Nebraska Clay Mud

[EasternSierra]

As simple as it sounds, I was most puckered by this than any other ‘off road’ experience!

That was nothing. My biggest pucker ever was far, far worse. Don't worry - I got out OK in the end despite bad decisions. This was a few decades ago and I think I'm smarter now.

I'd decided to take a major dirt road that runs parallel to I-15 between Barstow CA and Las Vegas NV. I cut across to it on another dirt road, then saw a sign saying 'no trespassing' for the parallel road. That road ran along a major high-tension power line. Note that I was driving alone - nobody to pull me out of a problem. OK, that was dumb.

I figured, no way I can't go here. This is BLM land open to the public! So I proceeded for a while (more dumb), then began to get a little paranoid. Maybe because of the utility corridor this road really is closed to the public. Maybe I'll get busted and my vehicle confiscated!

So, instead of backtracking I'll cut back over to the interstate on the next cross-road. Well, I couldn't find it - it wasn't where it was supposed to be, according to the detailed AAA map and the small mountain ranges scattered across the wide-open desert landscape which served as reference points.

I decided to turn around and head back the way I came in, hoping maybe I'd find that connecting road by heading in the other direction. After a bit, I came upon what looked like a nice graded road headed in the right direction and I took it. But, around the corner it just ended on a hillside.

OK, I'll back out. I put my 4x4 truck in reverse. Instead of going back, the truck slid sideways towards the ditch! WTF??? I tried again in low range and it happened again. I stopped and got out because at that rate I was going to end up sliding into the U-shaped ditch and being really stuck.

Well, guess what? The terrain all around me was typical Mojave Desert hilly landscape covered with small rocks. However, right before it ended, the road cut through an old uplifted dry lake bed as shown in the roadcut. The clay had turned into mud from recent rains. The mud in the roadbed was camouflaged by a layer of small rocks pressed into the mud, so it hadn't looked like mud at first glance.

When the truck tried to turn the wheels, the wheels just spun. But, because of the graded sideways slope, the whole vehicle simply slid downhill across the road towards the ditch. Crap, how do I get out of this???

By this point I was getting really paranoid about being badly stuck and/or caught - bad news for rational decision-making!

I decided to take my shovel and scrape off the thin surface layer of mud behind the wheels so I could back up without sliding. That required standing in the ditch between the steep road cut and my truck, with the tires right on the edge of the vertical ditch cut. If the ditch wall had crumbled I'd have been crushed against the nearly vertical road cut behind me. Fortunately the dirt was bone-dry and very solid below below the very shallow surface layer of mud.

My first efforts were inadequate, but I eventually got it all done and backed out to solid ground. Then on to the first road I came in on and a huge sigh of relief. The aftereffects of the massive adrenaline dose lasted for hours.

Later that day on a different dirt road I got a flat. What a start to a trip! With no spare left after that, I felt naked out there even though I had a can of flat fixer. The rest of that trip I stayed off dirt as much as I could, but there was still plenty of exploring I could on paved roads in areas I hadn't been to before.

In retrospect I should have backtracked to Baker and gotten the flat fixed. Beyond that, I should have been running LT tires instead of P tires.

Live and learn....

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