So... My two oldest kids (19 & 14) are in from Chicago, and I figured that I'd take them out for some dirt.

I wanted to do something different than Tinkham, (besides I didn't want to fight the snow), so we headed out to Reiter's Pit.

Air'd down, headed back out to the pavement and on to some mud holes and a nice downhill that I had run before. At the top of the downhill we met "Jason" in a Jeep and "Mike" in a 1st gen. They asked what we were planning, we told 'em and they said "Lead on!" so we did. The kids loved the downhill (heh) and we waited at the bottom for the other guys.

They got down fine, and I told Jason to lead on! We wandered through some brush and off-camber that I had done before, and then on to a paved crossroad - all familiar so far. When we hit the pavement, Jason talked about wanting to go get away from the tight brush, and I mentioned that I was planning on taking the kids up to that power tower "over there". "Lead on!" was the battle cry - and I did.

We got up to the tower (btw, it's amazing what bit of rain can do to wash a trail... ) down around a bend and up to the point that I was going to turn around. Jason and Mike urged me to go on, noting that they had a winch and could pull me out if need be. I said, "no, not with the kids along" it was getting dark, I hadn't been down that part of the trail before, and I just felt safer turning around.

We said our goodbyes, Jason commented on how impressed he was with how my truck had done so far, we talked shop a bit, and we parted ways.

Back down the road, back to the power tower trails, and I headed to take the kids back up the first hill where we had come down. Which means that we had to go back through some mud that we had come across about 90 minutes before.

Low range, low gear, 4wd, locked. Slow and easy, 1' in, 2', 3', and... stopped. I felt the truck sink down about 6-8" and I knew we were in a bit of trouble. In hindsight, what I had done was I missed the line that we took to get across eariler, and I was high-centered across two ruts. "oops" - STOOPID move on my part to say the least. And if you missed the story line 'm setting up, the kids and I were alone.. And at this point it was about 5:30pm - gettin' pretty dark.

I slowly opened the door on my side to check the water level. It was just above the sliders, _right at_ the edge of the floorboards. I climbed out on the sliders, up on top of the rear tire and took a look out back. No real hope to try winching with the HiLift, and the front end was a good 15 feet away from the other edge of the puddle.

I put up a general call on Channel 4 - no response. Okay, we need to go for help. The good side is that the engine was still running - I hadn't sucked water.

I had Zak (in the passenger seat) check the water level on his side - same... I gathered up some extra warm clothes I'd brought, my cell phone, my Big-A__-Lamp and made a plan to get out without getting wet. The three of us made it to "shore", and headed through some briar bushes on to the edge of the water.

All this time, I note that my electic fans are still running. Crap... the control box must be under water - and shorted out. I start worrying about my battery draining while we're walking. Of all the things...

Out to the far edge of the puddle, we walk up the hill, and on up to the road. As we hit the road's edge, I notice moving lights up on the mountain we had come down - the other guys were still up there. Talk about luck.

Pretty soon we can hear the trucks coming down the road, and I flag 'em down.

Rightly so, the guys are laughing - "I though you were going home!" Yeah... that was the plan. Oh Gawd.

We pile into the 1st gen and the Jeep, and we head back down the hill. "HOLY S&^#" is the general consensous... This is the first time I've really gotten a relaxed look at the truck... The water is up to the bottom of the license plate, and it's looking mightly lonely sitting out there all alone.

The 1st gen pulls up to the edge, he gets out his tow strap and we get me hooked up. One good yank becomes a long pull, and I'm out.

The guys can't believe the engine is actually running. Neither can I actually...

The fun part of this is that the Jeep had come around the back of the puddle, thinking that he could get through. So I get free, he comes blasting into the puddle - with Megan (my oldest) on board! - and sink... sink...

Mike (the 1st gen hooks up, pulls again, and gets him out. Jason (Jeep driver) turns to Megan "Hey, wanna do that again?" "SURE!" He throws it in reverse, slams into the puddle, flips it into first, and sink... sink... AGAIN!

Mike pulls him out again, and everyone's having a good laugh. We again talk shop a bit, I try to pay Mike for the pull (he wouldn't take it) and the kids and I head on up the hill we had come down to start this fun!

