I took a friend out for a leisurely drive around out West with plans to maybe stop and shoot a few rabbits. We ended up at the gravel pile in Broad Canyon, I drove up to the bottom of this washed out rut in 2wd... backed up, stopped, told my friend "this is a bad idea" and proceeded to put it in 4 low and straddle the rut which is much MUCH bigger than the poor GMC I was in could possibly hope to survive.
I made it no problem, didn't spin a tire or slide an inch. As I cleared it I started bsing with my friend again and proceeded to slide the ass end of the truck into the next washout, I didn't even pay it any attention because I've been up here many times and I knew it wasn't deep enough to worry about. What happened next? Well the front end followed the rear end down into the hole and we stopped moving instantly.
Time 5pm, we get out to survey and begin getting out what limited tools I have with me. They are as follows, the stock jack and tire iron. Oh ya and a plastic coffee mug. We worked on it for an hour and a half jacking it up, digging out snow stuffing rocks and shingles (had some of those in the back of the truck) under tires... it never moved more than 1/2 inch back and forth.
Time 6:30pm, we take his all but dead cell phone and hike up the hill right by the piles. At the top we are greeted with a full 5 bars of signal on his Sprint phone. Woo hoo saved!!! Right? Nope, as with many digital only phones you can have full strength from the tower and not have enough power in your transmitter to call out. Just for the hell of it we try a txt message to Badger "stuck Broad Canyon Meat" ya, that didn't work either. So we hiked back down to the truck.
Time oh about 7:15pm, we try jacking and filling again until the jack breaks.
Time 8:28pm we have the conversation where I tell him 1) we aren't getting this out 2) no one really knows where we went (although they knew we were looking for rabbits without driving far so Badgers first guess would have been right) 3) It's an 8 mile hike to Allen's Ranch house where I know there is power and I also happen to know that a friend of a friend is in the process of moving in.
Time 8:37pm, after sitting in the truck with the heater blasting and gathering anything that could be useful (including two deactivated Cingular phones with 110 chargers), we set out for 8 miles of dirt road with surface ranging from skinny tracks in the snow to white ice to driven in and refrozen mud. For the first 4 miles the hardest part was keeping ourselves to a pace that would get us there without stopping because on a hike such as this if you stop, you are done. The next 2.5 miles my friend was slowing up because his borrowed boots were a tad too small, I was finally able to hold the pace we should be going. The first 6.5 miles we were actually having to unzip out outer coats to regulate heat.
The last 1.5 miles was hell because it colded up and the wind began blowing at about 5mph directly into our faces. This coupled with the fact that I could now see the trees around the house in the moonlight made it impossible for me to walk slow, where as my friend was in agony and having a hard time keeping moving. This resulted in me charging ahead, stopping to wait for him, him apologizing for holding us up and me apologizing for getting us stuck...
Time 11:26pm, we get near the house which is totally dark
and I hear a furnace running . I walk up to the door to knock and see a digital clock through the window But nobody answers While thinking about which window I should break I try the door and it's UNLOCKED (found out later this was for the furnace guy to install the new furnace that day!)
We check the house and nobody is home, I saw a phone in a box so I grabbed it and plugged it in. That sound of silence when I picked up the receiver really sucked.
After sitting for a couple minutes we plugged in the Cingular phones and I went out to try his Sprint phone again, it still would not work. Now being in a house may sound great, but the thermostat was only set on 45º which was just enough to melt my pants which had been soaked and frozen into nice wind guards... but we had SEATS, wind blocking walls and light.
Time 12:06am, I finally figure out that I've been pushing the wrong button (power) on the Cingular phones, so I take one and go out to give a phone call a try... no signal So knowing that you can make a 911 call from any phone at any time, but doubting that it will work because I had NO signal, I shrug and dial it anyway...
Me: 911>send
phone: attempting to make emerg>ring>ring
911 lady: 911 emergency, how can I help you?
Me: I started off with apologizing for calling and saying that it was only kindof an emergency, that we had gotten stuck and walked out, we are really tired and cold, but we are at a house now and ok, but no one is home and we are really tired but safe.
