A beautiful Mountain Day + Mud = Adventure

While the kids are off with their dad this holiday weekend, Rob and I headed out for a day of hunting. We headed to some beautiful mountains and were hoping to see some elk or deer. We saw some gorgeous scenes. You know, there's a LOT of water up here!

Awww, pretty creek.

Lazy photographer ;)

This was just a cool rock!

Fog in the mountains. One lone yellow tree on the hillside.

The Mighty Hunter!

Lots of long, wooded roads. Beautiful - but muddy.

The muddy, steep, woody trails often make it difficult for tires to get traction and go back up them. Especially big, heavy vehicles with not-so great tires.

Which then makes it impossible to get back UP the steep, muddy, wooded roads. Even trying to place twigs and branches under the tires for traction, and winching it up leaves no results. You realize - you're stuck. With no cell service. In the middle of nowhere. At least it's hunting season, so there are others around. However - you're down a steep, muddy, wooded road where few other hunters and silly enough to try and go down. So then...

You leave your gimpy husband behind in the truck and hike out to find help. Armed with his cell phone - for whenever you get back into ranger - to call his cousin who happens to own a tractor. Hoping that said cousin is home and able to come help. You hike a good mile or so up steep, wooded, MUDDY roads. Oh, and your husband, who said, "Trust me - I won't get us somewhere where we can't get out" also said "No, you won't need your hiking boots" so you're wearing some slip on clogish shoes. I wish this picture showed how steep it was.

Or how steep some of the other parts of the roads that I hiked were. Filled with muddy water filled ruts. And mud. there was lots and lots of mud. Remember all that water in this state? Yup - it creates lots of mud. That I HIKED in. A good 2 miles or so before I found some lone hunter and his son who were headed home and willing to give me a ride so I could get into cell phone range and call said cousin. Who DID happen to be home. We were right near this crossroad. I only had ONE panick attack about getting lost in the wooded mountains and not knowing where I was and that I was going to be a news story. I actually took pictures of every fork in the road, etc so I could find my way back. A modern Hansel and Gretel.

So, Cousin Matt met me in town. Luckily - he lives just 10 minutes away from the town where I ended up - just down at the base of the mountain. We took his truck and went to rescue my gimpy husband who had started to hike out. After the two men kicked around several ideas - I made the command decision that we would NOT be wasting time trying a variety of different ways to get out, but to go right for the big guns - hauling his tractor up the mountain and dragging our truck out of the mud. So, we drove back to his house. His brother brought the trailor over and we had the big trailer, with a tractor and 4 wheeler and headed BACK up the mountain - with Cousin Brian too.

When we got up there, I waited in the truck. It's DARK and I have apparently watched too many horror movies (3). And I know they go after the lone woman left behind while the men go off to do whatever. Luckily, they were back in about 30 minutes WITH our truck.

So, I'm tired and sore, but we're home safe. And with a very memorable story!