Jeep stuck on MTB trail in CA

[loxx0050]

Reminds me of the time I nearly got my Audi A4 Quattro stuck in deep mud. Was 26 at the time and across from the office I worked at was a empty lot that was being prepared to put a large commerical building there (we're talked 10-20 stories probably as my office was around 10 stories or so. Don't recall exactly). But anyways staring at the lot on a rainy day from the 7th floor inspired me to do donuts in the much since I've got AWD and I just a large muddy car playground. So I did it for about 10 minutes or so and it was uneventful except the car was bit dirty.

A week later goes by and another rainy day so I also decide to do more donuts in the muddy lot before I go home for the weekend. Ends up this time the ruts were a lot bigger and but I proceeded to get out there to a not so bad area and do donuts. But my mistake was not going from donut to a drift back out of there. Because I ended up coming to a complete stop and sinking deep into the mud. My coworkers thought I was flashing them with my high beams out there because I was stuck. Which I was stuck yes but the only reason I was flashing my lights is because the car kept dying because I didn't give it enough gas easing in 1st to get the car moving in 1st gear (manual transmission). Because I had to turn off/on the ignition while leaving the headlights on it appeared I was purposely flashing my headlights. After a half dozen tries unsuccessfully trying to dislodged my car I go the bright idea to open the door and survey the level of being stuck....only to be more than ankle deep in mud on my left foot. Even had a random SUV stop on the nearby street and watch me by that point.

I gave it one last effort to get out by dropping the clutch at high rpm (so it wouldn't kill it). We're taking 5k rpm drop like I'm drag racing in Fast and the Furious for pinks. Luckily for me at the time I had a racing clutch that could handle that sort of abuse and after flooring it in first for about maybe 5-10 seconds or so of all 4 wheels spinning my tire fling enough mud underneath to catch some traction and I started moving forward. A this point I don't let up and maintain a constant speed all while plowing through mounds of dirt to get out. Once out I actually turn in front of the SUV watching me wave thanks and drive on home. That weekend I went to a spray it yourself carwash (since I lived in an apartment) and spend nearly $10 to get all the mud out from underneath. All the while seeling a bunch of rocks come dislodged with the mud. They were the size up to marble or slightly bigger. Lucky I didn't do any real damage to my vehicle honestly. The mud pack was so bad in the wheels my car started to vibrate at 30 mph even.

[BobbyJones]

A fool and his Jeep are soon parted.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Steve in SLO

That has to be the world's coolest rappel anchor.

Isn't that?

Originally Posted by ElvisMerckx

She has a twin? The mind races.

/jk

I should have seen that coming....I just happened to recently see that on the Instaface.

I also went back for some reason and read the comments on that article.

Comment #1 "Just an ad for the new Jeep Dangler"

Winner.

[likebikes]

Originally Posted by Jaybee

Someone did that on one of my normal loops in Golden last year too. Jeep was pretty tagged up by the time they got it down. Also the tiny rock the driver got stuck on is pretty funny.

they should have slashed the tires, and cut off the cat too.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by benb

Actually now that we're telling stories about stuck cars.

My local MTB haunt has a whole bunch of 1930s-1950s car bodies/chassis/blocks sitting slowly rusting a way.

They're pretty deep in the woods, which makes me wonder if they were trying to offroad.

It's possible the trails were originally wider or something or there were dirt roads into the forest that no longer look like dirt roads.. there are very few trails in this network that a modern Jeep Wrangler could get down. Interestingly those old cars are a lot smaller than a modern Wrangler so maybe they could fit down narrower sections.

I think you're talking about the Land Locked Forest (previously known as the Land Locked Quadrant) in Burlington MA. That area wasn't always land locked - it became cut off from the rest of the town when Rtes. 128 (now 95) and 3 were built in the 1950s. Prior to that, there were several unimproved road that ran across that area, which is probably how those cars got there. If the road don't look like roads anymore, well, they haven't been used or maintained as road for over 60 years.

What the roads in that area looked like in 1946 (probably around the time those cars got there) can be seen in this historic topographic map:

https://web.archive.org/web/20151227...A/lext50nw.jpg

[barnabyjones]

Reading this yarn, sunk my comprehension as much as your Audi's suspension and undercarriage in that mud. Yikes!

Originally Posted by loxx0050

Reminds me of the time I nearly got my Audi A4 Quattro stuck in deep mud. Was 26 at the time and across from the office I worked at was a empty lot that was being prepared to put a large commerical building there (we're talked 10-20 stories probably as my office was around 10 stories or so. Don't recall exactly). But anyways staring at the lot on a rainy day from the 7th floor inspired me to do donuts in the much since I've got AWD and I just a large muddy car playground. So I did it for about 10 minutes or so and it was uneventful except the car was bit dirty.

A week later goes by and another rainy day so I also decide to do more donuts in the muddy lot before I go home for the weekend. Ends up this time the ruts were a lot bigger and but I proceeded to get out there to a not so bad area and do donuts. But my mistake was not going from donut to a drift back out of there. Because I ended up coming to a complete stop and sinking deep into the mud. My coworkers thought I was flashing them with my high beams out there because I was stuck. Which I was stuck yes but the only reason I was flashing my lights is because the car kept dying because I didn't give it enough gas easing in 1st to get the car moving in 1st gear (manual transmission). Because I had to turn off/on the ignition while leaving the headlights on it appeared I was purposely flashing my headlights. After a half dozen tries unsuccessfully trying to dislodged my car I go the bright idea to open the door and survey the level of being stuck....only to be more than ankle deep in mud on my left foot. Even had a random SUV stop on the nearby street and watch me by that point.

