On my overconfidence (got stuck in mud) at Hubbard Mesa Open Space, CO

[Hdscreens]

Black Bear Pass was still closed as of last week unfortunately. Some fellow Texans screwed it up for everyone. Didn’t get to do black bear last year cause it was forbidden in rental Jeep so I wanted to do it in my 23’ Bronco this year.

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[HOSSMAN]

How far away is General Sam's (Huntsville)? lol

From me? Several hours. We are in Boerne "Burn-E" North of San Antonio. Haven't been to General Sam's since I lived in Houston and had 4-wheelers....great place! We have Hidden Falls outside of Marble Falls that we go to about once a year and it's an hour and a half/two from us.

 

[Nellezhar]

Overconfidence is a slow, and insidious killer.

 

[Nate Train]

Overconfidence is a slow, and insidious killer.

Which is why I've learned my lesson.

 

[Rodeoman]

One of the things I got really pumped about owning a Bronco was the fact that there's some BLM land basically across the road from where I work - a pretty extensive OHV trail network (largely for dirt bikes) - called Hubbard Mesa Open Space. It doesn't have anything too difficult for the most part, but it's not too bad to kind of learn your vehicle. It's basically on my way home from work, so I was excited about the possibility of swinging through to destress after dealing with teenagers all day.

Yesterday afternoon, I did just that for the first time (although, it's honestly some of the other adults much more than it is the students who cause the stress). We had a pretty rocking thunderstorm last week, and more rain in a single storm than I've ever seen here, so I figured there would be some good mud to get through. At first, things were going pretty great...

But in that last mud hole, I managed to get myself high-centered. I intended to take a line on the high side of the mud hole (passenger), but got pulled in pretty quickly because of how rutted out it was. The water was too deep to see where I needed to adjust. In hindsight, I realized I made three mistakes:

1. I didn't commit hard enough to just pushing through the mud (i.e. momentum). I was really close to pulling out on the initial attempt.
2. I didn't focus enough on keeping the passenger side tires on the high side.
3. Although it very nearly got me out of the mess I was in, backing up was probably a mistake.

As a good friend said, "You're not trying if you don't ever get stuck." I bought a Bronco to have fun doing something I always wanted to get into, not to have it sit in my driveway and look pretty, so getting stuck doesn't seem like too big a deal. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way, I guess.

I wonder if Hubbards Masa is the same place as Hubbards cave Near lookout mountai? Here is a pic from my 66 getting stuck, look at these massive meats

 

[Nate Train]

I wonder if Hubbards Masa is the same place as Hubbards cave Near lookout mountai? Here is a pic from my 66 getting stuck, look at these massive meats

Definitely not the same. No real trees at Hubbard Mesa - just sage bushes.

 

[Rednek]

Bahahaha I had a simular pucker moment with my BD last week with all my camping stuff on,I learned back in my quadding days to walk out an waterhole before crossing (chest deep in freezing water sucked) also subbed on YT

 

[Bronco_Mo]

The problem I have with this video is that it puts the Bronco in a bad light. Jeepers are gonna see this and say "look Broncos can't even make it through small mud holes, ha ha". The issue is you have tiny AT tires and (I'm guessing) no lockers. ANY Sasquatch Bronco shouldn't have had a problem with that patch of mud.

I mean the real problem is most out there in the off-road community have Jeeps and look for any reason to tear the Bronco down. The exact same thing would have happened to a stock JL Sport...

I guess I need to start making content since I do stuff off-road that shows the higher end what the Bronco can do (like Holy Cross).

Beg to differ; I think if a person tries hard enough they can get anything stuck....lol

 

[indio22]

I could have chosen my words better and I apologize for that. I'll be the first person to tell you my faults and one of my faults is I tend to be a little too forward (and I'm an asshole, as my wife would put it). "Real content" wasn't the best description. "Stock vehicle content" would be a better description.

And as to everyone out there with the "Who cares what Jeepers think" line of thought: You should care, they are a part of the same off-road community. I'm on the board of directors for an off-road club with over 700 members, MOST are Jeeps. I feel like I'm always having to prove myself. I battle that every time I go out, and WIN that battle most of the time. I agree EVERYONE gets stuck sometimes. I've had to winch in a lot of cases. I just don't like to give them easy targets. If you're gonna see me fail, it's going to be doing something where a Rubicon on 37's is likely also going to fail. Yes this was a stock Bronco, yes it was a high centered issue because of ruts under water (worse than it looks), yes a stock JL Sport also would have been stuck, BUT it does look easy and it looks like the Bronco isn't very good off-road. Is that a fair assessment, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, but that's what it is.

If concerned about what Jeep owners think, checkout the thread on 6g, where some people are freaking out over their lug nuts not being torqued exactly to spec, lol.

OP, thanks for not being a milquetoast and for taking your Bronco off-road, even if you did get stuck.

 

[Nate Train]

If concerned about what Jeep owners think, checkout the thread on 6g, where some people are freaking out over their lug nuts not being torqued exactly to spec, lol.

