The goal of the Rebelle Rally is to find secret checkpoints hidden throughout the desert in Nevada, Arizona and California.

The competitors, all women, can’t use GPS devices or cellphones to navigate. Instead, they have to rely on paper maps, compasses and road books to find their way.

Jessica Gade, who recently moved to Durango from Tempe, Arizona, for a change of pace and smaller community, finished 13th out of 42 teams with her partner, Tasha Booth. Gade is now a physical therapist at the Mercy Regional Medical Center.

“It was pretty incredible,” Gade said. “It was a very unique event.”

The rally, now in its sixth year, is the first women’s off-road navigation rally raid in the U.S. It is not a race for speed, but a unique and demanding event based on the elements of headings, hidden checkpoints, time and distance, using maps, a compass and roadbooks.

Gade served as her team’s navigator. Booth, whom she met in December on Facebook, was the driver.

“Being a navigator, I had to learn a whole new skill set,” Gade said. “You have to just know if you made a wrong turn.”

She said there were 20 to 25 checkpoints for the competitors to find each day. Some checkpoints were visible, like flags or poles; others weren’t.

After getting a sheet with all the checkpoints’ GPS locations, she said they had about two hours to plan and would then spend roughly 10 hours driving around searching for them in their Toyota Tacoma.

Some of the checkpoints also had open and closing times limiting when the competitors could find them.

“You really have to plan well what you think you can do and can’t,” Gade said. “You have to figure out what maps to use and plan what’s reasonable. And sometimes the roads on maps aren’t there.”

She said her favorite quote from the rally was, “The road should have been there,” adding, “You just have to figure it out.”

The Glamis Sand Dunes in California posed extra challenges.

“The scariest was the dunes,” Gade said. “You can tip or roll if you aren’t careful.”

She said they got stuck once during the rally, and it was in the dunes. “Luckily, another team pulled us out,” she said.

She said that day, “started as the worst day possible,” with the wind blowing sand in her mouth and eyes and carrying her map away.

She said they went out and were trying to find a black checkpoint, but had no idea where they were so they had to go back to base. Back at the base, they joined up with a team that had four to five years’ experience who helped them.

“It’s not just a cutthroat competition,” Gade said. “There’s good camaraderie, and you make some incredible friendships.”

Participating in the rally also was a big goal for Gade after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer and undergoing six months of chemotherapy and two weeks of radiation.

She said she wanted to do the rally years ago after her nurse friend did the first Rebelle Rally, but other friends told her it was a waste of money. Entry for the event is $13,000.

Her illness became the motivation she needed to sign up and do the rally.

“After I was diagnosed, I needed some kind of motivation,” she said. “My husband (Lasse Norgaard-Larsen) was definitely my No. 1 supporter.“

Some days, she couldn’t get off the couch and, with a pandemic going on, couldn’t really visit with others.

“Having a goal is really important to get you though those bad days,” Gade said, adding, “One thing I learned in the rally is the little things don’t matter. There’s no reason to get upset if you make a wrong turn; just turn around.”

A week ago marked one year of being done with chemotherapy for Gade. “I still don’t feel 100%, but I’m getting there,” she said.

During the rally, she said she felt underprepared on the first day but improved her compassing and understanding of topography during the event.

“By the end, I was like, ‘I got this,’” Gade said.

And while finishing 13th placed her team in the top third, she wanted to do better.

“I’m really hard on myself,” Gade said. “I’m glad we did as well as we did, but now I’m out for blood.”

She said she’s currently interviewing drivers and would love to do the event again next year but would need sponsors to help her out.

“A lot of the girls who do this are professionals, but I want to show anyone can do this,” Gade said. “I didn’t know how to navigate a year ago.”

Seeing beautiful scenery, making new friendships, acquiring new skills and pushing herself, however, was a special experience for her.

“It was just an amazing experience, and has so much deep meaning for me now that I’ve experienced it,” she said, repeating the biggest lesson she took away from the rally: “Don’t let the small things get you down; they don’t matter at the end of the day.”