Incident at Battle Creek!

This happened this afternoon. I was trying to get to Pinto Hot Springs at the northwest edge of the east arm of the Black Rock Desert.
Pinto Hot Springs (via Google Maps)
I've been there before, so I knew that the tiny-but-deep-silty-muddy Battle Creek might make it difficult. One time we built a bridge with a couple of huge planks and another time it was dry enough.
This time it was cold, and it looked like it was frozen solid. It wasn't.







I tried for an hour to get unstuck -- wallowing in the mixture of mud, ice, and freezing-cold water with my jack, shovel, lumber, and crowbar (for breaking up the ice-frozen ground) -- but wasn't making much progress. Note the thick slabs of ice that my truck broke through. The driver-rear tire looks like it would just drive out, but it was spinning on ice.
I gave up and decided to walk back to the nearest ranch -- Battle Creek Ranch. It was within sight, but still was a 6-mile walk by road. The ranch was busy with shipping out hay, and the rancher/owner was a little peaved that yet another stupid tourist got himself stuck and is asking for help. Apparently, this isn't a rare occurence. But he mellowed and agreed to help me. He even went in the house and came out with a big bottle of water "if you're thirsty from your walk". I was thirsty and grateful and we drove in his pickup to the scene of carnage.

It was an easy extraction. After thanking him several times, I told him "Don't worry -- you won't see me again", and he said, "I don't mind seeing you, just don't get stuck again."
It's a deal!

Some people have a winch or modified power train, etc to get out of or avoid getting stuck...but this is the first time that I've gotten stuck in 115,000 miles of exploring with this truck, so I'm not going to over-react and buy expensive add-ons based on one incident.
If I had stopped and scouted the ford I would have seen a better spot 5 feet to the side...but noooooo -- I had to be an IDIOT! It feels good to admit I make mistakes!

BTW: I'm still out-and-about here in NW NV will head north to the Alvord country tomorrow, and I'll post a trip report when I'm done.

 

More about my Incident later in this thread.

Don't be so hard on yourself.....we've all been stuck before......and probably will be again.

First time stuck? What a noob One thing I can safely say, it won't be the last time.

First time stuck? What a noob One thing I can safely say, it won't be the last time.

Yeah...I'm just careful. Counting all 3 trucks I've owned I've probably driven 250 - 300,000 miles of mostly "out-there" driving without getting stuck. I don't deliberately seek out mud or sand -- not for sport, I mean -- so that eliminates one source of stucked-ness. And most of the time I'm by myself, so I take that into consideration when approaching something risky (when driving, I mean -- I've done lots of risky stuff solo on foot/skis...so far, so good (knock-on-wood!)).
The thing that bugs me, I knew in advance that this was a mean spot...but I was feeling cocky for some reason . Live and learn, they say.

<snip> but I was feeling cocky for some reason <snip>

full moon?

Great story Mark including the rancher, thanks for sharing. Just another day "out there", just a little more fun than usual!

Dude!

Actually reminds me of doing same at Stampede Res. when the water was drawn down low, revealing the deep silty shoreline. After hours of mucking, I finally hiked out with my (then) five year old son. Some deer hunters reluctantly gave us a ride into town, bouncing us around on the metal floor of their truck bed. The fishing tackle box exploded and my son checked out by falling asleep (excellent coping mechanism). I cradled my son's head while gathering loose fishing gear, while bouncing on my fanny as he drove full tilt. Oh yeah! Good times! Funny thing though, he still remembers this and loves to tell the story, twenty years later.

Glad you made it out ok, Mark. Remember, if you don't get stuck, you're not trying hard enough

We have all done it. Even though we got lucky and it only took about 15 minutes to get out, it wasn't looking good at first.

Darryl

Good story, glad help is not too far away.

Glad you found help, I'm sure it was a nice walk... One of us should post the plank bridges pix from our mid-90's trip to said hot springs.

Stuck happens. Happy you were able to get out okay. Even if you had a winch would you have been able to use it without another truck to hook to? Looks like only dirt and brush near the truck.