Back at the airdown/up area, I got my first look at the truck. it actually doesn't look bad for the wear... This is a shot of me next to the truck. You can tell from the waterline on my pants just how deep we were: (click for a larger view)



Here're some others:



Checking the airbox, there was a small bit of muddy water on the outside of the air filter, but the back side was clean and dry. I was lucky in that regard.

In terms of us being out there alone, and getting out in a relatively quick period of time, I was VERY lucky. I have to give big kudos to my kids for keeping their cool. They still think their dad is alright (they have more to learn!) and they have a heck of a story to tell. Thanks you guys!



Hindsight - I made a bad choice in a couple of different ways.

Truck status... The alarm thinks it's been tripped. The piezo under the hood is going off constantly (I had to pull the battery cable for the night) and one of the side effects is that the truck doesn't want to start - since the alarm has locked out the ignition. Also, in thrashing I dropped my CB mic into the water - and since this is a Cobra 75 WXST, all the electronics are in the mic. It seems to work, but the display's a bit whacked. I should be able to clean it out.


Thank you to Jason and Mike. You guys were totally cool - and I owe you big time.

I don't think that Mike (or Jason) is on the forum, so if anyone happens to hear from their buddies about a recovery that happened at Reiter's matching the above story, please point them here. I'd love to thank them both again personally.

Wow.. What a ride.

 

Wow Mark, glad you had some fun out at Reiter. Was that the same mud puddle area where we were playing last time? I bet those get pretty damn deep when the rain comes.

I bet your kids new you would get out of it...the good thing was that you were not very far from paved road. If you venture much farther from the pavement, I would go with another rig for sure...

Looks like you've got some cleaning ahead of you... :pat:

Jim

 

Yeup, the same one from that day with David.

Aye... My plan did cover that, i.e., not to get too far from the road, but I got snookered by a dang puddle that I shoulda' known better about.

Yeups!

I wonder if I can get the kids to do it?

 

It's only fair, isn't it?

Anyway, glad you made it out un-scathed...we'll have to make another group trip to Reiter b4 the snow gets too bad.

Jim

 

Sounds like it was a good/bad time, but the main thing is that you were hanging out with your kids. That is pretty cool that at their ages they are too busy(as teens) to hang out with dad. That speaks volumes for you. Good job.

 

Mark.....you and your mud puddles, lol! That'll teach ya.

Sounds like you guys had an exciting time up there. Hope the kids had fun through it all.

Good thing you were able to get help quickly and that the truck is okay. You were very lucky!

I bet those puddles are like lakes now......they were pretty big before the bad weather set in.

Glad everything's okay!

 

Back when I was in college, I went hunting in eastern WA. It had recently rained, and the mud was greasy slick. Anyway, i slid into some ruts and high centered my truck. Walked about 4 miles before I saw someone else. They drove me back and pulled me out. It was the middle of the week, so no one was up there. Ellensburg was 30 miles away (would have been a long walk). Closest house was probably 15 miles.

 

Up to the sliders eh? My question is did you show the wife just "how deep" you got stuck or did you change clothes before you got home?

I'm glad everything turned out okay and that you got to spend some precious time with your kids. I hope one day to take out my two boys and do some off-roading. I'm sure they can appreciate dad's attempt at coolness.

I always hated getting picked up in school by my parents in their less than cool cars, so at least for my boys, dad will have a cool rig. I don't remember who it was, but it was a quote from their kids on here about their rig that went..."Dad your rig is cool, but the horn is gay!"

Time for a winch with a real LONG cable?

 

dude thats pretty crazy, did you get any pics from while you were stuck? did you piggy back the kids out? I noticed they are still quite dry

let me know if you all head back out there, my truck didnt get dirty enough last time

 

hahahahahaha sounds like good times!!!! good think everything is ok for the most part!

 

Looks like a set of hip waders would've come in handy.

 

Hey Mark, sure lucked out on that one!!

You want to chalk that one up as a "character builder"??

See you soon,

Mick

 

Hey all!

Yeah Mick, DEFINITELY one to chalk up to character building!


