Larger than Life: Hollie Fowler and her Jeep JKU Rock Crawler
Produced in Partnership With
Words and Photography Jason Stilgebouer Video: Bryan (Bam) Mccarthy & Brant Page
At this year's Easter Jeep Safari, we met many people who had incredible stories, but one of them stood out in a way that was larger than life. But what does it mean to be larger than life? We met up with Hollie Fowler and her Jeep JK rock crawler named "Mischief Maker" to find out what it means to be larger than life through her actions for women in the offroad community.
Hollie's story starts out a little different than many offroad enthusiasts. Originally from Scotland, she had a very successful career as an Opera singer and lived in many different countries working. On a break from a residency in Italy, she was in New York for vacation and met her husband there and decided to give up her life of Opera because there was too much travel involved. Settling down with her husband Walter, she moved to a career in real estate, bought a Jeep Wrangler JKU, and looked to modify it before become the giant Jeep on 43s it is today.
As many people do before looking to modify a Jeep, she researched online and saw the true potential of what it could become. Hollie started with a Metal Cloak lift with 35's and a 3-inch lift. The first time Hollie went offroading, she went with a group of all men. It was her first time on the trail, and they told her, "if you can't keep up, here is a map." She thought to herself, "You know what, that's fine, but I am going to do more than you and show you" She went up an obstacle that no one else could make, and instantly, there was that respect. From then on, it became an addiction for her.
In 2018, she needed her vision for her Jeep to become bigger, so she started writing proposals for companies to become build partners. Every Jeep has a personality, and Hollie built this Jeep to be her. It is now a monstrous Jeep JKU built on 1-ton axles, 43s custom roll cage, and many other modifications, including King bypass shocks, coilovers, and long-arm suspension. There is hardly a trail that she wasn't able to take her Jeep up. Hollie admits the Jeep is overbuilt, but it fits her personality perfectly.
Once the collaborations started with the brands, she saw it as an opportunity to turn this into a business and help inspire women across the united states. She figured that if she went through hardships first starting out, she would provide support to others facing the same challenges.
Many passionate people are leading the force to encourage women of all ages to get behind the wheel of a Jeep offroad, and one of those people is Hollie Fowler. Hollie saw the need to develop an all-women offroading group called Women Wheelers; their goal is to serve as a source of support, information, and inspiration for other women offroad. Their group has over 6000 members and is open to all women who wheel and is open to inclusivity in the offroad space. This was developed to answer a problem Hollie faced when she first got into the offroad community. Many people can be intimidated by the stigma around a male-dominated industry and won't even give offroading a chance because of it. Women Wheelers creates that community for a safe space for all women to give it a try.
This is now Hollie's second year in Moab, adventuring with many of her peers. But this time, it was made a little easier for her. Before using onX Offroad, Hollie was running the same trails repeatedly in Moab; now that she is using the explore function, she was able to see every trail in Moab listed. OnX Offroad shows all the nearby trails with information that includes things like difficulty rating, photos, and technical rating to know if the Mischeifmaker was up for the task. But there is hardly a trail that is no match for her wild Jeep. OnX Offrad was the perfect tool for Hollie and everyone else at Easter Jeep Safari.
We were able to use onX Offroad to navigate around Cliffhanger, and despite having done Hells Revenge several times, Hollie was able to find new lines and connecting trails she didn't even know were there.
To answer our question: What does it mean to be larger than life? Well, we think Hollie is a perfect example of what that means. Everything she has done in her career and this industry she has done because she is dedicated, not because of money or fame. It is because she shows her selfless acts to other people and boosts them up. Showing women, it is possible to knock down those gender barriers and show other people what is possible. Hollie is an incredible person, and it was an honor being able to spend time with her on the trail with her awesome JKU. Whatever she does next for her career or herself, we know this: it will be larger than life.