OP, thanks for not being a milquetoast and for taking your Bronco off-road, even if you did get stuck.

I have to not be a milquetoast somewhere in my life.

 

[1st 75th ranger]

One of the things I got really pumped about owning a Bronco was the fact that there's some BLM land basically across the road from where I work - a pretty extensive OHV trail network (largely for dirt bikes) - called Hubbard Mesa Open Space. It doesn't have anything too difficult for the most part, but it's not too bad to kind of learn your vehicle. It's basically on my way home from work, so I was excited about the possibility of swinging through to destress after dealing with teenagers all day.

Yesterday afternoon, I did just that for the first time (although, it's honestly some of the other adults much more than it is the students who cause the stress). We had a pretty rocking thunderstorm last week, and more rain in a single storm than I've ever seen here, so I figured there would be some good mud to get through. At first, things were going pretty great...

But in that last mud hole, I managed to get myself high-centered. I intended to take a line on the high side of the mud hole (passenger), but got pulled in pretty quickly because of how rutted out it was. The water was too deep to see where I needed to adjust. In hindsight, I realized I made three mistakes:

1. I didn't commit hard enough to just pushing through the mud (i.e. momentum). I was really close to pulling out on the initial attempt.
2. I didn't focus enough on keeping the passenger side tires on the high side.
3. Although it very nearly got me out of the mess I was in, backing up was probably a mistake.

As a good friend said, "You're not trying if you don't ever get stuck." I bought a Bronco to have fun doing something I always wanted to get into, not to have it sit in my driveway and look pretty, so getting stuck doesn't seem like too big a deal. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way, I guess.

 

[1st 75th ranger]

One of the things I got really pumped about owning a Bronco was the fact that there's some BLM land basically across the road from where I work - a pretty extensive OHV trail network (largely for dirt bikes) - called Hubbard Mesa Open Space. It doesn't have anything too difficult for the most part, but it's not too bad to kind of learn your vehicle. It's basically on my way home from work, so I was excited about the possibility of swinging through to destress after dealing with teenagers all day.

Yesterday afternoon, I did just that for the first time (although, it's honestly some of the other adults much more than it is the students who cause the stress). We had a pretty rocking thunderstorm last week, and more rain in a single storm than I've ever seen here, so I figured there would be some good mud to get through. At first, things were going pretty great...

But in that last mud hole, I managed to get myself high-centered. I intended to take a line on the high side of the mud hole (passenger), but got pulled in pretty quickly because of how rutted out it was. The water was too deep to see where I needed to adjust. In hindsight, I realized I made three mistakes:

1. I didn't commit hard enough to just pushing through the mud (i.e. momentum). I was really close to pulling out on the initial attempt.
2. I didn't focus enough on keeping the passenger side tires on the high side.
3. Although it very nearly got me out of the mess I was in, backing up was probably a mistake.

As a good friend said, "You're not trying if you don't ever get stuck." I bought a Bronco to have fun doing something I always wanted to get into, not to have it sit in my driveway and look pretty, so getting stuck doesn't seem like too big a deal. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way, I guess.

rock crawler tires in mud lol
my sas with lockers would eat that mud hole like a prom night date

 

[Nate Train]

rock crawler tires in mud lol
my sas with lockers would eat that mud hole like a prom night date

I think the bigger problem was the ruts, much more than the mud. These tires have done just fine in other mud applications.

 

[kellyweiss]

I could have chosen my words better and I apologize for that. I'll be the first person to tell you my faults and one of my faults is I tend to be a little too forward (and I'm an asshole, as my wife would put it). "Real content" wasn't the best description. "Stock vehicle content" would be a better description.

And as to everyone out there with the "Who cares what Jeepers think" line of thought: You should care, they are a part of the same off-road community. I'm on the board of directors for an off-road club with over 700 members, MOST are Jeeps. I feel like I'm always having to prove myself. I battle that every time I go out, and WIN that battle most of the time. I agree EVERYONE gets stuck sometimes. I've had to winch in a lot of cases. I just don't like to give them easy targets. If you're gonna see me fail, it's going to be doing something where a Rubicon on 37's is likely also going to fail. Yes this was a stock Bronco, yes it was a high centered issue because of ruts under water (worse than it looks), yes a stock JL Sport also would have been stuck, BUT it does look easy and it looks like the Bronco isn't very good off-road. Is that a fair assessment, NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, but that's what it is.

 

[kellyweiss]

Oh, I'm not upset with you at all, man. I totally get what you're saying. I think part of this too was that I didn't give enough clear video evidence of what happened because I was too focused on getting myself out. So I guess this is a lesson in videography and content production as much as it is a out off roading.

But... I've also had some successes in my videos. I even got through a mud hole that, upon initial inspection, looked worse than this one. Check out my Miller Creek video, if you're interested. Did Engineer Pass too. Holy Cross is a little out of my wheelhouse for the time being, but I hope to get there one day.

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