I got stranded while camping!

8" of snow with a front wheel drive minivan.. Never towed before, never towed up or down a mountain, and never driven in the snow. Had my wife and two kids in the car with Grandma & Great Grandma.. couldn't tell any of them I had no clue what I was doing..

Fun story.. would have been better in a 4x4 Taco truck..

 

Yeah, that was the memory that convinced the wife that we need a 4x4..

 

Cloudcroft, NM

very nice place, Lincoln National Forest surrounds the area and you can Camp anywhere you can drive to.

 

Cool! It was a really nice area, and the van didn't like the climb while towing from Alamagordo to cloudcroft.. Taco doesn't mind though.

 

i just saw this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091203/ap_on_re_us/us_tree_hunt_missing

Oregon tree cutters safe after 2 nights in snow

MEDFORD, Ore. – Authorities say a couple whose vehicle got stuck in the snow on a Christmas tree hunt high in the mountains near the Oregon-California border have returned after going missing for two days.
The Jackson County sheriff's office says Jennifer and Keith Lee of Medford were able to free their all-wheel drive Subaru by placing rocks under the wheels. They called deputies after they reached a small town near home.
Sheriff's Lt. Pat Rowland says the couple called as soon as they got a cell phone signal after hearing a massive search for them had begun.
Rowland says the couple had actually traveled across the border into California, away from the initial search area.
Deputies were interviewing the couple, who had been missing since Tuesday.

 

Pshh. bet they're gonna buy a truck now.

 

Here's the deal with my situation...I was up what's normally a dirt road that has a paved section in the center. The hills are North facing and icy, (especially where the asphalt is) and steep as hell. So no luxury of any plows, and yes, tons of ice...snow is 1 thing, ice is entirely another. I've had my butt pucker even in the 4x4 with 37" Baja Claws, ice and no chains. For all out wheelin'...it's gonna be 2 sets of chains for my 4x4 in the future.(especially when towing deep into the hills). We camp as far away from people as we can.

 

yea i used to run a tow truck.. i can remember having to go get a stuck truck up on the mountain once... there was about 6-8" of snow and the top layer was frozen so hard that the truck would barely crack it. was in an 88 1ton chevy wrecker.. had dual chains on the rear and chains on the front to... man that was one heck of a ride getting it up the mountain and back down again........

 

Hi I'm a soon to be a Taco owner. 2000 SR5 Fla truck 4x4 5spd 60k. Could have used it the past two weeks. Warm temps brought 3 storms 8" a hit of mash potato snow. Here in northern NH. Best tires are a narrow, skinny tires to concentrate the load in a small spot. In the early 70's I had a Volvo 140 as my transportation to work as a carpenter. I could always get to the job site. Despite the narley looking trucks had to wait until the road was plowed. Talk about pissing off the locals.... Big tires look cool but are a disadvantage in the snow.

 

cloudcroft and ruidoso are my elk hunting stomping grounds!

 

Looks like it was a fun time. You got to hang out with that special someone.

 

That's not snow........

I could still find my golfball in that.