Yesterday I got up early and made a run to the county dump to get rid of some junk that had been hanging around the yard/in the garage. I had the dog with me so I thought I'd go check one of my local hunting spots, a small piece of WMA land (about 40 acres) about five minutes from home. It's traversed by power lines so there are two well defined but rocky and steep roads. I've been back in this area many times and know the roads well, but I got a surprise this time. I was climbing up one of the steep grades in 4LO, creeping along just fine when *BAM* 
the truck seemed to drop right out from under me-the next thing I knew the dog was on my lap and the horizon was slanted:
I didn't even try to get out, I knew that my drivers side tires weren't touching anything. I was hung up bad on the rear axle tube and the front control arm despite the ample ground clearance my 32s give me. Lucky for me my BIL lives about 10 minutes away and has a Tacoma, so I called him (which he didn't appreciate at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday
) but he obliged. All it took was 30' strap and a gentle tug and I was on my way. A winch wouldn't have helped-there wasn't a single tree to hook to within 100'. I probably could have gotten out with a Hi-Lift jack by jacking the frame and putting boards or branches underneath my tires. I definitely need to get one of those. Once he pulled me out I took a look at the rut and realized that the torrential rains we had last week washed out the side of the trail and down the hillside pretty bad. I didn't see it because there was a lot of vegetation on the side of the road and I had veered left in order to avoid a wash on the right side that I could see-when I got over just enough the drivers' side tires slipped right into the washout.
Be careful out there!
the truck seemed to drop right out from under me-the next thing I knew the dog was on my lap and the horizon was slanted:
I didn't even try to get out, I knew that my drivers side tires weren't touching anything. I was hung up bad on the rear axle tube and the front control arm despite the ample ground clearance my 32s give me. Lucky for me my BIL lives about 10 minutes away and has a Tacoma, so I called him (which he didn't appreciate at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday
) but he obliged. All it took was 30' strap and a gentle tug and I was on my way. A winch wouldn't have helped-there wasn't a single tree to hook to within 100'. I probably could have gotten out with a Hi-Lift jack by jacking the frame and putting boards or branches underneath my tires. I definitely need to get one of those. Once he pulled me out I took a look at the rut and realized that the torrential rains we had last week washed out the side of the trail and down the hillside pretty bad. I didn't see it because there was a lot of vegetation on the side of the road and I had veered left in order to avoid a wash on the right side that I could see-when I got over just enough the drivers' side tires slipped right into the washout. Be careful out there!
. We should get together some Saturday and I'll take you up there and show you some of them. Basically old county roads, turned into forest service roads, now turned into gullies by Irene and Sandy. Toughest terrain I've driven in NJ. Most of them don't really lead anywhere particularly interesting, just take you through deep woods and pop out someplace else.
but I'll shoot you a PM when I think I might be able to sneak up there for a few hours.