Mark Smith is a legendary name in the Jeep world. He created the Jeepers Jamboree in 1953, which evolved into today’s Jeep Jamboree. He is credited with raising the popularity of the Rubicon Trail. He ran the USA team in the 1987 Camel Trophy event in Madagascar. And his pinnacle feat involved five Jeep CJ7s and fourteen men that would drive the entire length of the Americas, from Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. In between lay desert, swamp, snow and one of the most formidable natural obstacles present: the Darién Gap, a large area of swamp and rainforest that covers the Panama/Columbia border. This is where the break in the Pan-American Highway exists, because a combination of the high costs of building roadways and environmental concerns have prevented the completion of the highway for decades. This meant that Smith’s team had to spend thirty-one days creeping through swampy rainforest, hacking away vines and plants with machetes, building bridges over ravines, and generally working their asses off until they emerged onto drier land in Panama. 21,000 miles were covered in mostly stock 1979 Jeep CJ7s…that’s something to check out. Fred Williams goes over Smith’s history in this month’s Dirt Every Day, from the driver’s seat of one of those CJ7s. For a Jeep it’s nothing special…it’s pretty much bone-stock…but what this Jeep has accomplished is more than a lot of humans do in their lifetime.