Trailhead Trouble

[Peak200]

Omg sorry I don’t have any stories as great as these.
Absolutely hilarious .
Some of them were probably not funny while living
Them .
You can’t make this sht up

[NathanRL]

I bumped into a couple guys on Castle who had gotten their Jeep up to 11,500, but blown a tire in the process. They said they were just going to deal with putting on the spare later. Hope it worked out for them!

And how about those people at the Winter Welcomer this year who tried to do a car shuttle but forgot the keys to one car. I don't remember what happened to them.

[bergsteigen]

I’ve had a few flat tires. Always a joy to come back from a hike or a backpack to find one of those. Oklahoma group and Sand Creek come to mind, plus one fantastic blow out in Alaska just as I parked it! Thankfully I carry a regular floor jack and impact driver to make the process quite easy, especially with Tacoma clearance.

I took my Tacoma waaaay off grid in Alaska to hike Mt Prindell for the solstice. I crossed this river without checking it out first, so I didn’t notice a couple of large boulders on the driver side. I drove over the first one, but the splash down on the other side stalled the truck with a plume of water vapor! I couldn’t go forward, so I had to put it in reverse. But the mud flap was against the Boulder, so I couldn’t get any traction. So I had to gun it and power rip off the mud flap, then do a high angle tippy reverse to get out of the River. Next day on the hike, I found that the road ended in a quarter mile. Not bad for ~100 miles outside of Fairbanks and hours from cell service! Learned a fairly critical lesson - always scope the stream crossings first!

The 3.6R Subi is a battery whore and it constantly dies. I now have to keep it on a trickle charger if I don’t drive it for a few days. I have a battery jumper, but sometimes the battery dies the big death, and won’t work. Probably need to get something more powerful. Even my AGM battery that I got in March dies frequently. Battery died once at a gas station, when I just turned on the aux to roll down the window. By then, the battery jump routine was frequent and often. The dealer claimed there wasn’t anything wrong with the battery. Finally after 2 years they agreed and replaced it on warranty, even though that had already ended. Thank goodness for documentation of my frequent complaints.

I think it was 2 years ago when my front brakes finally went out on my ‘02 Tacoma while driving home from near Indy Pass. Lasted 16 years since it’s a stick and I don’t tend to use the brakes much on it. So driving home wasn’t a big deal, I just had to keep a bigger following distance to allow for downshifting.

Back when I first started hiking 14ers, I had a pathetic 2WD Tacoma and managed to get it stuck at the American Basin TH on wet grass on a slight incline. Zero traction. Back then, there wasn’t much traffic up there, so I got lucky that a Texan in a rental keep showed up and helped me by pushing the truck off the grass so I could drive out.

[Candace66]

In July 2015, I drove my fairly new (only 5K miles on it) Wrangler Rubicon way up into Mosquito Gulch. As in, about 1.5 miles up a bumpy jeep trail from the Mosquito Pass Road. I was parked at about N 39.317368, W 106.159997 near the flattened building you can see on satellite pics.

I parked it there, and headed off to climb 13ers Mt Tweto and Mt Arkansas. When I got back, I pushed the unlock button on the key fob and nothing happened. Tried it several more times, nothing happened. Seemed odd the key fob batteries would go dead so soon. But no problem, I thought, I'll just unlock the driver's door the old-fashioned way. This of course triggered the alarm to go off. I put the key in the ignition, expecting to start the engine, which would then shut off the alarm.

My memory is a little fuzzy now. But either the engine would turn over without starting, or it would start briefly then immediately shut down. I don't remember which now. I do know the alarm just kept going off. I had to disconnect the horns (yes, there were two). Then, amazingly, a couple guys on quadrunners showed up. They tried to help me get it started but the Jeep was having none of it.

I packed an overnight bag, and rode down on the back of one of the quadrunners. I recall one of the guys attempting to get advice via cell phone (once we found a signal) from a mechanic he knew. We actually went back up and tried the suggestion(s), but the vehicle was still disabled. I ended up getting a ride from them to Fairplay and grabbing a room at the Western Inn motel.

The next morning, I called the nearest Jeep dealer up in Silverthorne. He was adamant it was the battery. A woman at the motel (the owner?) drove me up to the Mosquito Pass Road in her little car. The previous evening, a family camping up there in a big truck camper found out about my plight and had offered to help. Up the bumpy road again, this time with dad and the battery from their camper (!), on their quadrunner. (At least this one had a nice aftermarket seat on the back, with heated handgrips no less...much better than my tailbone bouncing on the rear cargo rack of the previous day's quadrunner.)

