Clark Collins
New member
Rita and I were joined by my brother Dan and his wife Mary on a trip to the San Rafael Swell area in Utah. We camped just off Exit 131 of Interstate 70 and were there from May 24-30. There are lots of trails in this area, but Dan and Mary had to leave on the 27th because Dan's daughter Terri Fury Collins got hit by a truck in Brownsville Texas and they were going to go give her a ride home to South Carilina in their motorhome.
The trails in this area are great, but on our last day (Rita and I Jeeping alone) we were on this awesome trail up Can Wash Trail #643 that we had never been on before. It just went on and on up this wash in a beautiful canyon. When we came to where the trail leaves the canyon we thought it was a cut-over trail shown on the map, so we went on. It just kept getting better and better and we were having a ball. There were lots of tracks so we kept going up the canyon. Unfortunately the trail petered out at a soft crossing. I made it across, but could see on the other side that it didn't continue. Instead of turning around on solid footing I tried to back across and missed to line I had taken to get across before. Photos show our dilemma. Got the winch line out and brought it up to tension to winch me to a rocky section. Then, the winch quit. Oh shit!
We dug and dug, but it was like quicksand and the Jeep wouldn't budge. Since the winch didn't work, I cut the winch line loose and wrapped my tow strap around the left rear wheel, running it through the spokes and then fastening the ends together with a carabineer. I had hoped this would act like chains and get us out, but it just dug us in deeper. Now I used the winch line to hook to a large snag behind the Jeep and fastened the other end to the carabiner on the tow strap on the left rear tire. By backing up on the winch line it wrapped around the wheel and pulled us back and out. I had seen that trick in a video somewhere.
Way up a canyon with no cell service, we would have had to spend the night with the Jeep and hike out the next day to get help. We had lots of water and I carry purifying pill just in case. I have no idea how far we would have had to hike, but it was a long way to a main road. I ruined a lot of my recovery gear, but we got out just before dark. We slept in the motorhome and boy did that feel good after a hot shower and a hot meal.
The trails in this area are great, but on our last day (Rita and I Jeeping alone) we were on this awesome trail up Can Wash Trail #643 that we had never been on before. It just went on and on up this wash in a beautiful canyon. When we came to where the trail leaves the canyon we thought it was a cut-over trail shown on the map, so we went on. It just kept getting better and better and we were having a ball. There were lots of tracks so we kept going up the canyon. Unfortunately the trail petered out at a soft crossing. I made it across, but could see on the other side that it didn't continue. Instead of turning around on solid footing I tried to back across and missed to line I had taken to get across before. Photos show our dilemma. Got the winch line out and brought it up to tension to winch me to a rocky section. Then, the winch quit. Oh shit!
We dug and dug, but it was like quicksand and the Jeep wouldn't budge. Since the winch didn't work, I cut the winch line loose and wrapped my tow strap around the left rear wheel, running it through the spokes and then fastening the ends together with a carabineer. I had hoped this would act like chains and get us out, but it just dug us in deeper. Now I used the winch line to hook to a large snag behind the Jeep and fastened the other end to the carabiner on the tow strap on the left rear tire. By backing up on the winch line it wrapped around the wheel and pulled us back and out. I had seen that trick in a video somewhere.
Way up a canyon with no cell service, we would have had to spend the night with the Jeep and hike out the next day to get help. We had lots of water and I carry purifying pill just in case. I have no idea how far we would have had to hike, but it was a long way to a main road. I ruined a lot of my recovery gear, but we got out just before dark. We slept in the motorhome and boy did that feel good after a hot shower and a hot meal.
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