Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:32 pm
Since Canuck won't post it and is leaving me this weekend to go climb where I can't go, here's one that I was at least involved in.
During my very first trip climbing outdoors we went to Oil Crack, or tried to. She has a little Kia Rio(?) that normally does quite well. But some of those access roads out there aren't meant for ANYTHING than a 4WD. We had to build a little bridge of rocks to drive over a washout so we wouldn't ground out and then realized that we couldn't get up the absolutely huge hill in front of us and had to back up to turn around. She was driving and I told her that she could come my direction since I had about 6 FEET of space. She turned her head around and unfortunately turned the wheel at the same time. The sickening lurch toward the ditch told it all. We had slipped into a washout between the road and the hill that was about 18" deep and 2 feet wide. Both of those tires were off the road and the car was resting on it's chassis out in the middle of nowhere. We had to hike out and pray we got a lucky house. Turns out we got angels inside instead of shotguns. She tried to call Kia roadside assistance but this was also the day of the big Northeast blackout and they didn't have any power. About 6 hours after we ditched, the tow truck finally shows up and isn't even sure he can get himself out, let alone us. We did survive and make it back to Miguel's. I've still never seen Oil Crack.
During my very first trip climbing outdoors we went to Oil Crack, or tried to. She has a little Kia Rio(?) that normally does quite well. But some of those access roads out there aren't meant for ANYTHING than a 4WD. We had to build a little bridge of rocks to drive over a washout so we wouldn't ground out and then realized that we couldn't get up the absolutely huge hill in front of us and had to back up to turn around. She was driving and I told her that she could come my direction since I had about 6 FEET of space. She turned her head around and unfortunately turned the wheel at the same time. The sickening lurch toward the ditch told it all. We had slipped into a washout between the road and the hill that was about 18" deep and 2 feet wide. Both of those tires were off the road and the car was resting on it's chassis out in the middle of nowhere. We had to hike out and pray we got a lucky house. Turns out we got angels inside instead of shotguns. She tried to call Kia roadside assistance but this was also the day of the big Northeast blackout and they didn't have any power. About 6 hours after we ditched, the tow truck finally shows up and isn't even sure he can get himself out, let alone us. We did survive and make it back to Miguel's. I've still never seen Oil Crack.