that truly captures what the off-road community is all about.”

That is where Trail Hero’s idea of access becomes tangible. Motorized recreation isn’t merely the activity being protected. For some participants, the vehicle is what makes experiencing the landscape possible in the first place.

Heroes Are Made Together

That combination of serious wheeling and a broader mission also shapes the companies Trail Hero chooses to work with. As Title Sponsor of Trail Hero Expeditions Season 2, Wolfbox has taken on a larger partner role to bring the event’s experiences beyond Sand Hollow.

“I first became familiar with Wolfbox through friends and social media. What stood out immediately was the high build quality and how naturally their technology applied to technical off-roading,” Klein said.

“On technical terrain, drivers need to understand exactly what is happening around and underneath the vehicle in real time. Wolfbox provides visibility right where a driver normally has blind spots, helping us navigate obstacles and tire placement safely. Trail Hero is an environment where products must prove their worth in the rocks through actual performance, ruggedness, and reliability—and Wolfbox proved without a doubt that they were up to the challenge.”

That capability became particularly relevant as Trail Hero began developing ideas for the second season of Trail Hero Expeditions.

“My focus for Season 2 is to capture raw excitement, drama, the intense nature of our sport, and the complete unknown—and bring all of that directly from the off-road world into the living rooms of our viewing audience. With the help of Wolfbox technology integrated into our team’s setups, we were able to seamlessly capture those split-second decisions, intense challenges, and unforgettable memories on camera.”

It also reflects how Wolfbox works with the off-road community: by listening to what drivers need on the trail and turning those needs into smarter upgrades. In turn, that gives more people the confidence to hit the trail, ride with friends and family, and fully enjoy the journey.

Become A Hero

For someone looking at Trail Hero from the outside, especially a newcomer without decades of rock-crawling experience, the event’s highly modified machines and serious terrain can look intimidating. Klein posits that becoming part of it requires something much smaller than a purpose-built buggy—just a first step.

“The idea of becoming a hero always starts with a simple first step forward into the unknown. With every step, you gain confidence until you’re ready to push yourself further. Once you become the hero in your own story, the next step is to become a hero in someone else’s story—and the most impactful thing you can do is positively influence another person’s life by giving them new opportunities and experiences.

“For anyone hitting the trail for the very first time, embrace that first step into the unknown. I look forward to hearing your hero’s journey and seeing how this off-road lifestyle changes your life and the lives of those around you.”

Klein’s idea of helping others take their own first step resonates with Wolfbox, too. As Title Sponsor of Trail Hero Expeditions Season 2, the brand believes its job is not to help one person go farther, but to help everyone keep moving forward. With reliable, safety-focused gear built for technical terrain, Wolfbox supports the Trail Hero community—and the access mission behind it—one first step at a time.