Rescuing rokdaddy

[NMTerras]

Ok so just because the river doesn't have any water in it doesn't mean you should try to cross it...

But let me start at the beginning: it was Saturday afternoon. And I was on my way back to albuquerque from a day of fly fishing in the jemez mountains (trying to fill the hole in my heart where not being at nXm was). About 30 miles west of town, I saw a white gen1 coming the other way. Lifted, on 33s, looked familiar. Sure enough, as we passed each other headed opposite directions, I confirmed it was rokdaddy. Tried to call his cell to see where he was headed, got a no longer in service message. Hmmm.

That night, I get a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. I chose to answer, which more times than not I would not do.

"Hey Sean it's Rok. I realized I haven't given you my new number."

I asked him if he'd seen me driving the other way on the highway earlier that day. He said he had not, hadn't noticed the chef (kinda hurt my feelings but that's beside the point) So pretty much a total coincidence...asked where he was going, he said he was going wheeling and shooting and...he got stuck trying to cross the rio puerco, a normally dry riverbed which right now is a mud pit thanks to all the rain. He had turned off road basically right after we passed each other.

So it's like 9 pm when he called. He texted me his GPS coordinates. About 40 miles of highway and 15-20 offroad away, middle of BFE. we agreed I'd wait for morning to come get him. Sunday am I set out, and this is what I found:

So what happened was rok took a running start to try and get through the puerco, but caught his dif on a dry spot. You can see the dif drag track in the middle...

On either side of that high spot, the mud was knee deep. Nm clichee mud is nothing to mess with...so I gave rok the shovel I brought and let him screw around before I broke out the bubba rope

Smile for xn rok...you know I'm posting this...

Pull out was easy, probably didn't need the shovel work.

Here's rok's campsite up the hill...there are worse ways to spend the night

That's cabezon peak in the background, for context/location.

Time to head out

Rok said he had so much mud all up under his business he couldn't drive faster than 50-55 on the highway.

Good thing he had cell service...but he still needs a snorkel...

 

[Alamolove]

Awesome!

 

[dhyde79]

Love it!

 

[Silver dude]

Looks like a pretty unassuming place to get stuck. Usually the type of places I end up stuck. I guess though bottomless mud at a creek would make sense. Sandy mud can make a evil combination. Way it gummed up the tires was evidence of the gumbo hiding in that dry patch.

I tend to look at situations like this and determine how I would have faired. Likely not as well. I have a winch but no extraction point with only grass nearby. Maybe I could of buried my spare tire or spare torsion bar as a winch point. Used the hell out of my shovel. Slept in the truck till someone passed thru. Obviously sand ladders and a pull pal would of really hit the spot

Thanks for posting it up made me think.

 

[Macland]

It's like you NOT being at nxm was meant to be for rok's sake.

 

[NMTerras]

Yeah I don't have winches exactly because of situations like this, common out here. Without someone else to pull you out its a matter of digging and jacking, getting things under the tires. The only real mistake Rok made was he had unpacked his shovel and forgot to put it back in when he went adventuring.

Bubba rope worked like a charm. First time I've used it

 

[NMTerras]

The combination of a high spot drying out and remaining clichee did him in. Catching his dif on the high, dry spot is what got him stuck, then no traction in the clichee

 

[dhyde79]

Yeah I don't have winches exactly because of situations like this, common out here. Without someone else to pull you out its a matter of digging and jacking, getting things under the tires. The only real mistake Rok made was he had unpacked his shovel and forgot to put it back in when he went adventuring. Bubba rope worked like a charm. First time I've used it

Reminds me that when I put the winch on, that I need to grab a "land anchor" for self recovery....

 

[drbandkgb]

Buy a sand spike... Gamer it in the ground and winch

 

[metzican]

This just states, come prepared, Luckily he had the gear to stay over night, yeah it was only one night. But if he had to hike out of there 15-20miles can take a full day to walk. No mater what type of recovery gear you have bring. You may have to camp out for a while, survival gear is key.

 

[dhyde79]

This just states, come prepared, Luckily he had the gear to stay over night, yeah it was only one night. But if he had to hike out of there 15-20miles can take a full day to walk. No mater what type of recovery gear you have bring. You may have to camp out for a while, survival gear is key.

well said

 

[CHUG]

Good Job on recovery. Could have been a long long wait.. Great photos & a sticky mess.

 

[Timrich]

Nice work Sean.

Sent from over there...

 

[rokdaddy]

This just states, come prepared, Luckily he had the gear to stay over night, yeah it was only one night. But if he had to hike out of there 15-20miles can take a full day to walk. No mater what type of recovery gear you have bring. You may have to camp out for a while, survival gear is key.

Good points metz.

I never stress much about getting stranded, mostly because I always have enough supplies for a comfortable 3-4 night stay and I've hiked many hundreds of miles above and below treeline. There are few places in the lower 48 that I would be afraid to walk out from. "Emergencies" make for the most memorable outdoor experiences and the more I experience, the more I learn to enjoy them for what they are.

There's a fine line between well prepared and overloaded. I've been playing with that balance for a bunch of years and I've come to the same conclusion that you have; as long as I can live comfortably in the back country for a week or so I should be able to work through any drama that may pop up (while still having a good time).

I had a thick New York Strip steak that night with baked potato, corn on the cob and jalapenos. All roasted over coals from the campfire.



