Explorer I
Any Stories of being stuck off road and needing Search & Rescue to get out...
- Thread starter BlackSheepExpedition
- Start date
If search and rescue includes a Jeep and an F150, both with winches hooked up at the same time, after waiting six hours for someone with enough gear to help... then yes, we have experienced that...
James
James
Well, not sure if it counts as I wasn't in a 4X4 at the time, but I had an incident this spring that almost required search and rescue.I was in Moab with 3 friends on a mountainbiking trip, we were there for ten days from late April/early May. We hit some amazing trails and had a blast.
On Day 7, we decided to do the Whole Enchilada trail. Well, as much of it as we could anyway, the upper part was still closed due to snow. For those not familiar with Moab or the trail, it's basically 30 miles of downhill trails starting at near the top of the LaSalle mountains that overlook Moab. You can drive to the top, or take a shuttle from town. We left 1 vehicle at the bottom. near town, and the 4 of us drove up the mountain in out other rental, a Dodge Caravan (props to the Caravan, btw, we fit 4 riders, bikes, and gear in the van. We could only get 3 of us and gear in the Suburban).
We started descending from the Jimmy Keene trail, which is about 8,500 feet elevation, about 4500 feet up from Moab. I did the trail from this point last year, it was 24 miles of mostly downhill trails. Probably the most fun and intimidationg ride I've ever done. It starts off as singletrack trough the forest, and as you descend the trees thin and the trail gets rockier. Parts skirt right on the edge of cliffs, or across sheer rock faces. Some of the descents are on incredibly steep rock faces, good brakes are a must, and the pucker factor is high. Toward the bottom, the trail winds down through the canyon and along the Colorado River; one side of the trail is the mountain, the other side is a steep drop off. Low margin for error, high penalty for failure.
It's beautiful, it's exhilarating, but no mistake, a wrong move at an inopportune time could be your last.
Anyway, we were about halfway down. We were making good time, and having a blast. I felt like I was riding well; the trail seemed much less intimidating than it had the first time I rode it. We had made it through the woods, and we had descended some of the steep rock faces. I had stopped to get my obligatory photo at the edge of the cliff, shown here.
About 20 minutes later, on a not so difficult part of the trail, the day took a bad turn. Maybe I was complacent after tacking the tougher bits earlier, perhaps I was just enjoying the view. I was coming around a bend at a wider point of the trail. I wasn't taking any particular line that I could see, I was just taking the most direct line. I rolled a small ledge, maybe 10" or so high, which is nothing. However, I did not see the little slab of stone sticking up on the other side, at exactly the right spacing to grab my 29" front wheel. The bike stopped cold; I did not. As the bike pivoted forward on it's front wheel, I went up and over the handlebars, falling straight down toward a stone slab. I think I was trying to rotate to land on my back, I had broken a wrist going over the bars once and was trying to prevent that.
I did not make the rotation, I landed on my left side. After laying there and catching my breath for a few minutes, I realized I could not get up. My buddies helped me up, and when I tested my left leg, a lightning bolt shot up it. My worst fear realized: Injured miles from any civilization and not being able to walk out.
My friends kept cool heads, we were roughly in the middle of the ride, there was a vehicle 12 miles up, or 12 miles down. Neither was an option.
Earlier in the ride we had heard vehicles up there, we knew thee was a Jeep road nearby. My friends left me to scout the trail to find it. My buddy Nate returned 20 minutes later, back up the trail and off to the side there was an offshoot that led to the road.
Luckily, while he's no bigger than I am, Nate is in great shape. He literally carried me on his back, back UP the trail at least 1/4 mile to the trail to the Jeep road, and then another 1/8th at least to the road. There, my other friend had managed to flag down two girls that were heading up in a JKU that were willing to help. They had room for two, Nate got me in the Jeep and rode with us. They took us back down the mountain via the Jeep road, and straight to the ER.
Diagnosis was broken left hip. Had surgery the next morning, and flew back home 5 days later. I've been recovering all summer, and I finally got back on the (road) bike 3 weeks ago.
I'm glad I have great friends, and if I were to believe in angels and things like that, it would be those 2 girls showing up. They wouldn't even take beer money.
At they hospital they said I was very fortunate to get a ride down, recovering people from up there can sometimes turn into a 5 or 6 hour ordeal. Which would have put me out there well after dark.
Sorry for the long read, I just realized how long that is.
CLIFF NOTES: Broke my hip in the middle of nowhere, 2 girls in a Jeep brought my ass down off the mountain to the ER.
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Explorer I
So ... About 4 years ago I moved to western Colorado about one hour over the mountain from Moab.. One day we decided to head over to Moab but with the snow we headed south then north to Moab about a two hour journey along beautiful roads.. Once we got to Moab we had a great day exploring, Lunch and reserving Jeeps for a corporate event in the spring.
