I am an idiot...

[bstefanic]

Eh, everyone should have at least one butt clenching off road moment when for just a second they think "god I'm so screwed" I did something similar to this within a week of buying my Wagon. Similar conditions as you are stuck in...luckily I was near where I grew up so I was able to collect about 150 feet worth of tow straps from friends to winch to the nearest tree. After winching from tree to tree for about 500 feet made it out while at the same time grenading an axle shaft. It looks like with enough straps you should be able to winch yourself around 180

[TrueCowboy426]

Good to hear your okay. I've only had 1 time when I thought I was going to have to abandon my truck. Me and a buddy where out playing (him with his stock Cherokee) in the early winter and he wanted me to test out a hole first before he hit it. I figured what the hell, I got a winch and there is lots of trees around and infront of me, we will be fine. Hit the hole all locked up, 2nd gear high range and bottomed out on my front and rear bumpers right in the middle of the hole. After digging for a half hour thru the ice and frozen mud, got to the winch doubled it up and started pulling. We got the truck to move about 2 feet forward (pushing ice ~2" thick, and mud with the entire front of the truck) and that is all the winch had in it, wouldn't move the truck anymore even with the cable doubled so I had 24000lbs of pull force. Tried to back up, but sitting on the diffs and bumpers I wasn't going anywhere. We were about to abandon my truck and go back to my farm for a 4wd tractor, when we though we would at least try to snatch my truck out of the hole with the little Cherokee. Long story short, we beat the hell out of that little truck, but it did end up getting my truck moving and finally yanked backwards out of the hole. That "little" hole cost me a power steering pump, bend steering stab, bend steering stab skid plate, and a couple dents in my lower doors from the ice. Never more will I play on ice covered mud holes as they do too much damage and you can't shovel ice chunks!

Edit
The little Jeep that got me out. Vid from earlier in the fall in a section not to far from where I sunk my truck:

phpBB [video]

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[LKelly]

if you think your an idiot then i'm a super idiot with the number of times i've been stuck and walked out.

take this as a good lesson to learn from. working on search and rescue we come across alot of people with poor health who aren't prepared for any type of emergency. some times they come out in a body bag. please be prepared my friend.

mike

Yeah, that's the big thing I have to remember...I walked out quite a few times when I was younger, but that was when I was more healthy and it wasn't a big deal. There were a few times that I had to hike out 10+ miles, because this was back in the 1980's and there really weren't any cell phones to use...which created that awkward moment when you finally found a house, and had to knock on the door and ask for help. While I don't like having to call my friends to get rescued, at least it's better than knocking on the door of a complete stranger and trying to explain to them that you've been walking for 6 hours and need to borrow their phone.

Back then I used to carry all sorts of equipment in my vehicles - blankets, snowshoes, stuff for getting unstuck, food, water, and so on. Nowadays I carry less stuff for getting unstuck or walking out, and more stuff for contacting help and remaining comfortable if I have to stay in the truck for a while. I also had one truck that started on fire out in the woods and burnt to the ground...talk about feeling helpless, that's like getting stuck times 1000. I learned the lesson not to off-road without a fire extinguisher...for a while I probably had a half-dozen of them in my truck. I've had one truck and one car start on fire since then, and both times I was much better prepared.

My problem is that the most important lesson is not to do the stupid stuff in the first place - but no matter how many times I do it, I still listen to that stupid voice in my head that pushes me to drive that little bit further down the trail, or to get through that next mudhole. You'd think I would have learned by now, but that stupid voice still gets me every time. Most of my relatives have the same problem, so perhaps it's something genetic.

My next truck upgrade will probably be one of those Iridium phones, or something similar...right now I've got 3 different GPS systems in the truck, so the location thing is covered, but I could use more/better forms of communication.

[trk4sale]

Take a look at this:

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=116

[Will]

I was scouting around a lake bottom, going so slow I was practically riding the brake. I felt the front go down a little, I reached down and put it 4wd and hit the gas, it went straight down instead of forward, Got pulled by ones of those gravity bolts
I called a couple of friends which one had a Duramax, I hooked the winch to it and was pulling him to me (He was on packed sand). Then hooked a Tacoma to the Duramax and with them pulling and using the winch, it just would not move. Finally called a wrecker who had to stick the T-Bar in the ground and hook the Duramax to the front of him to get a good enough bite to pull me out. It looked like you went out there and dropped a dozer blade where the axles drug out. I busted the surface and it was like chocolate pudding underneath. First picture was right when I knew, I got out with it in drive and all locked and all 4 were turning on idle in gear Second is after pulling with the winch and it piled up in front of the tire, I never did get a picture of the rut it left. Got dark by then...