OOPS!! So how do you spell “stuck?” Well, here’s our Toy Hauler Puller stuck in about 8" of Central Oregon Alkali Clay Mud. If you've ever experienced this stuff you'd know that 8" is plenty of mud, for getting stuck. Of course that boat anchor of a diesel engine didn't help much.
Let’s back up a few hours and revisit the chain of events that lead to our undoing.
We left Bend about 11am for a day of Geocaching in the High Desert of Central Oregon. An adventure of this type only requires a few basic supplies. Typically we carry Geocaching gear, a GPS, and lunch. Some 50 miles into the desert we began our quest for the first cache. We began to notice small patches of snow hiding behind each Sage bush. But we thought nothing of it since it had snow the week before. This should have been our first clue as to the upcoming chain of events.
After leaving the gravel road onto a side road, which was little more than a cow path, we encountered a bit of slippery mud. (Chain link number two.) We kept going, after all what’s a little mud on our big o’ Dodge Diesel Pick Up.
You are probably wondering about our truck and how set up it was for off-roading……… NOT! Our truck is a 2005 Dodge Ram Diesel, 4X4. It had the stock highway tires, in other words the tires weren’t worth a cow patty in the mud. (Chain link number three.)
We spun and slid our way through three Geocaches. The sun was out; it was warm, with light winds. It was the perfect day to be out and about.
Having successfully completed three caches, we were off to place a cache of our own. Our route took us down yet another slippery muck laden road, just like the others. No problem, been there-done that. (Chain link number four.)
As the road deteriorated we just poured on more power and speed…slipping, sliding, splashing, and laughing…hysterically. You know the kind of laugh that makes you ignore what’s going on around you.
In a nut shell, things got deep and serious real quick. Finally (at chain link number five), we decided it was time to turn around and get the “muck” out of there. In the process that big heavy Diesel found some deeper and softer spots amongst the sage and came to an ominous stop.
First we tried rocking the truck to get up and out of the holes, no joy. Fine, I’d just jack up the corners and put brush under the tires until we were back at ground level then just drive out. It was time to inventory our available resources. 1-factory car jack, 1-cooler, 1-set of steps used to load our dogs, and 1-set of tire chains. Yup, we were really prepared for this!
The jack was nearly useless and I destroyed the cooler lid using it as a base for the jack in the soft mud. After three hours of jacking here there and everywhere we had the chains on one side of the truck and the steps under on rear wheel. That should do it………NOPE!! :( This muck is so slimy, even though the tires with the chains hooked up the others just slowly spun in place.
With the sun setting and the temperature near freezing it was time for plan B, like there ever was a plan. About the time that we thought we should be calling someone, our cell phone rang. (Oh, by the way, a cell phone is an emergency device you should never be without.) A friend from work was calling and asked if I’d be interested in going ATV riding the next day, to which I politely declined and offered to let him come and rescue our sorry butts in the morning instead. Now 4x4 people are an awesome lot, which get their jollies by pulling each other out of whatever precarious situation they find themselves in. He accepted.
We had plenty of fuel, blankets, a 12-volt electric blanket, 1 energy bar (dinner), and lots of water. By now though, I was covered in sticky mud and wet, so we spent the rest of that evening drying out in the truck and playing Hang-Man. What you see below is about 3 hours worth of this game that we haven’t played in years!
The morning sun rose on another gorgeous High Desert day. Between the coyotes and having to start the truck every few hours to stay warm, we didn’t get a lot of sleep, but we were none the worse for wear. We called our rescuers to confirm that they were indeed on their way, and after few more games of Hang Man we heard the rattle of an oncoming diesel headed our way.
Using a chain and a quick tug our truck was freed of the mud’s slimy paws. My wife was driving and I’d told her that if the truck would move just keep going until she hit high ground. With the hammer down and muck flying, off she went. She kept going, and going, and going…………… Now it was time for our rescuers to get themselves turned around. No go! They soon realized that they would have drive backwards for a quarter mile until they reached higher ground as well.
And that’s the story of how a Toy Hauler Puller and 4x4 offroad ‘wanna-be’ learned some valuable lessons. Such as street tires suck in the mud, one energy bar does not a dinner make; car jacks are for changing tires not getting self rescue.
As the saying goes “Stuck Happens”!
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