2026 Rebelle Rally Special Edition
By: Carey Lando, Founder of MtnSubi Consulting & Adventures
We’re Going Back to the Rebelle!
It’s that time again.
This week, Andrea and I will climb back into Team 200, point the Forester toward the desert, hand over our phones and GPS devices, and disappear into Rebelle world for another eight days of competition.
For those of you who’ve followed along before, you already know how big of a part the Rebelle has played in MtnSubi’s story.
And if this is your first time following us through one?
Welcome. You’re in for a ride.
So... What Exactly Is the Rebelle Rally?
The Rebelle Rally is an eight-day off-road navigation competition across the American West.
But here’s the part that usually surprises people:
It’s not a race for speed.
Teams of two navigate using paper maps, compasses, roadbooks, coordinates, distance, and strategy.
No GPS. No cell phones. No outside help.
Each day, we’re given navigation information and coordinates that we use to plot checkpoints onto our maps. Then we have to figure out how to get to them, decide which checkpoints are worth pursuing, manage the clock, take care of the vehicle, and make it back to Base Camp.
Some checkpoints are relatively straightforward.
Others are... considerably less straightforward.
The days are long, the terrain changes constantly, and one navigation decision can completely reshape the rest of your day.
It’s part endurance event, part navigation competition, part vehicle challenge, and part really intense game of desert chess.
And somehow, we keep signing up for it. :)
My Rebelle Story
This will be my sixth Rebelle Rally.
When I first entered in 2021, I had no idea how much this event would become part of my life, or how much of what I've learned in the Rebelle would eventually influence MtnSubi.
2021 was my rookie year with Laura Fino navigating. Did I know what I was getting myself into? No. Did I learn a lot? Yes. Did I finish the rally? Also yes, and as the top-ranked X-Cross rookie team just 1 close spot shy of a podium.
In 2022, Angie Lux and I finished 3rd in X-Cross. After a last minute medical required my teammate to withdraw from the competition, Angie jumped in the Navigator seat only 1 week before the start of the rally. Talk about flying by the seat of our pants! We pivoted so much that we got pretty good at it. Ok now we're cooking with grease.
In 2023, I competed with Dorothy Rake and came away with another year of lessons and more experience. We were awarded the Team Spirit Award for the one team embodying the Rebelle spirit of good sportsmanship and team spirit. Was I done yet? Absolutely not!
Then Andrea Shaffer sauntered into my passenger seat and the rest fell into place.
In 2024, Andrea and I won the X-Cross class. It was a moment of joy, relief, and exhilaration and a culmination of 4 years of lessons and growth.
And in 2025, we came back in the new Subaru Forester Hybrid and did it again! Our second consecutive X-Cross win.
Along the way there's been mechanical challenges, infinite dunes, so much dust, very early mornings, some questionable decisions made before sunrise, endless map plotting, Team Spirit awards, laughter, tears, frustration, and a heck of a lot of learning.
Of course the results matter. We're still competitors and we absolutely want to perform well, but the reason I keep returning to the Rebelle is something bigger than the podium.
The Rebelle has taught me trust. It's taught me to trust myself. To trust my teammate. It's taught me to make decisions when conditions aren't perfect, so when I'm tired, frustrated, and maybe a bit lost. It's taught me to be calm when the the plan falls apart or everything is in chaos. Most of all it's taught me to become more comfortable when things are uncomfortable.
A lot of those lessons have found their way directly into how we teach, guide, prepare vehicles, and approach adventure at MtnSubi.
The Forester Hybrid Is Back for 2026
This is our third year competing on behalf of Subaru of America, and we couldn’t be more proud!
And we’re bringing back a familiar third teammate:
the same Subaru Forester Hybrid that carried us to the X-Cross win in 2025.
It has another year of trail miles, testing, adventures, and learning behind it now, and we’re pretty excited to see what it can do in its second Rebelle.
Our goals going into this year are pretty simple:
Be good teammates.
Help the people around us when we can.
And be competitive.
The Rebelle always finds new ways to challenge you, so we know better than to predict exactly what those eight days will look like. But we’re ready to find out.
Come See Us at the Starting Line!
This might be the thing I’m MOST excited to share.
The 2026 Rebelle Rally starting line is open to the public!
That means we actually get to invite our friends, family, MtnSubi community, and everyone who’s followed this crazy adventure from afar to come see us off in person.
