So I explored how to get pulled out at 2 in the morning now. But lets start at the beginning.

After camping last weekend I cleaned out the cruiser. All the gear was dusty and dirty so into the garage waiting for some tlc from me. Yesterday I woke up, went to breakfast and decided "Hey, its a lovely day, lets go 4wheeling." So after we ate breakfast my daughter and I jumped in the cruiser and headed into the mountains. Figured I would run a couple of easy trails. Headed up to do Waldorf Mine and Argentine Pass. Beautiful day for it. Not what didn't get done? Reload the vehicle.

















On the way back I took the lower road and came to a T in the road with a water crossing. I checked my topo map (US Forest from 2013 and it showed a trail that ran the other side all the way back to the entrance of the valley) and hung a right and went for it. Entrance to the trail: https://goo.gl/maps/NWc3m If you click on that and turn on google earth you can see the switchbacks going up, then the trail following the valley and switch backs heading back down. The trail goes away shortly after here: https://goo.gl/maps/oe65t Some might say it was pretty well gone a few feet behind that location, since that is where I started to slide off the trail.

While it was still good.




And here is where the cruiser said nope. Or perhaps me. Whatever.



This is right when I started to slide. So I spent an hour trying to build a road under the left to decrease that slide long enough to back back up on to the trail. I put rocks, backed up onto the rocks a little, put rocks in front went forward a little then with that added under the tires I started building up behind and slowly going back. And I made it about 6 inches back and this far further down the side.



The cruiser was stable at this point. I could rock it and it wouldnt go anywhere so it wasnt leaning or rolling enough to be an issue. But I went sideways about two feet and the next slide to the left was going to drop that side another 3 to 5 in. Still not enough to roll it, but would have made the night even more uncomfortable sleeping in it if I had to. Also would have made getting out more and more difficult. I figured this point was a good time to say nope. By myself with my daughter I didn't want to play anymore stupid games. The ROI just wasnt worth it. With there still being light and someone else with me I would have kept trying to back out or something like that. Tires were at 16 psi.

Having a 6 year old with you complicates things. It was about 3 when I realized I was not going anywhere. Plenty of daylight. By myself I could have made the main trail in an hour. Humped down to Georgetown in 3 or 4 so right at twilight. This type of thing doesnt happen with a 6 year old. So I called for help. Lucky I had signal. Actually my phone had signal everywhere in this valley. I was texting at the top of the pass.

Blackford volunteered to come get me. Thank you! Get me your vin I will get you a mirror. His cell was not as robust as mine and he had signal at the entrance and every once and a while inside. My GPS co-ordinates didn't really translate to his GPS. This made things... difficult. Thankfully he met some Jeepers at the entrance to the valley who were about to air up. When they heard they said they would not let anyone be stuck overnight so they turned right around and came in to get me. They were very close about 10, but we couldn't hear or see each others signals. And they turned around and back tracked to check other trails. Eventually they found me at about 1 am.

They hooked up a winch to me, a snatch block to a tree up the hill a bit and pulled me up and out. We turned around about 100 ft down the trail and headed out. Once they found me it was easy money.

Things I learned.

1) Dont be a dumbass
2) If you are going to be a dumbass, bring a friend. That way if nothing else you have someone there to make fun of you right on the spot.
3) Need more gear. And good stuff. Winch wouldn't have gotten me out of that, but if I hadn't emptied the cruiser and not loaded back up I would have been much better off. Things to add after this mess; At least one more strap, I only have one. An official bracket to mount the highlift on so it doesn't get removed from the vehicle. A tree saver. Winch. LIGHTS!!!! Front light bar, back up lights, side lights. All of the light stuff is cheap and easy. Would have been nice. Comm gear. Perhaps a combination CB/HAM.
4) Probably more stuff to be added as I think about it more.