...Howdy!...:cowboy:
...Here is SW Montana, we have had a string of overcast, snowy days that had highs of 1 degree above zero...Now, this is not a complaint...I mean, come on, it's Montana in the winter, right?....
...But, that is typically not the best weather for Nature-Photography....so, when a few days ago the forecast was for bright-n-sunny, and a high of 18 degrees...I packed up my gear and went out to see what I could find....
...Quite often, when I go out with no clear objective, I often find pleasant surprises..and this trip was no disappointment....
...I drove south down the main road, and cut off on a dirt road I went down back in the summer, which leads to several ranches and camping areas beyond...The road was obviously snow-covered, but nicely plowed...so I was making slow progress just looking...until I found a young, very healthy bull moose eating willow-sprouts on the opposite side of a frozen stream...
...I jumped out and started taking pics and video...and he seemed only mildly interested in my presence...so we hung out together for about 30 minutes....After getting all the stuff I wanted...I drove farther down the road, just in case I found another treasure....but it was late afternoon...so I decided it was time to start heading home...And this is the part of the story that turns into a misadventure....:scared:
...I got to a trailhead parking area, and decided to back into it so I could turn around and head back home....but miscalculated the entrance...and backed into the ditch instead...At first, I didn't realize this, and only thought I was in a snow drift, so got out my shovel and cleared the snow away from the rear tires...which were only spinning when I tried to pull out...
...the snow that was filling this ditch was from snow-plows, and it was packed as hard as styrofoam, so came out in huge chunks...but still no traction...so I dug some more out...and tried again....but...no-go!...So, I tried all the nifty gadgets we have in the 4runner....diff-lock, crawl-control, low-4, etc...but still, NOT a budge?...:noidea:
...I got out and started clearing more snow away...and it was then that I realized the truck was suspended by the hard snowpack, and I was in a ditch...and the rear wheels had no traction cos they weren't even touching the ground!...Well, DAMN!...:dammit:
...So, I spent the next 45 minutes clearing as much snow from UNDER the truck as possible all the way around...and I was gettin mildly desperate...as the sun had gone behind the mountains about 25 minutes earlier..and the temps dropped 15 degrees while I was there trying to extricate myself from my predicament....But, Still....NO movement!...:redbrick:
...It was at this point that I pulled out my last best option, which was my X-Bull traction boards..jammed them in front of the rear tires...and the truck pulled out like it was on dry pavement!....YIPPEE!...:guitar3:
...That was the point where I could now see just how deeply I was buried...:jaw:
...Now...if this last effort had failed....I still could have walked 1/4-mile either way to one of the ranches, and got help pulling me out....but that was a Last-Ditch-option for me...for two reasons:
...First, obviously...I was driving the most reliable and capable offroad vehicle on the market today..so asking for help would be rather humiliating.....
...( after all, it wasn't a failure of the truck...but simple pilot-error! )...:doh:
...But, secondly...asking for help would have been a failure on my part to pass my first self-sufficiency test out in the wild...and THAT would have been really hard to live with going forward...:redbrick:
...So, I learned a valuable lesson about getting myself out of a situation I got myself into..( in the first place )...and increased my confidence in myself and my equipment...and finally, reconfirmed my belief that I bought the best vehicle for the job!....So, Win-Win!...:thumb3:
...Thanks for reading so far..:thanks:...and now some pics below of the day...Cheers!...:cheers: