I’m going to regret this if I don’t write it down. Several weeks ago we had a graduate student decide to look for a job instead of working for us as a floater working on various sage-grouse projects we have going, shortly after that, we had a technician quit us (USU) working on a sage-grouse project. It left us shorthanded. In talking with Terry (my boss) we decided that he would hire Houston (who just graduated) and he would work for us this summer. Houston is a good worker and has helped me out on most of our projects so he knows where they are, what a sage-grouse and sagebrush look like, how to load and unload a ATV and drive it, and also knows how to us our radio telemetry gear—which is a big plus. So, I spent the first few days of June getting Houston geared up and a schedule lined out.
For the first few weeks, I have been sending him over to the Bear Lake Plateau on a project over there we just started—our graduate student just showed up on June 8th and because of that we have lost track of several birds—hence Houston has been going there to help her. I always tell him—“don’t do stupid things”. Well……he did a stupid thing which will make for a great story for the rest of his life.
What I have been able to gather from Houston is that late Tuesday afternoon 6/16/2010 he had been looking for birds all day and had not found any and was searching the last canyon before heading home. He took the truck (not the ATV in the back of the truck) up a 2-track up a canyon that got pretty steep and pretty side hilly pretty fast (Stupid thing #1). Now I have to say all the times that Houston has gone with me, he hasn’t had 4 wheel drive experience, he knows when to put it in and what 4 low and 4 high is used for but he just hasn’t had any real 4 wheeling experience. The road he was after about 2 miles just ended on a steep side hill. When I say the road just ended, it just ended and when I say it was on a steep side hill, it was on a steep side hill and the 2-track wasn’t level on this side hill. With all the rain we had there was a bunch of wyethia (a broad leaf forb) growing on the side hill, the truck Houston was driving didn’t have very good tires; they were worn down and slick. He couldn’t turn around and he didn’t want to back up. Here’s where it gets to be a good church story. Apparently from what he said and what I could see observing the scene later—the bottom looked pretty flat and green and he thought he could drive out.
Off he went, 860 feet down to the bottom, and remember it’s a steep hill, at least 45 degree slope maybe even 55 degree. He has the truck in 4 low and just creeps off the hill (Stupid thing #2). Once in the bottom he soon realized that it wasn’t as flat and as green as he thought. The sagebrush, snowberry, and chokecherry were on average 2-3 feet tall and he spent much of the time sidehilling it in the bottom as well. Now I’m sure by this point he was totally freaked out, panicking, and re-thinking his decision but he pressed (Stupid thing #3) on down the canyon, remember its s steep hill and he’s not getting back out of the hole he’s in.
About 300 yards don’t the canyon, his green flat pastures really run out and is in a situation now where he has nowhere to go but in his panicked mind he decides to try and side hill it to get around this one bad spot, but he didn’t make it. His tire fell into a hole and he tried to back out (Stupid thing #4) and has he did this his truck kept slipping and before he knew it, the truck was literally on its side (passenger side) in the bottom of a 6 foot wash, with him in it. I’m sure by now he was really freaked out and not thinking clearly so I won’t say anymore about his stupid things, we all have done them, I suspect its just not a black thing.
I assume now he has gathered his thoughts a bit and decides he will get the ATV out of the back of the truck (which remember is on its side). He somehow manages to get it out, load all his stuff on it and proceeds to drive it straight up the canyon, which I know for a fact I this area, has to be 55 degrees. Well, he gets about 50 yards up the hill and looses tracking, hits a sagebrush or whatever and the ATV goes over backwards (he jumped off) and proceeds to roll back down the hill rolling over and over landing right next to the truck. ATV damaged, tire off rim, bars bent, handle bars bent—ATV a mess. So (I hope someday Houston will share all that was going on in is mind) now Houston decides to walk the 2 miles back to the road. He takes all his gear (in 2 trips) and walks out to the road.
At 3:00 PM he finally calls me, “can you come and get me” was the first thing he said. Of course that is never a good thing to say and now I’m a bit freaked out. “Why, where’s the truck, are you OK, what’s wrong.” He says the “the truck is on its side….can you come and get me”. I forgot to tell you that was over there all day as well and had just got back to Logan (an hour plus drive) about 30 minutes prior to his call. Where’s the ATV? It has a flat tire—where are you? He proceeds to give me a few short answers but I can tell he’s not in his right mind so I find out where he is, call Pat (for moral support) get all the straps, come alongs, and chains I can find and head back over the hill.
