Stuck!

Usually I try to get creative with the titles of my blog posts.  I like to link some idea or deeper meaning to the topic of the post, however in this case I believe a simple one word description does the job.

Last Wednesday found me driving the snow roads in the fresh snow from Tuesday.  The mountains were deserted, which is the way I prefer them.  This however is a two edge sword should you find yourself in the predicament I did.  For several hours I had been driving and found copious amounts of bobcat and coyote tracks. Of course, the amount of bobcat tracks would be found post season.  Just as I am convinced the critters can read and understand, “no hunting,” signage, I am also certain a calendar is hung up in each of their dens with hunting seasons marked in red X’s.   I resisted the temptation to bail out and try to call on the fresh coyote tracks.  I knew that I needed to focus entirely on locating a mountain lion track instead.  I indeed succeeded in finding a rather large lion track later that morning, but that adventure will be a blog post unto itself in the near future.  I opted to photograph all fresh tracks that I did not follow for future study instead, as such I had my canon camera sitting on the front bench seat of the suburban.

I was driving down one lightly traveled snow road, it was the kind of road that rarely sees any traffic in the winter time.  I had made the decision to not put on the tire chains.  This would prove to be a poor choice later.  Just after I rounded a corner I hit a bump and the truck rocked badly.  The camera fell off the seat and onto the floor board.  Instinctively I reached for it and in at the same time got the truck to close to the ditch.  The snow grabbed the tires and sucked the right side wheels off the roadway and into the soft shoulder and deep snow.  That is all it took, in a matter of seconds the truck was stuck and stuck badly.  I knew getting it out would be a challenge, especially without a buddy helping me.  So what does one do?  They film the process.  I will let the below video tell the rest of the tale.  I hope you enjoy my second attempt at a how to video, and the adventure of getting the suburban back on the roadway.