We talked with a local who told us about a road through Castle Valley and up over the mountain back to Gateway Co. so we decided let’s try it he said we should be fine with how the Jeep was outfitted.. So off we go.. so let’s back up the story...
Before we left I took out lots of “ Survival Gear “ as we were headed to also rock climb a little and I wanted the rig to be lighter... So we head up the hill out of Castle Valley run into a little snow so we go into 4 High and keep going..
About 5 miles down the trail we get stuck into 4 low and away we go... Then we get stuck again and need to Winch out keep going your doing great Linda says..
We Winch out a second time, Third Time and a Fourth Time. Then we get majorly stuck about 7 miles down the trail.. It’s getting dark and cold FAST... I made the decision we need to stop and not go any farther..
Start a little fire and let’s put a plan together. We had 1 mummy sleeping bag, 2 Emergency Blankets, Few extra cloths, Dog, Guns and “ Stuck in the snow Brownies” We try and make things comfortable but it’s getting cold fast and very dark.. Falls to about 25 degrees by 8pm.
I open the sleeping bag as big as possible. Take a Emergency blanket from the dash to the top of the seats the other from the top of the seat to the back area and make a “ oven” and throughout the night ever hour start the jeep for 15 mins to warm up. it’s now 10 degrees outside. We wait for sunrise and I try and figure out a plan. Snow in ziplocks and on the hood for water. Dog and GF is not very happy...
I try cell phone but no reception GF says I had coverage a mile back last night. I remembered the Jeep has GPS so I get our location write it down and we make a decision we need to walk out. Snow is 4 ft deep and I am still learning how to walk again from being paralyzed from the waste down for seven months.
We start walking dog is in a backpack. We get about a mile out and I get a text message. Ya.... So I reach out to a bunch of people that we are stuck with GPS Location. We wait no answers at all service is in and out. We decided we can’t try and go up over the hill for miles let’s go back to the Jeep.. So we head back for plan “ B” not sure what that was going to be.. We make it back and rest talk and say we will give it one more shot to try and message again..
We walk back a mile and get a response from Search & Rescue that they are trying to get to us but no ETA but please be at the Jeep location.. so we head back we are about a quarter mile away and I hear something then it stops.. Then Voices its search & rescue..
I “ Run” lol to try nd get to them. They find us Thank God for Technology... They take us back to Jeep for our stuff.. Then back to a Mobile command center.. Part Two coming soon..
We talked with a local who told us about a road through Castle Valley and up over the mountain back to Gateway Co. so we decided let’s try it he said we should be fine with how the Jeep was outfitted.. So off we go.. so let’s back up the story...
Before we left I took out lots of “ Survival Gear “ as we were headed to also rock climb a little and I wanted the rig to be lighter... So we head up the hill out of Castle Valley run into a little snow so we go into 4 High and keep going..
About 5 miles down the trail we get stuck into 4 low and away we go... Then we get stuck again and need to Winch out keep going your doing great Linda says..
We Winch out a second time, Third Time and a Fourth Time. Then we get majorly stuck about 7 miles down the trail.. It’s getting dark and cold FAST... I made the decision we need to stop and not go any farther..
Start a little fire and let’s put a plan together. We had 1 mummy sleeping bag, 2 Emergency Blankets, Few extra cloths, Dog, Guns and “ Stuck in the snow Brownies” We try and make things comfortable but it’s getting cold fast and very dark.. Falls to about 25 degrees by 8pm.
I open the sleeping bag as big as possible. Take a Emergency blanket from the dash to the top of the seats the other from the top of the seat to the back area and make a “ oven” and throughout the night ever hour start the jeep for 15 mins to warm up. it’s now 10 degrees outside. We wait for sunrise and I try and figure out a plan. Snow in ziplocks and on the hood for water. Dog and GF is not very happy...
I try cell phone but no reception GF says I had coverage a mile back last night. I remembered the Jeep has GPS so I get our location write it down and we make a decision we need to walk out. Snow is 4 ft deep and I am still learning how to walk again from being paralyzed from the waste down for seven months.
We start walking dog is in a backpack. We get about a mile out and I get a text message. Ya.... So I reach out to a bunch of people that we are stuck with GPS Location. We wait no answers at all service is in and out. We decided we can’t try and go up over the hill for miles let’s go back to the Jeep.. So we head back for plan “ B” not sure what that was going to be.. We make it back and rest talk and say we will give it one more shot to try and message again..
We walk back a mile and get a response from Search & Rescue that they are trying to get to us but no ETA but please be at the Jeep location.. so we head back we are about a quarter mile away and I hear something then it stops.. Then Voices its search & rescue..
I “ Run” lol to try nd get to them. They find us Thank God for Technology... They take us back to Jeep for our stuff.. Then back to a Mobile command center.. Part Two coming soon..
Enthusiast III
