Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Mud Season.

Any good mud season stories?

A while back a buddy showed up at the camp in VT in the spring with a yellow Chevy. Somewhere he got what seemed to be four tractor tires on the rig.

We went out for a short trip up the road to look for porkupines before dinner. He turned down a new cut road that had not been used much as a heavy thunderstorm hit. He got stuck in very deep mud.

So we spent the rest of the evening jacking up the yellow truck and putting wood and rocks under the tires. I remember putting my wallet in his glove compartment as it was the only dry spot around and water running into my eyes from the top of my head.

Then one time another buddy got his 4wd stuck in the middle of a swamp that was flooded with spring runoff in Canada. When we opened the door water ran across the floorboards.

Lived in Maine at the time with the wife. 1991 Dodge full size 4x4, first truck I had ever owned. She had told me when I bought it it wasn't gonna become a huntin 4x4.

Well it was mud season and I talked her into goin for a little ride. We turned off the paved road and started down an old logging trail. Not long after we (read I) had her stuck in the mud.

Well to sum it up, after a 1.5 mile walk to a house and begging to use their phone I got a buddy of mine to come and snatch us out. But to get back to our truck she had to ride in the back of his truck with his 2 german shepards ( she does not care for big dogs).

Needless to say she was PI$$ED!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Oh and it became my huntin truck from that day on. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Nebraska creek bottoms are famous for their bottomless mud. I made the mistake of starting down an "not maintained" dirt road shortly after a week of rain. The top 1/16" was dry, but everything down to about 8" was the consistancy of peanut butter. The Uniroyal Larados loaded up instantly, but once committed there was no turning back. I managed to get through about 1/2 mile, and once I was moving I never let up for fear of losing momentum and getting good and stuck. I think that I must have had 500 lbs. of mud caked under the 1987 S-10 Blazer when I got to the other side. The only thing that got me through was the 4.11/1 gear ratio, a full tank of gas, and the fact that I'd actually been smart enough to put it into 4-Low before things got dicey.

When I lived in New Hampshire I recall a kid with a Geo Tracker who got very stuck on a trail in the White Mountain National Forest that he never should have been on. I happened to have my chainsaw, shovel, and come-along with me that day on Tripoli Road between Waterville Valley and North Woodstock. I hiked down to the Tracker and helped the guy dig it out, but the Forest Service guy was waiting for us when we got out of the woods. Needless to say, he was not very pleased and I think that he ticketed the kid a couple hundred $$, plus the cost to repair the damage that he did. To get onto the trail that he was on, he had to drive around a couple of boulders and the "no off-road recreational vehicles" sign.

Jeff

The vehicle stuck in Canada was a Jeep Wagoneer with snow tires but it was loaded down with camping gear and lots of guns. We jacked it up and cut wood to make a cordory road but all we had was one hatchet. By midnight it was turned back around and part way out.

At dawn we were sleeping in the dry part of the woods nearby when we heard the noise of vehicles. It was Sunday morning and lots of fisherman wanted to get by to make it to some lake thru the trail. They all came down to the Wagoneer and started pushing us out.

Just as we were almost clear a little red sedan appeared at the top of the hill facing all of us and blew it's horn and started down the hill. The Wagoneer was in the middle of the road keep in mind. The little red car vered off to our left as it came down the hill to the water and went into a deep ditch and sank. The driver climed out the window and there was much shouting in French which I don't speak. Then about ten of us got alongside the little red car, lifted it out of the water, and carried it back to the road.

We left soon after that to look for bears on dry land.

Wow, She's a cutie, I would be glad to get stuck if she would come push my Jeep out... . <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />



Mind you, I do tend to get a bit further offroad before I get stuck...

--Ken