A different kind of recovery 02/04/10

[slosurfer]

I participated in a different type of vehicle recovery last thursday. It wasn't a "stuck" vehicle by most definitions but equally difficult and important.

Basically to make a long story short, there has been a local man missing since Dec. 23rd. His dog who was with him when he went missing was found in the woods up the coast from where I live on Jan. 20th and then his truck was found up there on Jan. 22nd or 23rd. They did a lot of searching up there and never found anything. Fast forward to Tues. Feb. 2nd and (through the powers of facebook), I found out that the family had not been able to make it up to the area the truck was in and that they in fact had tried once and had to turn around due to not having 4wd.

I recognized the area from some of their pics and reached out to them, to let them know that I could take them up there and I knew other people who would come if they needed more seats to take more people up there. Come to find out, the truck was still up there, and the forest service was holding them responsible for getting it removed. The missing man had both sets of keys with him, so it wasn't just a simple drop them off and drive it out type of thing. They were looking at $1500-$2500 to get a 4wd tow truck up there and retrieve it. Also, the truck was too old to just get a key made from the vin #, since there's no blanks anymore. So now it turned into not just get the family up there, but let's do this and get their truck out of there for them.

So two other people from slo4wheelers (Frank and Steve) volunteered, and Milton (aka cabbage) supplied us with the trailer. In less than 24hours from finding out about the situation, we had the people, rigs, trailer, and the plan. Huge thanks to Frank, Steve, Steve's wife Ann, and Milton!

The original plan was for Friday morning, in the hopes of getting up there between storms. Wednesday, they changed the forcast and said the first storm was going to miss us, but the second storm was coming a day early on Friday, so we bumped it up to Thursday morning.

Thursday morning, we met at 8am in Cambria. Everyone was right on time which was amazing since most had to travel an hour to meet there. We met the two family members and their friend, then they loaded their stuff in my 4runner and went with me from there. It's another hour of driving from there to where we hit the dirt road. From there it was going to be 12.5 miles of washed out NF roads to get to the truck. I think it took us another hour to get to the truck. The roads weren't that bad but not great and Frank was the man towing the trailer up there. Just to give you an idea, we went from sea level to over 3,000 ft. in a few miles, so some of the road was really steep and it was all curvy as heck, usually with a drop off on one side (and an awesome view of the ocean).

**All these pics are courtesy of the daughter in law, so please don't post these anywhere else**
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275054570130_1642945083_3070.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275054370125_1642945083_3070.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275054290123_1642945083_3070.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275057130194_1642945083_3070.jpg



We found the truck, which I know had to of been tough on the family, but they jumped right in an helped us out when needed to get the truck out.

First we had to drag it up the steep spur road it was parked on, so that we could get it to an area where we could figure out how to get it on the trailer. The police left it unlocked and it was a 2wd manual tranny which helped, but the steering wheel was locked with the front wheels just a little bit off from being straight. (i.e. it wasn't going to be going anywhere in a straight line).

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275055730159_1642945083_3070.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275055970165_1642945083_3070.jpg

We reached a turn in the steep spur road it was on and had to use the hilift to jack up the rear end and push it over to line the truck up. I think it took about 4 times and we had it lined up.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275056250172_1642945083_3070.jpg

*In the pics, it looks like I'm doing a "no-no" and having my head in the way of the jack handle. It is, but I'm actually lifting the jack head up to the bumper and getting the jack itself at the correct angle, so it hasn't actually had any pressure on it. For the jacking and everything else, you can believe me that my head was completely clear*

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275056370175_1642945083_3070.jpg

Got it up to the top from there. (gotta love being locked front and rear, made it super easy :) )

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275056810186_1642945083_3070.jpg

[L33T35T Tacoma]

That's what it's all about, helping those in need. Did they ever figure out what happened to the guy? How was was the dog from the truck?

[slosurfer]

Got the trailer in place and then it took some work moving the trucks back and front ends around to get it lined up on the trailer.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275057410201_1642945083_3070.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275057850212_1642945083_3070.jpg

The jeep with us had a winch, so we put a snatch block on the front of the trailer, and ran the line to the front of the truck. Wouldn't you know it, the winch wouldn't work! So the jeep had to just back up to pull the truck on.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275058930239_1642945083_3070.jpg

We still had to pull the front end around to get it lined up as we went up the trailer

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275059130244_1642945083_3070.jpg

Finally got it on!
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275059330249_1642945083_3070.jpg

It was really windy and cold up there! We didn't stick around long after finally getting it on.

