Otay Truck Trail Recovery 4/8/15

I decided to write this thread to make sure that mistakes like this might be prevented this is not to bash anyone and I will be happy to help out anyone that gets stuck especially when their finding out their limits and the limits of there truck. I am not an expert on off-roading but there are some tips I would like to throw out there and I would appreciate any other advice from our fellow Tacoma members that chime in on this. Anyone new to off-roading or maybe even experienced offroaders such as myself can learn from others on this forum I know I learned from Chris (Nsearch) as he is a wealth of information just getting down a step incline with tons problems along the way.

If you going offroading by yourself which you shouldn't really do in the first place but you can. I suggest you bring a
few essentials:
-2 Gals of water, Snacks/Food the further out you go the more food and water.
-Jacket/blanket (it gets cold some times!)
-Roadflares

For the truck:

-Shovel/Max trax (Max trax are awesome!)
-Recovery Hitch and Tow strap
-Jumper cables/ if your alone you can get solo jumpers
-1 to 2 spare tires 2 recommended and full size if possible
Extras optional but recommended:
-Tool set everything from a screwdriver to a ratchet set can be helpful
-Hi lift or Hydraulic jack the stock one isn't very useful when you have 33 inch tires and in the sand...
There's more but those are some suggestions.


On Tuesday a member was on Otay Truck Trail. He has a 2 wheel drive, Double cab with all terrain tires, TRD offroad package with Rear Locker. While on the trail he took a turn off which is at a 35 degree slope with loose gravel to make matter worse. He wasn't trying to do any serous off-roading but I would say he defiantly did considering how bad that incline was he did whether he wanted to or not. He even made it 60 percent of the way and part of that was in the dark so I am giving him credit he got that far. Before we continue here a video of a member going up and down it for reference I still think the video does not do it justice and the member that got high centered has 2 wheel drive and not 4 wheel drive in the video.

So Wednesday April 9th me, Rodrigo (Trigo), and Chris (Nsearch) set off on Otay Truck trail to find it and get the truck home. After talking to the member he said it was bad and non of us believed it was as bad as he says. After looking at it and realizing the steep incline as well as all of us loosing our footing just trying to jack it up we realized non of our trucks was going to go down it and winch it or tow it back up and the only way to option was to get it down as there was no way in hell it would go back up. While driving up it in one of our trucks is doable towing a another truck up would be impossible.

Hers where it was sitting when we got to it:










So after getting to the truck we realized it wasn't completely high centered but was actually on a rock on the rear axle lifting up the rear tires if he had 4wheel drive he might still have been stuck since the axle (pumpkin) was hooked on the rock. So we got out the jack and started cranking.

















Then we spent the next two hours filling dips with rocks so the truck would'nt high center Nsearch did alot of the rock moving go chris!
As we gradually made it down the slope basically we just had him on the brakes the whole time and he would let off a little it would slide and when it stoped we would go from there. It would literally slide for 30 seconds steering was useless sometimes even on 10 psi




Chris was happy we got it down in one piece but then he was like well now what!?!

We spent the next two hours figuring out how to get the truck out of the trail and on to the pavement



We got to chilis for some well deserved beers and food

 

Saw the SOS post on instagram and Socal TW. Glad someone made it out there. I would have gone but it was alittle far from Norcal.

 

Subd

 

Looks like fun.

 

Why couldn't this have happened on a weekend! Damn you work! Glad you guys were able to rescue the truck.

 

glad to here that good looking truck got rescued. i would have assisted but not familiar with that trail

 

I have driven the trail a couple of times you don't need much I had no idea this section even existed haha

 

That's impressive, both that the truck got out there in 2WD, that it got rescued by the local TW chapter, and the views! Sub'd!

 

He just backed up with some shovel work? Not bad. No wonder why it took so long. That crest is steep

 

We all did good yesterday ... The pics don't do that hill justice.. I'm sure he learned a good lesson " Look Before You Leap"
It feels good to help if you can to get people out of a good time turning bad ... I was worried his truck was going to be stripped when we got to it

 

Glad to see he made it out ok. I dont suppose you got GPS on the recovery spot?

 

I've got a link to the spot in the San Diego bs thread.



You guys didn't even bother trying to get him up the smaller trail to the left? Hahah

 

Fortunately that entire area is pro actively patrolled everyday by USBP even if you don't see'em they're there lol glad you guys could help out and get him and his truck home safe!

 

There is no small trail to the left there is to the right but its just as steep we took the long way around and found that pink/red gate but decided to just drive all the way around to the top where all our trucks were parked which took about an hour after navigating some more terrain like that rock bed!

 

Figured you guys drove down it, the trail is on the left hand side when your headed back up

 

Looks like fun. Was this on the east or west end of the trail? Guess I'll have to cheek the BS thread. I like Otay truck trail area.

 

Glad you guys got out of there safely. My buddy who works in that area was off work that night, but just confirmed with me they had a recon position somewhere off in the distance and took note of the truck after you guys left it. Sucks there wasn't any communication between the sheriff that picked you guys up and any other agents in the area. Believe it or not there was 1 group of aliens that walked passed the truck near the bottom of that hill in the early hours on 4/8 Lucked out again cuz they woulda tried to break in had they seen it!

 

That's awesome that you guys were able to help out. TW rocks!

 

Glad he was able to get down eventually! But I wouldn't call the "Rugged Terrains" all-terrain tires. They absolutely SUCK. I'm actually surprised gravity didn't take the pumpkin off the rock, it looks STEEEEEP! Good work TW!

 

Sub'd! Saw this on the TW Insta. Been curious as to how it shook out. Great write up.