It’s officially official: We’re partnering with Subaru of America for the 2022 Alcan 5000 Rally. The ’22 Alcan 5000 is a summer rally vs. 2020’s winter edition. This means less worry about freezing to death, more worry about massive mosquitoes and traversing thousands of miles of Canadian tarmac, dirt, and gravel. And this year’s vehicle? A Subaru Outback Wilderness.

When we did the 2020 winter Alcan 5000 in our JDM 1991 Mitsubishi Pajero turbodiesel, we learned quickly that a slow ’90s-era SUV, while very capable, wasn’t the optimal vehicle for competing in a 5,000+ mile rally. Instead, a comfortable crossover with good ground clearance and plenty of power was the way to go. Vehicles like the Porsche Cayenne, Toyota RAV4, and pretty much any Subaru would have plenty of gusto for 600-mile day jaunts, and enough passing power to get by slow graders, pokey plows, and, well, us.

For the ’22 rally, we reached out to Subaru to see if they’d be interested in providing a car for the 10-day rally, and low-and-behold, they were. We’ve had a good relationship with them for years, and have attended a number of events, such as the Oregon Trail Rally with them in the past.

The Car

The Subaru Outback is, of course, one of the brand’s most popular offerings. Its spacious and comfortable wagon body style will offer us loads of posh seat time over the 5,040-mile rally. Its capability starts with all-wheel-drive and is capped off by a powerful 2.4-liter turbocharged engine making 260 horsepower and 277 lbs/ft of torque. Keeping up with the rally will not be a problem this year!

Adding to its rally-ready ability is 9.5-inches of ground clearance and protective factory skid plates, which should allow us to focus on driving and less on hitting rocks or potholes in the road.

We also won’t have any range anxiety as this wonder wagon has an 18.5-gallon fuel tank, which should easily provide us at least 400 miles between fill-ups. Finally, it’ll be equipped with Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 tires, which we reviewed back in 2017. We had these on our 1989 Mitsubishi Delica Star Wagon. Oh, it even has a full-size spare—something that is needed on the Alcan rallies.

The Aftermarket Modifications

While the Outback won’t need many modifications for the Alcan 5000 (it’s plenty capable out of the box), we’re adding a few bits. This includes a host of Subaru’s accessories such as a cargo cover and rubber mats. But also such items as their Thule roof rack and their trailer hitch, which will be a great place for a Factor 55 HitchLink in case we need to pull someone out of a ditch. We also have the Factor 55 Extreme Duty Kinetic Energy Rope and some Warn Industries Epic shackles just in case. Additionally, we’ll equip the Outback Wilderness with Maxtrax Mini recovery boards should we need to have some extra traction or provide someone else with that ability.

The sun will set pretty late that far north, but you can never be too prepared. We found auxiliary lighting a much-needed thing on the winter Alcan 5000, so we’re again using Lightforce lights on the Outback. Specifically, we’ll install four Lightforce Venom LED lamps which will be bolted to a Rally Innovations Rally Light Bar. We use Lightforce on all three of our JDM Mitsubishis, and it’ll be great to try them on the Subaru, too.

Lastly, the people from Scosche will be supplying a variety of accessories and magnetic mounts to hold our phones, radios, and anything else that needs to be held onto! We’ve been using their products for years, so it’s great to have them help out on the 2022 Alcan 5000 rally.

The Route

This year’s route will start in Kirkland, WA, and go as far north as Dawson City, YT. It’ll jut east through Yellowknife, NT, and then south to finish in scenic Jasper, AB. The scheduled mileage is 5,040. Unlike the winter rally, it won’t go to the Arctic Ocean or deep into Alaska. Instead, we’ll dip into some of the southern parts of Alaska, but also hit up Alberta. We hope to drive the famed Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Banff on the way back to Portland afterward.

The Dates

The 2022 Alcan 5000 Rally starts August 23 and ends September 1. We will be competing media again this year. You’ll be able to follow us on our Instagram and Facebook. We’ll have a host of stories after the event in several publications, podcasts, and radio shows.

We’re so stoked to be rallying again. This time in a fast, comfortable, and capable Subaru.

Alcan or bust!