Rory Irish: Moab’s Knight in Shining Mater

You’ll hear Rory coming long before you see him. His Trail Mater dings, rumbles, and clanks its way across sandstone ledges and steep drop-offs, crawling through the same obstacles that challenge off-roaders from around the world.

It’s demanding work, but Rory’s “office” comes with a view few can rival. Every tough recovery ends with a wide-open valley, golden light, and the kind of sunset that makes you stop and breathe.

“Growing up here, it’s easy to lose focus of the beauty. You think: it's like any other place to live. No big deal. But dealing with tourists and people that have never been here before and seeing how they react to the scenery and the red rocks and everything reminds me every day, I really do live and work in a beautiful place.”

Rory found his calling the same way many people find trouble, by accident. After years of getting himself unstuck on trails, he became the go-to recovery guy for his friends. Then their friends. Then everyone else.

“I got into this by accident. I've always been the one my buddies have called when they got stuck. ‘Hey, we messed something up. The truck’s on the trail. Can you help us get it?’ I remember laying in bed at midnight one time, and I got a call. My new girlfriend at the time looks at me and goes, ‘really?’ I laughed and said, ‘welcome to my life.’

When I moved back to Moab, I started working at an off-road shop, and they did recoveries to an extent. We needed a better vehicle, and I had this old truck that was kind of a rock crawler. I used it a couple of times, modified it here and there, and slowly grew into what it has become. It was a process of trial and error, with extra error. But especially in off-roading, if you're not making mistakes, you're not learning.”

That philosophy stuck, right into the frame of his one-of-a-kind wrecker.

Once upon a time, it was a shiny new 1982 Chevy pickup. Then it became a mud truck. Then a rock crawler. Now it’s something else entirely, a custom-built off-road tow truck unlike any other.

Rory’s rig has seen more trail time than most vehicles ever will. Nearly every part of it has been modified, replaced, or welded back together, sometimes twice. It’s scarred, rusted, and patched together with more stories than steel.

“Back in the day, I helped a buddy of mine turn it into a rock crawler. We had to cut it up a lot, but he insisted. He wheeled it for about three years and then told me he wanted to sell it. I was like, ‘most of the parts on it are mine. How about I buy it from you?’’’

Because it was built as a crawler first, it’s lighter and more agile than a standard tow truck, exactly what Rory needs to reach stranded drivers where no recovery vehicle should logically go.

After years of evolution, Trail Mater now runs a fuel-injected V8, Dodge dually rear-end, six winches, and a stash of spare parts and tools for trail-side repairs. And the tires? A key upgrade.

“About three years ago, I posted about some tires I was looking at and one of my followers recommended that I try the BFGoodrich KM3s. So I did, and I absolutely love them. I run them on three rigs now because the traction is unbeatable. All my mechanics run them now, too, because they've seen how well they do on the Trail Mater. I’m on my third set, and I’ve never had a sidewall issue.”

In recent years, Moab has become busier than ever. Tourists, weekend wheelers, and locals alike test their skills daily on the region’s rugged terrain, from side-by-sides to lifted 4x4s. Naturally, Trail Mater isn’t the only off-road recovery truck out there. But when the trail gets extreme, or the situation looks impossible, Rory is often the one other operators call.

Experience, knowledge, and nerve set him apart. Rory knows vehicles, understands the physics of recovery, and reads the terrain like few others can. But what really makes him stand out isn’t just skill, it’s mindset.

“There's a couple of other trucks in town, but everybody seems to call me. I’ve had a few times where other guys have said ‘Hey, I can't get to it, call Trail Mater.’ Or they say, I’m not comfortable with that. I could scratch my truck.’ Or, ‘that sounds like too big of a job.’

I'm more of a ‘let's figure it out’ kind of guy. When it comes to these situations, everything's just an equation. And if you can figure out the pieces, work it out, and go slow, then you can come out of anything. But you gotta be willing to go into an unknown situation, potentially break your own vehicle, and figure it out.”

That attitude, patient, determined, and fearless, is what defines Rory’s approach. Every recovery is a puzzle to solve and a chance to learn something new.

Getting people unstuck takes guts, creativity, and a willingness to push limits. It’s equal parts work and art, and for Rory, it’s a craft he’s perfected one recovery at a time.

To see Trail Mater in action, follow Rory on YouTube.

All photos courtesy of Chris Collard.