I slept more soundly than usual that night with my new camp protection stick:





Funny thing though... after carrying a small avalanche shovel for ten or fifteen years without using it once, I decided to take it out of the truck last weekend since "it's only useful in snow and soft sand". In retrospect, that shovel could have set me free. I've been tempted to buy a full sized shovel for digging campfire pits, I guess it's a past due purchase that I put off a couple of days too long.

Risk factor was low that day, I had a couple of friends who were bow hunting in the mountains South of me, two friends fishing in the mountains North of me (NMTerras was one of them) and several more probably working on their rigs an hour's drive away. I called NMTerras first because he has one of the more capable rigs in the bunch and the recent flooding out here has caused enormous washouts in the roads (I crossed at least ten 3-5 foot deep ones in thirty miles). I also knew that he would enjoy giving me crap about getting stuck.

What goes around comes around and he knows that I'm on call if he ever needs help.

-Rok

 

[Macland]

Hell, you probably ate better than everyone on the forum that night.

 

[NMTerras]

Buy a sand spike... Gamer it in the ground and winch

I'm on optimist. therefore, no winch. Also, a sand spike would be useless in the clichee. Pull right out. I've been stuck in that soup before (see my build thread, it's what inspired me to build my rig up). I have seen setups on Pirate that might work - lengths of rebar inserted through a length of chain link. But, in the end, the best way to get out of NM mud in my experience, besides getting pulled out, is to dig, jack, fill.

 

[NMTerras]

Good points metz.

I never stress much about getting stranded, mostly because I always have enough supplies for a comfortable 3-4 night stay and I've hiked many hundreds of miles above and below treeline. There are few places in the lower 48 that I would be afraid to walk out from. "Emergencies" make for the most memorable outdoor experiences and the more I experience, the more I learn to enjoy them for what they are.

There's a fine line between well prepared and overloaded. I've been playing with that balance for a bunch of years and I've come to the same conclusion that you have; as long as I can live comfortably in the back country for a week or so I should be able to work through any drama that may pop up (while still having a good time).

I had a thick New York Strip steak that night with baked potato, corn on the cob and jalapenos. All roasted over coals from the campfire.



I slept more soundly than usual that night with my new camp protection stick:





Funny thing though... after carrying a small avalanche shovel for ten or fifteen years without using it once, I decided to take it out of the truck last weekend since "it's only useful in snow and soft sand". In retrospect, that shovel could have set me free. I've been tempted to buy a full sized shovel for digging campfire pits, I guess it's a past due purchase that I put off a couple of days too long.

Risk factor was low that day, I had a couple of friends who were bow hunting in the mountains South of me, two friends fishing in the mountains North of me (NMTerras was one of them) and several more probably working on their rigs an hour's drive away. I called NMTerras first because he has one of the more capable rigs in the bunch and the recent flooding out here has caused enormous washouts in the roads (I crossed at least ten 3-5 foot deep ones in thirty miles). I also knew that he would enjoy giving me crap about getting stuck.

What goes around comes around and he knows that I'm on call if he ever needs help.

-Rok

I didn't come out until the next morning, and I wasn't worried about it, because Rok has his ****e together. Really was a freaky stick, too. you don't expect to high center your dif trying to blast through a mud pit...

 

[TN4x4Xterra]

How did you pull him out? I don't see a hitch or any type of recovery points?

Axle?

 

[NMTerras]

This just states, come prepared, Luckily he had the gear to stay over night, yeah it was only one night. But if he had to hike out of there 15-20miles can take a full day to walk. No mater what type of recovery gear you have bring. You may have to camp out for a while, survival gear is key.

Yeah, good lesson. Sometimes I get lazy and take my "everything" case (misc. recovery gear, extra clothes and blankets, survival stuff) out of the back of my rig and forget to put it back in when I take off places. Not a good practice. Had to put it back in when I drove out to get Rok

 

[NMTerras]

How did you pull him out? I don't see a hitch or any type of recovery points?

Axle?

Rok's strap around both shackles, attached to my bubba rope

 

[Alamolove]

Speaking of truck bags, I just got my old GP large ruck out (from my Army days) of the storage and made a kit to leave in the back of the X. Sounds like pretty common practice. I would love to know what you guys keep in the your X just in case I forgot something!

 

[dhyde79]

Speaking of truck bags, I just got my old GP large ruck out (from my Army days) of the storage and made a kit to leave in the back of the X. Sounds like pretty common practice. I would love to know what you guys keep in the your X just in case I forgot something!

That'd be either a bug out, get home, or evac bag...

I use option 3, and I'll detail it's contents elsewhere so as not to derail the thread, other than saying that I use an old army duffle, and it goes up top beside my tent whenever I'm headed out for any extended trips...

 

[NMTerras]

Speaking of truck bags, I just got my old GP large ruck out (from my Army days) of the storage and made a kit to leave in the back of the X. Sounds like pretty common practice. I would love to know what you guys keep in the your X just in case I forgot something!

There's a thread on here about that...

 

[Alamolove]

I found the thread on the Get home bag!!

 

[dhyde79]

I found the thread on the Get home bag!!

I like GHB's, but, mine's dismantled now, until I have my CHL, then my gun won't be in it ever again...

Evac's are more my fun level...

 

[TKDx00]

Just found this thread. This just confirms why I really need to put together a JIC survival pack.

 

[gorillamel]

Reading this thread brought a smile to my face. Kuods to Sean and Rok for making the most out of a possibly bad situation.

And Rok, I like your protection stick...on first glance I thought it was the chair, bwahaha!