smlobx
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Eddie
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2018
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- Location
- Mid Atlantic
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- JTR, F-350 diesel, Porsche Spyder, Model Y
- Occupation
- Semi retired consultant
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- #1
We recently got back from our month long trip from NC to Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Overall the weather was not as nice as we had hoped but we were prepared. However, not everyone we met along the way was and here is our story..
We were a little ahead of our rough itinerary due to being snowed out in Bryce Canyon and found ourselves in northern Arizona. My wife, knowing that I’ve always wanted to camp on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon said why don’t we try and make it out there so even though the area wasn’t officially open we decided to give it a try. We started heading South on a Forrest service gravel road with the temps in the mid 50’s and the sun shinning. We were taking our time enjoying the scenery and smell of the pine forest when we noticed a pick up truck fast approaching us. We pulled over to the side of the road and slowed down to let the truck pass us which it did. We thought that this might actually be a good sign as up to that time we were the only ones on the road.
As we continued down the road we noticed that we were climbing in elevation starting at about 4000 feet to now over 5500 and climbing. There were now patches of snow covering portions of the road but not enough to engage 4 WD. About 15 minutes later the road became mostly covered with snow and even though our Toyo’s weren’t having any grip issues we decided to engage 4x4. At this point we were still following tracks made from the pick up that passed us and maybe others so we continued. We continued around a bend and there was the F-150 that had passed us earlier in a ditch on the side of the road….
We stopped to see if we could help and found a young lady about 30 or so unsure what to do. She said that she lives in Tahoe and is used to driving in the snow blah, blah, blah. I looked closer at the F-150 and confirmed that it was indeed a 4x4 but I have never seen what I’ll refer to as a street version of a 4x4. The tires were street “all season” and completely useless in snow. There weren’t any tow points either in the front or back. I asked her is she had 4x4 engaged and she was unsure. I offered to help her engage it and she stepped out of the truck. I got in the truck and engaged 4 low but that didn’t improve her situation As only two tires would spin. It was then that I noticed that she was wearing shorts and flip flops and had no other clothing etc in her truck or in the bed. No recovery gear or food either.
As I’m deciding what to do a Ram 2500 4x4 pick up with a Hallmark pop up camper comes down the road we were trying to go up. The truck was properly outfitted with MT tires etc. The driver gets out and offers to help us while his wife and 2 kids watched which was welcome. He too was wearing flip flops and mentioned that he was from San Diego. He said the road got worse as the elevation increased and they turned around about a half a mile from us. He was eager to try using his 4 Max Trax that he had recently bought so we decided to give that a try. Unfortunately, the snow was like grease and just shot them out from under the truck. I then decided to use my tow strap and pull her backward about 100 yards where there was space to turn around and the Jeep performed beautifully!
The moral of the story is be prepared when you go offroad! After we were all convoying back down the Ram driver pulled me over and said “I don’t know if you’re religious but someone was looking after that fool!” I couldn’t agree more…
We were a little ahead of our rough itinerary due to being snowed out in Bryce Canyon and found ourselves in northern Arizona. My wife, knowing that I’ve always wanted to camp on the northern rim of the Grand Canyon said why don’t we try and make it out there so even though the area wasn’t officially open we decided to give it a try. We started heading South on a Forrest service gravel road with the temps in the mid 50’s and the sun shinning. We were taking our time enjoying the scenery and smell of the pine forest when we noticed a pick up truck fast approaching us. We pulled over to the side of the road and slowed down to let the truck pass us which it did. We thought that this might actually be a good sign as up to that time we were the only ones on the road.
As we continued down the road we noticed that we were climbing in elevation starting at about 4000 feet to now over 5500 and climbing. There were now patches of snow covering portions of the road but not enough to engage 4 WD. About 15 minutes later the road became mostly covered with snow and even though our Toyo’s weren’t having any grip issues we decided to engage 4x4. At this point we were still following tracks made from the pick up that passed us and maybe others so we continued. We continued around a bend and there was the F-150 that had passed us earlier in a ditch on the side of the road….
We stopped to see if we could help and found a young lady about 30 or so unsure what to do. She said that she lives in Tahoe and is used to driving in the snow blah, blah, blah. I looked closer at the F-150 and confirmed that it was indeed a 4x4 but I have never seen what I’ll refer to as a street version of a 4x4. The tires were street “all season” and completely useless in snow. There weren’t any tow points either in the front or back. I asked her is she had 4x4 engaged and she was unsure. I offered to help her engage it and she stepped out of the truck. I got in the truck and engaged 4 low but that didn’t improve her situation As only two tires would spin. It was then that I noticed that she was wearing shorts and flip flops and had no other clothing etc in her truck or in the bed. No recovery gear or food either.
As I’m deciding what to do a Ram 2500 4x4 pick up with a Hallmark pop up camper comes down the road we were trying to go up. The truck was properly outfitted with MT tires etc. The driver gets out and offers to help us while his wife and 2 kids watched which was welcome. He too was wearing flip flops and mentioned that he was from San Diego. He said the road got worse as the elevation increased and they turned around about a half a mile from us. He was eager to try using his 4 Max Trax that he had recently bought so we decided to give that a try. Unfortunately, the snow was like grease and just shot them out from under the truck. I then decided to use my tow strap and pull her backward about 100 yards where there was space to turn around and the Jeep performed beautifully!
The moral of the story is be prepared when you go offroad! After we were all convoying back down the Ram driver pulled me over and said “I don’t know if you’re religious but someone was looking after that fool!” I couldn’t agree more…
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