Clean and dry wise, I came up with an exit path out of the truck that kept us pretty dry. Out the passenger side (about an inch less water than the driver's), walk down the slider to the rear wheel, foot up on the wheel, stretch around to the rear bumper, and make a 5' leap to dry ground. There was a nice briar bush patch around the edge of the puddle (about 50'), and our feet got a bit wet at that point, but nothing major.

I got as wet as I did once we came back down with Mike and Jason. I didn't have a problem wading out to the truck to get the tow strap hooked up.

The picture of the kids was taken up at the top of the power-tower road, before we got stuck. But yeah, they stayed pretty dry. Once I knew that we had to leave the truck, they were my primary concern - I didn't want them to be wet if we had to hang out for a while.


Sadly, I don't have any pics of it sitting in the mud. I _really_ wish I did! It kinda' goes back to me setting my concern to getting the kids out and getting help. I was happy that I had the presence of mind to grab the extra clothes, the big lamp, and the cell phone. Honestly, I was wigging out a bit at this point, and crossing my fingers that Jason and Mike hadn't come off the tower road already. Then, once we got back to the truck, Mike was moving REALLY fast at yanking us out - I didn't have a lot of time to relax and think about grabbing the camera.

Winch wise... I don't know that 100' would have helped me up front - but 50' probably would have done it for the rear. I tried to use the event to convince myself to get a winch, but my cashflow right now says that I just can't do it. I will eventually I'm sure.


Status update! The truck is running well. It looks like I also lucked out and didn't suck water into the diffs. The alarm is still wigged out... it won't respond to the keyfob, but it'll let me start the truck. The piezo is still screaming, but I silenced that with a quick snip with the diagonal cutters.


And... no, I didn't change clothes before I got home. I didn't get a chance to get the truck clean today, and I want to get pictures of the engine compartment... I'm sure that some folks have seen worse, but this will be a cool memory for me.


End of update babble! Thanks for the comments all!

 

Good story Mark! I'm glad you and the kids got out ok. I wish I remembered to bring a camera with me when I go wheeling, but I just never seem to do it...

Seen you in about 2 weeks!

G

 

Awwww G... It's okay, you can openly laugh at me if you'd like. I hear that you got a pretty good chuckle out of this.

Wahooooooooooo!!!!!

 

He he he he he he.....

Now I know why you are looking at extending your rear diff breather! Water sucks! Mechanical damage is one thing, if you have to replace a CV or something from wheeling. Electrical damage, especially with modern EFI vehicles, scares the crap out of me. I won't touch the big puddles at places like Reiter and Tahuya, I've heard way too many horror stories.

Thankfully, looks like you got out unscathed, with only a slap on the wrist! As soon as I started reading your post, I pictured those puddles at the bottom of that climb.

These are Mark's pics from the last time we were in that area, you can see the puddle he got stuck in at the bottom of the hill climb in one pic.


http://www.midiwall.com/4Runner/dirt...3_Reiters.html

 

reference (click for a larger pic):


...and add at least a foot of water!


Yeah... diff breathers have a new priority right now.

 

reminds me of the first time i got stuck,
i drove thru what looked like a large shallow puddle
but became a long very very deep hole,
i waited for about 2 hours till some old man
came along & schooled me on the enviromental issues i've
created by tearing up the forest,
i said excuse me but you should of told the jerk who created
this mud bog with his 44 inch tires,
now i test the waters before crossing.
i now have a winch but try not to go alone.

Eric

 

Mark,
You are a true warrior. I was actually comtemplating heading out that way on that day but my buddy has a 2WD Exploder that has a posi out back which is not enough to keep him going. He has a winch and front bumper like mine, but his ride is pure poseur. He didn't want to ride in my rig, and I didn't feel like rescuing his sorry poseur ride all day.

 

Good one! Glad you ended up getting out alright. I had a bit of a run in with some snow all alone this weekend. Long story short I couldnt turn around trying to make it to the top of a saddle so I kept going. Unfortunately it got so deep it was piling up on my hood. I had to turn around and ended up buried. Thank god I threw my shovel in when I left. Took an hour to clear all the snow out from around the truck then got turned around fine. Was a bit hairy though since I was alone and on top of a mountain. Would have been an 6 hour walk easy in the snow..not a good idea...