Heading down
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275060610281_1642945083_3070.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/slosurfer27/Trips/jeep%20recovery%20Feb10/21964_1275060690283_1642945083_3070.jpg

We ended up getting out of there just in time. I talked to another guy who was up there on a motorcycle and came down after us. He said it started pouring rain and the visibility was 50ft coming down the road to the coast.

We got back to the chrysler dealership in SLO about 4:30 and dropped it off. It was a long day, but totally worth it. The family got to see where his resting place is, and they all said that it is more beautiful up there then any cemetary they've been too. I'm not sure what they are going to do about the truck, but at least they don't have to worry about getting it out of there. There was a facebook page that they had up since he went missing, that had more info, but they have taken it down now. I purposely left his name out, so please, if you know who I'm talking about please don't post his name. I think they are truely at a closure and moving on, so I don't want them to stumble upon this on accident.

[slosurfer]

That's what it's all about, helping those in need. Did they ever figure out what happened to the guy? How was was the dog from the truck?


He was found about 4 miles or so from the truck and almost a month after he went missing. It looks like he went up there and went for a hike or something and who knows what happened. The truck wasn't stuck and apparently he was an avid hiker and rockhound, but he had dementia. He had been up there before, so who knows. There are also a lot of mines up there too.

[04 Rocko Taco]

It's a sad story, but it feels good to have read it. There are a lot of people in this world, and a lot in our own sport that would not have gone to the lengths to help out like you guys did. I know the family appreciates it, and on behalf of our sport let me thank you also, its people like you that represent us well, and help to shine a positive light on our sport. Great Work Chris and gang.

[CJM]

Truly sobering, you did a good job Chris.

FWIW I bet you coulda unlocked the column had you opened it up a bit. Jeeps are really easy to do that with.

[Seanz0rz]

It's a sad story, but it feels good to have read it. There are a lot of people in this world, and a lot in our own sport that would not have gone to the lengths to help out like you guys did. I know the family appreciates it, and on behalf of our sport let me thank you also, its people like you that represent us well, and help to shine a positive light on our sport. Great Work Chris and gang.
:good:

[4x4mike]

Nice job Chris. I saw the FB photos and was going to ask what the deal was but pretty much got the idea.

[X-Tool Pimp]

Sorry to hear about the loss but Chris, you and your team rock for getting the truck home....

[Scuba]

Chris, Props to You, Frank and Steve for helping them out. Really nice of y'all to very help that family out.



This story really hit home.
When I was 10 my dad went missing (he's on alot of drugs). Low and behold he took a wrong turn and was only about 4 miles from our house in a canyon. But he had gotten his 2WD 4Runner stuck and decided to walk out. He doesn't walk well and didn't have his pain meds. 3 Day's later I awoke to my mom screaming THEY FOUND HIM!!
He had been in the wilderness for 2 nights and was going through withdrawl. 2 more hours out there he woulda been done.



So for the most part I know almost exactly what that family went through. God Bless you Chris and God Bless the family of the fallen hiker.

[slosurfer]

Thanks guys. Definately couldn't have been done without the help of the others, Frank, Steve, Milton, and (I hate to say it) Facebook. If I hadn't seen that one of my friends had joined the FB page dedicated to finding him and clicked there to see if there was any more info about him, I would have never known about the family's situation.

I knew the truck had been found and they had searched the area up there, but I just assumed the SAR folks and the forest service would have at least taken the truck down to the ranger station or maintenance yard. :shake:

I was thinking that, had I had time, I could have researched how to deal with that Jeep's steering column to at least get us steering. Oh well, at least the wheels weren't totally cranked to one side. :laugh:

[slosurfer]

Wow, the local paper did a little story on it on their online part (I don't think it made the actual paper though)

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/breaking_news/story/1029918.html?mitest=breaking_A_default

Cool thing is, I just found out that the family made a donation to Blue Ribbon Coalition in the clubs name and I guess sent a donation to the club as well! :thumbup:

[troyboy162]

man those word from the guys family in the comments sections are really something. nice work!

[habanero]

Words can't describe how important what you did is to the family. From experience I can tell you they'll never forget everyone who put forth the effort to help strangers. To you and anyone who've done likewise kudos, the best I can come up with but still a pale word for the heroes you are.