Thursday, October 8
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas, Nevada
We’ll be there with Team 200, the Forester, and the rest of the 2026 Rebelle field before we head into competition.
If you’re in Vegas—or looking for an excuse for a little road trip—we would LOVE to see some MtnSubi faces there.
Come check out the vehicles, meet the teams, soak up some Rebelle energy, and send us off before we disappear into the desert.
Seriously. Come see us.
Having our community standing there when we roll across that starting line would be pretty damn special.
How to Follow Team 200
Once competition starts, Andrea and I go dark. No phones. No social media. No outside help.
And definitely no sneaking a peek at Google Maps when navigation gets interesting.
But that doesn’t mean MtnSubi goes quiet.
As usual, I’ll hand the MtnSubi social media accounts over to Milton, who’ll be following the rally from home and sharing updates, photos, tracking information, standings, and whatever else is happening while Andrea and I are blissfully unaware of all of it.
And if you really want the inside scoop on what’s happening across the rally, tune into the Rebelle live shows throughout the day.
The Rebelle team broadcasts multiple live updates each day on YouTube and social media, with coverage from Base Camp, field reports, interviews, standings, stories from the course, and a much better look at what’s unfolding around us.
There’s a very good chance you’ll know more about what’s happening than we will.
While you’re watching interviews, seeing photos, following standings, and hearing what happened on course, Andrea and I will be somewhere in the desert with a map, a compass, our favorite snacks, and absolutely no idea what the rest of the rally world is saying.
Follow Us on YB Races
Once competition gets underway, you can follow our exact location through the YB Races app available for android and apple devices.
Once you download the app, add "Rebelle Rally 2026" to your race feed. After we go through Tech Inspection on Wednesday and begin our transit to BC 1 on Thursday, you can start following us in the app. The tracker shows where Team 200 is moving in real time, along with checkpoints spread across the course.
There’s one really important thing to know when you’re watching:
Not every team is navigating to the same set of checkpoints.
There are several checkpoint sets, so the team starting just ahead of us or behind us may be headed somewhere completely different.
That keeps teams from simply following a more experienced competitor—or whoever happens to be nearby—and means every team has to run its own rally.
So if you’re watching our tracker and see a checkpoint sitting right next to us and find yourself yelling:
“WHY AREN’T THEY GOING TO THAT ONE?!”
There’s a very good chance it simply isn’t one of ours to collect.
That’s part of what makes following from home so much fun. You get to see the bigger picture while Andrea and I are working only with the information we’ve been given for our own route that day.
Between YB Tracker, the live shows, scoring updates, the new Rebelle website tracking feed, and Milton keeping the MtnSubi socials going, you’ll probably have a better idea of what’s happening around us than we do.
Look for Team #200
Before the rally starts, we’ll share all the easiest ways to follow along, including:
Team 200 tracking links
YB Tracking information
Rebelle live-show schedule
Live scoring and standings
MtnSubi social updates
Rebelle social channels: Instagram
Keep an eye on MtnSubi social media as we get closer, and we’ll make sure you know exactly where to find us.
Then watch that little Team 200 dot move across the map and cheer loudly from home.
We won’t hear you until afterward.
But we’ll love knowing you were along for the ride.
See you at the starting line.
Carey
Founder, MtnSubi Consulting & Adventures
Driver, Team 200
Links:
Team 200 tracking links
Rebelle live-show schedule: link to live page (unsure if this will update for 2026)
MtnSubi social updates: Instagram
Rebelle social channels: Instagram
Don’t go yet! A Big Shoutout to Rebelle Team 216
We’re also cheering on another Subaru team this year: Team 216, a privateer team with partial support from Subaru of America and a couple of familiar faces. MtnSubi Adventures guide Kendra Miller, from DirtFish, will be competing with Tasha Krug in Kendra’s personal 2016 Crosstrek.
They’ve had to pivot more than once to get to this year's start line and took on the huge task of raising their Rebelle budget with only a few weeks to go. Meanwhile, Kendra has been hard at work getting her daily-driver Crosstrek Rebelle-ready, and we were stoked to lend a hand with the build design and installs last week.
Getting to the start line is no small thing, especially on a compressed timeline like this. We’re really excited to see Team 216 out there, and we hope you’ll give them some love and support too. Cheer them on, follow their journey, and help make sure they feel the Subaru community behind them all the way to the desert.
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