I gave it one last effort to get out by dropping the clutch at high rpm (so it wouldn't kill it). We're taking 5k rpm drop like I'm drag racing in Fast and the Furious for pinks. Luckily for me at the time I had a racing clutch that could handle that sort of abuse and after flooring it in first for about maybe 5-10 seconds or so of all 4 wheels spinning my tire fling enough mud underneath to catch some traction and I started moving forward. A this point I don't let up and maintain a constant speed all while plowing through mounds of dirt to get out. Once out I actually turn in front of the SUV watching me wave thanks and drive on home. That weekend I went to a spray it yourself carwash (since I lived in an apartment) and spend nearly $10 to get all the mud out from underneath. All the while seeling a bunch of rocks come dislodged with the mud. They were the size up to marble or slightly bigger. Lucky I didn't do any real damage to my vehicle honestly. The mud pack was so bad in the wheels my car started to vibrate at 30 mph even.

[Tickdoc]

So I looked at the pictures and I just don’t understand how an old hi lift jack and some rocks under the wheels wouldn’t unstick this thing? Granted, you still gotta dance your way out of there, but it doesn’t appear to be that stuck. It’s still pointed straight-ish. Worse thing that happens is it rolls off either side. Whoever had the cajones to get it that far should be able to crawl back in and creep on out.

[loxx0050]

Originally Posted by barnabyjones

Reading this yarn, sunk my comprehension as much as your Audi's suspension and undercarriage in that mud. Yikes!

Oops, a few typos in there along with a missing comma or two... autocorrect on my phone and not catching it. Kind of lazy to fix it now since you've immortalized it in a quote.

Forgot to add I also had a "race" suspension to boot. So my ground clearance was even lower than factory by a couple of inches. Looking back I shake my head at some of the boneheaded things I did in my younger years. But hey, I now have funny stories to tell at least of those experiences. It builds character but not necessarily in a good way everytime

On another note I also learned the on the fly how not to "off-road". Was on vacation in the Virgin Islands and rented a Jeep Commander (did so for the 3rd row). There are several unpaved roads on St John's which are impossible to avoid if you want to explore the island. One involved some gnarly rocks to traverse to get to one of the villas we stayed at. For those who know those roads it's marked as Highway "0.5" with a sign (don't know if that's an official designation but it was funny to see). Thought the Commander's suspension was going to fail or a axle would snap on those large rock filled roads honestly as my rental was pretty beat up and well used. I can see the appeal of off-roadering but alas it isn't the lifestyle for me.

[rustychisel]

Originally Posted by Tickdoc

So I looked at the pictures and I just don’t understand how an old hi lift jack and some rocks under the wheels wouldn’t unstick this thing? Granted, you still gotta dance your way out of there, but it doesn’t appear to be that stuck. It’s still pointed straight-ish. Worse thing that happens is it rolls off either side. Whoever had the cajones to get it that far should be able to crawl back in and creep on out.

and there's your problem right there.

Go ahead, seek 'em out and ask for the keys then show them how it's done.

[cmb5286]

They actually saved the thing...

https://www.thedrive.com/news/36696/...has-been-saved

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by cmb5286

They actually saved the thing...

https://www.thedrive.com/news/36696/...has-been-saved

that's cool. when i first read this i figured some offroad group would take up the challenge and either get it out or destroy it trying.

good work. i've done some pretty stupid things in my various Jeeps over the years, and even more stupid stuff on the 2WD pickup i drove through college and well beyond, but nothing this stupid!

[Tickdoc]

That makes perfect sense. A good buddy of mine is in one of the local Jeep clubs here and they would be all over this. They LOVE coming to rescue someone. They have a pretty extensive network of jeeps on call that if you get stuck somewhere, Jeep or no Jeep, they will send someone to come pull you out. They also do quite a lot for the community with numerous toy drives, food drives, commemorative drives. Pretty close knit community that loves to help out.

[72gmc]

I'm glad they got it out. Too bad it took a whole bunch of Jeeps on that ridge to make it happen.

[benb]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

I think you're talking about the Land Locked Forest (previously known as the Land Locked Quadrant) in Burlington MA. That area wasn't always land locked - it became cut off from the rest of the town when Rtes. 128 (now 95) and 3 were built in the 1950s. Prior to that, there were several unimproved road that ran across that area, which is probably how those cars got there. If the road don't look like roads anymore, well, they haven't been used or maintained as road for over 60 years.

What the roads in that area looked like in 1946 (probably around the time those cars got there) can be seen in this historic topographic map:

https://web.archive.org/web/20151227...A/lext50nw.jpg

Yes exactly.. that map is awesome. I would love to figure out how to see more of those maps of the area.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by benb

Yes exactly.. that map is awesome. I would love to figure out how to see more of those maps of the area.

Historic topographic maps of New England and New York, indexed by town, going back to the 1890s:

https://web.archive.org/web/20191009...os/nhtopos.htm