911: Your truck is stuck or you are stuck?
Me: The truck is stuck and we hiked to a house, we are really tired but safe.
911: Were are you located?
Me: Allen's Ranch house.
911: Where is that?
Me: Cedar Valley.
911: Where?
Me: (slightly annoyed for some reason) South of Fairfield
911: Ok I'll get someone on the way.
Me: No, we don't need you to send anyone out, we are really tired but safe.
911: Ok, umm, then what are you asking me for?
Me: Well our other phone is dead and I can only call 911 on this phone.... so.. .could you patch me through to another number?
911: You want me to?
Me: Patch me through to my house so I can have someone come get us.. if you can please.
911: Sure what's the number?
Anyway, I get the message out and Badger is on his way.
Time 12:12am, I go fill my friend in and we bs for an hour
Time 12:27am, I freak out when I realize the hour bsing had only been 15min
Time 2:12am, I see Badgers lights on the road and we pack up our shite and run out to meet him. Then we head out to see if he can pull the truck out, he might have been able to pull it backwards but I was worried about mangling the running board. He tried to get around front on another road and couldn't quite make it so we headed for home with plans to bring my Blazer out in the morning.
Time 3:30am, I get home and remember I still have to feed the f'n horses grr
Time 4:15am, I drift off into a state that wasn't quite awake and wasn't quite asleep
Time 8:10am I regain consciousness
Time 9am, we head out with the K5
Time about 10:30am, we arrive on scene, start the GMC and hook up the chain. The first two angles wouldn't pull it out (I was trying to pull it kindof sideways out of the rut to protect the running board), the third angle and some skinny pedal pops the GMC up out of its hole and I drive it down to the well packed snow.
Time 10:35am, A whole 5 minutes to pull it out... I get in Blazer and proceed to drive through that damned washout in 2wd to show it who's boss, then we cruise on up the canyon to play in the snow.
And if you made it through that novel... the only things that got hurt were 1) the jack 2) our feet are sore 3) the 2x6 that spent some time under the right front tire and got a half inch deep hole dug into it 4) my wallet (fuel)
Here are some more pics
That night (obviously)
First thing the next morning
Here it is out
Here's the worst hole
I made it no problem, didn't spin a tire or slide an inch. As I cleared it I started bsing with my friend again and proceeded to slide the ass end of the truck into the next washout, I didn't even pay it any attention because I've been up here many times and I knew it wasn't deep enough to worry about. What happened next? Well the front end followed the rear end down into the hole and we stopped moving instantly.
Time 5pm, we get out to survey and begin getting out what limited tools I have with me. They are as follows, the stock jack and tire iron. Oh ya and a plastic coffee mug. We worked on it for an hour and a half jacking it up, digging out snow stuffing rocks and shingles (had some of those in the back of the truck) under tires... it never moved more than 1/2 inch back and forth.
Time 6:30pm, we take his all but dead cell phone and hike up the hill right by the piles. At the top we are greeted with a full 5 bars of signal on his Sprint phone. Woo hoo saved!!! Right? Nope, as with many digital only phones you can have full strength from the tower and not have enough power in your transmitter to call out. Just for the hell of it we try a txt message to Badger "stuck Broad Canyon Meat" ya, that didn't work either. So we hiked back down to the truck.
Time oh about 7:15pm, we try jacking and filling again until the jack breaks.
Time 8:28pm we have the conversation where I tell him 1) we aren't getting this out 2) no one really knows where we went (although they knew we were looking for rabbits without driving far so Badgers first guess would have been right) 3) It's an 8 mile hike to Allen's Ranch house where I know there is power and I also happen to know that a friend of a friend is in the process of moving in.
Time 8:37pm, after sitting in the truck with the heater blasting and gathering anything that could be useful (including two deactivated Cingular phones with 110 chargers), we set out for 8 miles of dirt road with surface ranging from skinny tracks in the snow to white ice to driven in and refrozen mud. For the first 4 miles the hardest part was keeping ourselves to a pace that would get us there without stopping because on a hike such as this if you stop, you are done. The next 2.5 miles my friend was slowing up because his borrowed boots were a tad too small, I was finally able to hold the pace we should be going. The first 6.5 miles we were actually having to unzip out outer coats to regulate heat.
