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Friday, October 26, 2018

Failed Woods Trip



Last week I helped a buddy set up a game camera. It's about 5 miles up a dirt road. We'd hoped to retrieve it today. Unfortunately, a couple of days ago we received a few inches of snow. It has not melted.

This dirt road used to get a lot of traffic, but we seemed to be the only vehicle on it since the snow. During the first couple of miles we made frequent stops to haul fallen trees and branches out of the way. My little front wheel drive car was doing fine. We got about half way in.

Then we came to a steeper hill. It was narrow and twisty. I walked up it a ways and removed some more fallen trees. When the car started up the hill the wheels spun a bit but then grabbed. The slippage was just enough for me to cancel the trip. There's ice under that snow. Even if we'd made it up the hill, coming down would be even dicier.

In my younger days I probably would have taken the chance and pushed on. Older, wiser and more injured me decided not to push it. Next week is supposed to be warmer so the snow might melt. We can always try again then.

We were perfectly happy not have slid off the road. Walking a few miles back to the hardtop wasn't something we wanted to do either. Instead we went back to my place, put a big pot of squash, corn, and ham stew on the woodstove, and had cups of coffee. Maybe wisdom does come with age.

-Sixbears

7 comments:

  1. "Older, wiser and more injured" certainly changes a feller's perspective.

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    1. It sure does. Been a long time since I was young and bulletproof.

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  2. Sounds like a wise choice. I've had times like that, but ignored commonsense and pressed on. A couple of months ago, I was cutting limbs in our pasture and was finished for the day. As I walked back to the car, I noticed a limb that should also be removed. Why get it later - I'm right here, already hot and sweaty with a chainsaw - what could happen ?

    Well, what happened was the limb was just a hair too thick for the pole saw, and I ended up locking the bar in the limb, stuck fast. I had to climb up (thankfully not too high) and jump up and down on limb until it just opened enough for saw to fall out. That was close - almost ended up leaving it there to be retrieved later.

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    1. You are lucky you didn't get hurt. That would have really brought the day to a bad end.

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  3. When I lived up north, I loved taking the 4x4 out to play in the snow. Taking shovels and a come-a-long with you is added insurance. I have had 4x4's buried in both snow and sand. Snow up north, sand down south.

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    1. My little economy car is not quite a 4X4. My lovely wife would not have been too pleased had I wrecked her car. There are times when I miss my big 4x4 Ford F-250. I would not have given the trip a second thought.

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