The Impossible Tahoe Turn and Burn, Day 4 - Part 1
The Impossible
Tahoe Turn & Burn is an 8 part series,
so be sure to start with Day 1
This morning
was earlier than any yet, but all I wanted after a rough night's sleep in the cold, with inadequate gear (always an avoidable mistake), was to wake up, break camp, and promptly climb into the heated seat of the trusty Trail Boss with heat blowing full blast on my numb red cheeks. We didn't even repack tents, just threw everything on the truck, in the interest of warmth, to get moving off the mountain and catch the sunrise over the valley below.
As previously mentioned, the roads are expertly maintained, magnificent even, and looked to be well worn paths. We asked the locals at Lucky Spur about the current condition of the roads through the pass and they said they would be fine.
And everything was fine, until it wasn't.
About halfway down the mountain we came around a bend and where normally there would just be a spring flowing across the road, there was a thick sheet of ice that not only covered the road, but created a smooth slope on the toward the edge, a drop-off into a ravine some 20' deep. This was not good. It looked virtually impassable, but the only other option was to drive back up the mountain in reverse, a long way and hard way to do it.
We got out and assessed the situation, as we'd done many times before in other remote locations under a variety of circumstances. Josh voiced his plan, and it sounded possible but still sketchy, but seemed like the best option even though it wasn't great. In a situation like this, it's good to have only one person assuming the risk so if anything goes wrong, there is still an able-bodied person to seek help, which often means hiking out a long way with terrible things on your mind. So I hopped out and walked down the hill below and did two things: record a video for posterity, and cross my fingers for good luck.
As he began his descent, the thin mountain air seemed thick somehow, and the only sound was that low crunch of tires on ice that no driver enjoys. Everything seemed to be working out as planned,
then a little bump set the truck in motion and I watched (truly) in horror as my best friend started sliding out of control towards a long fall, inside a vehicle…..
…..the truck stopped, one tire wedged precariously on an icy rock, the only thing keeping it from sliding into the ravine. It was unnerving to say the least.
Josh got out of the truck, with a wild look on his face and catching his breath, both of us knowing full well how serious of a situation that it had just been, and that it still was. Even though he'd survived that, our truck was still wedged sideways on a steep forestry road miles from more nothing in very cold mountain morning air.
We assessed the new situation, discussed possible strategies including the scenario where he'd bail out of the truck if things went... downhill.
Best to be prepared,
even if for a terrible outcome. In the end, his wild idea worked. With a little brute force from the Trail Boss and little wit using the ice and the lightweight of the truck bed to his advantage, he somehow pulled the truck away from the edge and got it straight on the road, albeit facing uphill. These roads are very tight with relatively nowhere to turn around, and with this ice sheet, that wasn't even a possibility anyway. So he did the only thing he could and backed the truck downhill through the last of that icy spot, then again through one more below it, until finally getting to a spot where he could turn around.
Finally, both of us back in the truck and rolling slowly in the right direction, we wondered (worried) that this may have been just the first of several.
How many times would we have to do this today?
Would we even make it out?
Would the folks at the Lucky Spur say "We tried to tell them not to do it!"?(They didn't, by the way, and we’re not putting any blame their way either. We chose our path.)
And folks, this was all before the sun had even come up over the mountains. Day 4 was already off to a rollicking start. For the next stretch of miles down the mountains and through the valley, we'd both break patches of silence with a "Man, WTF, did that just happen?"
It was on our minds, still, how close we'd come to a whole other kind of journey.
