Knowing better . . .

doesn't mean you aren't going to go ahead and do it anyway.

It snowed, heavy, late last week.  The snow came in on Tuesday night and it really dumped.  Deer season started on Friday.

I took the day off from work.

It's not that I expected it to be snowy.  I expected it to be muddy.

Early in the morning, it really wasn't however.  The mud was frozen.  I knew, however, that wouldn't last.  I drove on anyhow.  Indeed, right up to a fence where I had to turn back.

I went to chain up, as I was sliding off of the road.

They wouldn't fit.

That's because a year or two ago I changed tire sizes.  Tired of always being high centered, I went up as much as I could on the stock rims.  I knew at the time that might impact my chains, but I didn't do anything about it right away, and I'd forgotten in the interim.

Well, I crawled out of that area and tried another one, until the mud turned me back.

It dawned on me then that I might be able to get where I wanted to go from the backside, which was 2,000 feet higher and which, had access off of an old highway into the high country.  The snow probably hadn't melted yet, I figured.  But would there be a lot of it?

Well, there's only one way to tell.

So I drove up and on to the road.  There was actually quite a bit of traffic coming off of it, which nearly deterred me from going further, as it probably would be pointless, but I went on. Soon the traffic dropped off.

Now, on the road I was on, there is a major slope.  I'd guess you'd call it a road up the mountain.  Not like going from the base of a mountain to its top, but a pretty good slope.  I'd decided that once I got there, I'd access it and only go on if it looked good.

Well, at the base I met a truck from California coming out. . . and then two ATVs licensed in the Golden State also coming out.  

I seriously thought about turning back. . . I knew better.  

But, if they'd come out. . . .

So I went up.

3/4s of the way and slid off the road into a ditch.  Luckly it was against the mountain, not the other direction.

But I was really stuck, and going uphill, and blocking the road.

Well, I reasoned, after it became clear I coudn't get out, I'd seen traffic coming down, and I was almost up.  If I could make another 40 yards, and I'd be in the clear.

Nobody came by.

I dug and dug to no avail.  Finally, after being stuck some time, I called my wife to let her know, as it looked pretty certain I'd be spending the night there.

She called a really handy friend who was at work, in an outdoor job, and who indicated that he'd be on the way as soon as he could.

I went back down and applied all the knowledge on getting unstuck that I had.  I jacked up the rear of the truck with my handyman jack.  I gathered a lot of dead wood and got it under the back left tire that was the most stuck.  I gathered a large rock to put behind it so it wouldn't roll back into the pit, but up on the rock.

And I became unstuck. . . for about 30 yards when I slid back in.

So I started the process again. . but as I did, a truck started coming down.

It was two trucks.

And not other hunters, but guys from this county checking remote radio towers.  One, a contractor, had a truck one year older than mine, but in better shape.  He chained all the way up, and he pulled me out.

And I'd known better the entire time.