Pressing on Through the Snow Drifts
Even when you get stuck, dont let that stop you from achieving your plans.
My buddies and I had planned on going up to see Packsaddle Lake in south eastern Idaho. We had our food, our tent, tarps, everything we need. We even brought firewood so that we would have dry stuff to burn. It was the middle of winter; the main roads were fine, the drifts never reaching past the rumble strips. Once we got to our turn-off, we noticed that it was a dirt road under the layer of snow. We kept our speed up around 25mph, making good headway through the little piles in the road.
After a while, we saw a big drift covering the whole road. We blasted through that sucker with no problem. What we didn't know, was that there was a second drift right after the first. Under the drift, the road started to take a slight turn to the left so we were off the road a bit in the deeper stuff. Naturally, we got stuck. We managed to rock the car out of the deeper snow, and we were back on our way. Now, we had left when the sun was setting, and by this time all light in the sky was gone. The road we needed hadn't been used in a while, so it was hidden. We missed our turn, and the road led us to a warehouse of some sort. We turned around and were scanning in the dark for the road. Almost the same thing happened again, the road turned and we couldn't see it. So, we went off the road and the front passenger tire sunk into the snow. We tried and tried and tried to get it out. It wouldn't move. Three of us were native Idahoans and had experience with the snow before, so we tried all the methods we had used before, but nothing worked. Luckily, we had cell service and so we were able to call someone back home and they sent a truck to pull us out.
By the time we had made it out and had gotten to the main road, it was around 11pm. We had a half tank of gas, so we decided to keep going along the main road and fill up. After getting filled, we all were wanting to camp that night instead of just going home and calling it quits. So thanks to technology and cell service, we were able to look up nearby places to camp. We found one about half an hour away and decided to hit that one. We got there, made a fire, set up shop, and had a baller time.
Moral of the story, do not let the times you get stuck dissuade you from doing what you want to do.
We want to acknowledge and thank the past, present, and future generations of all Native Nations and Indigenous Peoples whose ancestral lands we travel, explore, and play on. Always practice Leave No Trace ethics on your adventures and follow local regulations. Please explore responsibly!
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