The last 1.5 miles was hell because it colded up and the wind began blowing at about 5mph directly into our faces. This coupled with the fact that I could now see the trees around the house in the moonlight made it impossible for me to walk slow, where as my friend was in agony and having a hard time keeping moving. This resulted in me charging ahead, stopping to wait for him, him apologizing for holding us up and me apologizing for getting us stuck...
Time 11:26pm, we get near the house which is totally dark
and I hear a furnace running . I walk up to the door to knock and see a digital clock through the window But nobody answers While thinking about which window I should break I try the door and it's UNLOCKED (found out later this was for the furnace guy to install the new furnace that day!)We check the house and nobody is home, I saw a phone in a box so I grabbed it and plugged it in. That sound of silence when I picked up the receiver really sucked.
After sitting for a couple minutes we plugged in the Cingular phones and I went out to try his Sprint phone again, it still would not work. Now being in a house may sound great, but the thermostat was only set on 45º which was just enough to melt my pants which had been soaked and frozen into nice wind guards... but we had SEATS, wind blocking walls and light.
Time 12:06am, I finally figure out that I've been pushing the wrong button (power) on the Cingular phones
, so I take one and go out to give a phone call a try... no signal So knowing that you can make a 911 call from any phone at any time, but doubting that it will work because I had NO signal, I shrug and dial it anyway...Me: 911>send
phone: attempting to make emerg>ring>ring
911 lady: 911 emergency, how can I help you?
Me: I started off with apologizing for calling and saying that it was only kindof an emergency, that we had gotten stuck and walked out, we are really tired and cold, but we are at a house now and ok, but no one is home and we are really tired but safe.
911: Your truck is stuck or you are stuck?
Me: The truck is stuck and we hiked to a house, we are really tired but safe.
911: Were are you located?
Me: Allen's Ranch house.
911: Where is that?
Me: Cedar Valley.
911: Where?
Me: (slightly annoyed for some reason) South of Fairfield
911: Ok I'll get someone on the way.
Me: No, we don't need you to send anyone out, we are really tired but safe.
911: Ok, umm, then what are you asking me for?
Me: Well our other phone is dead and I can only call 911 on this phone.... so.. .could you patch me through to another number?
911: You want me to?
Me: Patch me through to my house so I can have someone come get us.. if you can please.
911: Sure what's the number?
Anyway, I get the message out and Badger is on his way.
Time 12:12am, I go fill my friend in and we bs for an hour
Time 12:27am, I freak out when I realize the hour bsing had only been 15min
Time 2:12am, I see Badgers lights on the road and we pack up our shite and run out to meet him. Then we head out to see if he can pull the truck out, he might have been able to pull it backwards but I was worried about mangling the running board. He tried to get around front on another road and couldn't quite make it so we headed for home with plans to bring my Blazer out in the morning.
Time 3:30am, I get home and remember I still have to feed the f'n horses grr
Time 4:15am, I drift off into a state that wasn't quite awake and wasn't quite asleep
Time 8:10am I regain consciousness
Time 9am, we head out with the K5
Time about 10:30am, we arrive on scene, start the GMC and hook up the chain. The first two angles wouldn't pull it out (I was trying to pull it kindof sideways out of the rut to protect the running board), the third angle and some skinny pedal pops the GMC up out of its hole and I drive it down to the well packed snow.
Time 10:35am,
A whole 5 minutes to pull it out... I get in Blazer and proceed to drive through that damned washout in 2wd to show it who's boss, then we cruise on up the canyon to play in the snow.And if you made it through that novel... the only things that got hurt were 1) the jack 2) our feet are sore 3) the 2x6 that spent some time under the right front tire and got a half inch deep hole dug into it
4) my wallet (fuel)Here are some more pics
That night (obviously)
First thing the next morning
Here it is out
Here's the worst hole
