We returned to camp with a dog very glad to see us. Some time spent play with the dog and a rock skipping competition before it was time to start preparing dinner.
From this point on I did not take pictures like I should have. I have no excuse as the camera hung around my neck just under my jacket. Things just became "busy and unpredictable".
We ate a fine dinner of Brazilian BBQ and pork fried noodles or hot dogs with "mac-n-cheese". Just finishing dinner and dusk setting in, every one else heard a call for help. I heard a shout, but though it was just the gentleman we had seen walk the road from the day before. As he approached we saw it was someone else.
I made a quick dash inside the trailer to to retrieve a couple things before coming out to see what was going on.
Steve met him as he approached and it turns out his truck was stuck in the creek a few miles from our camp. He asked if we had a strap and could pull him out?
I did have the winch and my recovery gear. Steve and I agreed to help him out. His name was Jason. As I prepped things Steve got more of the story...
His buddy was still back there and is a diabetic. They had been out there for a very long time trying to get the truck out to no avail. He had initially walked several miles the other direction before realizing that there may be no one until he reached the highway about 30 or so miles away. Turning back toward Succor Creek campground we were the first he had encountered.
I had loaded up the motorcycles before dinner so the truck was heavy. It was now about 11:00 pm and dark. We loaded up and went to find this guys stuck truck. Steve wisely went too the back seat.
Once in the truck we could tell for sure that part of this guys problem was related to some poor decisions made after consuming a great deal of alcohol. He wreaked of it. We drove for many miles, each road did not look quite right to him. Finally toward the top he saw one that had to be right. We turned down hill toward the creek bed. Things started to get rough looking so I stopped and we walked to to see just where they were. HID flashlight in hand we wlaked down to hear whoops and hollering. They were waving a spot light to get our attention. It became apparent that they were still about a quarter mile away and the road we were on was not the best approach.
nearly back to the truck now we are greeted by his friend. Remember the banjo player on the porch in Deliverance? Put a scraggly red beard on him and no shirt...that is what greeted us from the darkness of Succor Creek...
It turns out there were three of them stranded down there. A late model red Dodge Dakota 2wd was stuck trying to pull out the Nissan that was stuck trying to climb out of the creek bad. I never did go back through all the salt cedar to see just how badly stuck the Nissan was. Our main focus was the Red Dodge and its driver. He was the diabetic. Probably 300 lbs and not ready for a walk out to be sure. Steve checked him and he was fine. He had his insulin and food, so there was no medical help needed. His poor truck was another thing though. Some how they had managed to bury three of its four wheels in the sandy upper creek bed. A strap was not going to pull it out. Good thing we did have a winch.
Steve and I chose our staging area and walked our rout out to a good road in. From there we instructed Jason to walk up the road to the main road and wait for us.
It took us a while to hike back to the Avalanche, turn it around an make our way back up to the main road again. as we are driving over to the "right" road in, here comes the kid walking up the main road. GREAT, now we play the "lets find the right road game", again. Finally we do find the right way in. Low range and carefully we crawl our way back in to the vehicles.
Winch line out to its longest reach and straps anchored to the Dakota. We start the pull and it is quickly apparent that this driver is not versed in recovery. Revving his truck and spinning tires as we are pulling. Quickly he is instructed to just put it in drive and let it idle. We pulled it for probably 75' or so before it was on land solid enough to drive out.
At that time Jason asked if we could pull his truck out too? I told him they would be much better off to come back in daylight to attempt a second recovery and that I was just happy to get them all out safely for the night. We had them wait there until we got the Avalanche turned around. We wanted to be in the lead should they get stuck again.
We all made it out to the main road again without incident. Shouted thanks and your welcome as we parted ways. We returned to our camp about 12:30 am.
This was a good conclusion. The two inebriated guys from the Nissan were on their way home with a sober driver. No one stuck out there for the night.
It is hard to describe all the reasons and the situation that made this whole incident seem a little "sketchy" at first. The guy only gave us his first name and called his friend a buddy. I asked , "So where are you from?" and the response was "Nampa-Caldwell area." We really were not sure just how many of them were really out there, and why. I was confident that Steve and I could handle this guy, but was not real sure what was out in the darkness. It is funny how when you really are not sure what will happen next just how slow time seems to move and how , at least for me the tunnel vision sets in.
Steve's move the the rear seat on the way out there was a great choice. We did not need a stranger sitting behind us in the truck. I did not think about being lured away from camp to leave the women and children there. I had retrieved my CW and left them with none back at camp. That will not happen again. They did not know that it was no longer in the trailer. I need to improve and will not make those mistakes again. Glad it was all above board and we had no lessons to learn the hard way.
I think that guy was pretty lucky that night. He came to a camp where a paramedic and guy with good recovery gear were staying. Glad we could help.