We get over there about 5PM and Houston is waiting by the side of the road. We get a few more details from him and drive up the road. “See that white spot up there he says, that’s the truck”. I now see it for the first time and the only thing I can think is “what the heck were you thinking? How the heck did you get it there!” I’m both shocked and amazed that it’s just not rolled over and flat as a pancake. I go to the end of the road turn around and come back, it’s a steep hill, one that made me even pucker a bit. I/we head back down the road a bit and I see a flat spot that looks like cat/bulldozer has once gone up a long time ago. I take it and Pat and Houston both say let us out, so they get out and I go a few hundred more yards and run out of road. I turn around and hike the remaining half mile to the truck. I can’t believe it, it’s on its side (literally) I just can’t believe it, I’m without words, in shock that he got it to this point. Long story short, we leave, not much is said on the way home. Pat is trying her womanly best to break the tension and just talk about trivial things but it’s not helping me and I’m guessing not Houston either. We get home around 9PM, by now I have made several phone calls and I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to tell my boss and get it out without it costing us an arm and a leg.
I finally get enough courage to go and talk to Terry. He’s fine with it, at least he says he is. Did I mention we had another tech who rolled a truck early in April (with the ATV in the back) year and one that rolled one last year so it’s been a banner year for us with the trucks. Terry’s advise was to get it out as soon as you can.
So I don’t sleep much that night, I’m going over and over in my mind how a tow truck is going to get it out of there and eventually came to the conclusion that there was just no way and that I need a bulldozer/cat or a team of draft horses to get it out of there. Did I mention I didn’t sleep? By morning I was still just sick to my stomach, how was I going to get it out of there? While driving (when I do my best thinking and pondering) I and a very clear impression that I could call my friend Dave who works for a place in Logan called Wolford Auto Body. Now the Wolfords are 4 wheel freaks—anything in Moab is a walk in the park for these guys. So I call Dave and head to Wolfords. I tell them the story, and they laugh (been there done that they all say), but yeah, lets go get it, it will be fun, lets call Al (the dad). So about 30 minutes later I get a call from big Al—lets got get that truck. Al meets me at my office around 10 AM in his 80,000.00 supped up modified, 12 ton, 40” tire jeep and he head up and over the hill to ‘extract’ the truck.
On scene, I can see a puzzled look on Al’s face, “no doubt about it, this is in my top five”—that was just what I wanted to hear. So you think we can get it out I said. I don’t know, let’s go look at it. So Al takes his jeep and bails off, we can’t see exactly where Houston went off, but boy if he can make it in the truck its nothing for the jeep. Right! We are side hilling it and I’m puckering at about an 8 out of a 10 pucker factor, 10 being a roll over. “Do you need me to get out and scout a head of you”? How much more of an angle could this jeep handle and still stay on all fours”? Anyway after carefully picking our way off the hill at around noon we arrive at the truck. Again, puzzled look on Al’s face. “I really wish I could get here and pull from there but its just too steep to do that”. “We are going to have to position here and pull this way and hopefully we won’t do anymore body damage than there already is but I can’t guarantee it.”
So we hook on to the 12 ton winch and Al pulls, he just barley tightens it up and pulls and maybe pulls it 2 inches and amazingly enough the truck tips back over and is now on all 4’s (miracle #1). We are whooping and hollering and high fiving and after another position now directly behind the truck, we are out of the 6 foot wash. It starts right up (miracle #2) and upon inspection of the side that was on the ground you know that had tipped over in the wash, there was not a dent anywhere and besides all the previous and I’m sure a few new sagebrush scratches, the only damage was a crack in the mirror (miracle #3). After a few minutes to load the ATV, pick up stuff we are on our way out. The only think we could think to do was to try and follow Houston’s tracks out and get as far as we could by driving and winch the rest of the way out. Al by the way wanted to take the jeep straight up and out but I talked him out of that LOL. We made our way over the brush, over all the pot holes and up as far as I could go, Al buzzed around me and hooked me up and actually towed me up the rest of the way to a little bench where it got really steep and we could go no further in tow.
We unhooked and Al we out to ‘scout’ a way out. He came back about 15 minutes later and said we ain’t getting out that way. I said, well I think the road is just right there and I pointed up the hill and to the south of where he had gone. “Really, let me go check”, he only went about 200 yards straight up the hill and turned around, came back and said, “yep, it’s right there”.
To get us/me the rest of the way out, it was decided that I would back down a bit and all would continue to tow me a bit up a little draw and side hill it to the steep part where he would then drive up to the road and winch me out. I back down 40 yards and boom pssssssssss blown tire. I change the tire and the spare is flat, Al has an air compressor on his 12 ton winch (miracle #4) and 30 minutes later, we are in tow again. Al tows me to the steep part and we hit a bump just right and the tow strap comes off and he makes it to the road, turns around and 300 feet of winching later, I’m on the road (miracle #5). By now its 2PM and about the time we hit the road it starts pouring rain (miracle #6), we race down the road before it gets too wet and are at the pavement safe and sound. After a burger in Garden City, we are back on Logan by 5PM safe and sound.
I believe that the Lord keeps his future missionaries safe despite stupid things, I believe in prayer and the impressions that come from the Lord, I believe in miracles and that things would have been much different if I/we had not relied on the Lord this day to help us through our stupid mistakes. I’m so relieved things turned out the way they did and I KNOW there was a greater hand in all these events.
Todd Black
Fathers Day 2010
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