Alas, the battery swap didn't help. So we went back down, and I ended up basically hitching a ride with someone back to Fairplay for another night at the Western Inn. I arranged a tow (with the help of Chrysler roadside assistance) for the following morning. Carefully explaining to the tow outfit where the Jeep was, and that a 4WD recovery vehicle would be necessary to bring my Jeep down to the Mosquito Pass Road.

Next morning, a regular rollback tow truck shows up with one guy driving it. I wanted to tear my hair out by this point. He seemed to assume I was exaggerating or just didn't know what I was talking about. But called his shop (up in Frisco) and had them dispatch a second rollback carrying their big old K5 Blazer 4WD recovery vehicle.

The second guy arrives with the mighty K5 on board, and we all headed up the Mosquito Pass Road to the turnoff for the jeep trail. They unloaded the K5, and we all bounced up to my Jeep. By the time we got there, they no longer doubted the Blazer was needed. They hooked up with a tow strap and dragged the Jeep down. By the time it and the K-5 were loaded on the rollbacks, the usual midday thunder and rain storm had moved in.

At the dealer, they ended up replacing the TIPM computer (twice, I believe!), to no avail. Further investigation revealed some damaged wires above the fuel tank. The fuel tank was removed, the wires solder-spliced, everything was put back together, and amazingly the vehicle ran again. Albeit with some quirks which ultimately required the TIPM to be replaced a third time!

Suspicion for causing this ordeal immediately fell on the marmots. But I've never been sure if they chewed the wires and caused the computer to short out. Or if the vehicle died because the computer failed, and then the marmots chewed the wires during the two nights/days the dead Jeep sat up there.

[supranihilest]

I camped overnight near treeline in Missouri Gulch in January once. I was too tired the next morning to climb anything, so after wasting all that time and effort I packed up and went back to the trailhead, where I discovered I'd left the dome light on in my car, which killed the battery. Nothing like having to hike out on the road in the cold to get cell service. After hiking a few miles some folks did drive by and picked me up and took me to Leadville, where I called my insurance. Jumping the car didn't work, I had really killed it good, so I needed a tow. My insurance would pay for the I think 148 mile tow to Golden, which was my Honda dealership of choice (since it was within 150 miles specified in the policy, even though technically Colorado Springs was closer; I lived in Boulder at the time), but wouldn't pay for the "offroad" fee to the trailhead. This "offroad" section started something like 4 miles off US 24, and the entire road is 2WD dirt. It's exactly the same quality from the highway all the way to the trailhead. So they'd pay for 144 miles of paved road and 4 miles of dirt road, but not 3.5 miles of dirt road. Those 3.5 miles of dirt cost me something like $350 in towing fees.

TL;DR I hate insurance companies and tow companies.

[EatinHardtack]

I’ve had a few flat tires. Always a joy to come back from a hike or a backpack to find one of those. Oklahoma group and Sand Creek come to mind, plus one fantastic blow out in Alaska just as I parked it! Thankfully I carry a regular floor jack and impact driver to make the process quite easy, especially with Tacoma clearance.

I took my Tacoma waaaay off grid in Alaska to hike Mt Prindell for the solstice. I crossed this river without checking it out first, so I didn’t notice a couple of large boulders on the driver side. I drove over the first one, but the splash down on the other side stalled the truck with a plume of water vapor! I couldn’t go forward, so I had to put it in reverse. But the mud flap was against the Boulder, so I couldn’t get any traction. So I had to gun it and power rip off the mud flap, then do a high angle tippy reverse to get out of the River. Next day on the hike, I found that the road ended in a quarter mile. Not bad for ~100 miles outside of Fairbanks and hours from cell service! Learned a fairly critical lesson - always scope the stream crossings first!

The 3.6R Subi is a battery whore and it constantly dies. I now have to keep it on a trickle charger if I don’t drive it for a few days. I have a battery jumper, but sometimes the battery dies the big death, and won’t work. Probably need to get something more powerful. Even my AGM battery that I got in March dies frequently. Battery died once at a gas station, when I just turned on the aux to roll down the window. By then, the battery jump routine was frequent and often. The dealer claimed there wasn’t anything wrong with the battery. Finally after 2 years they agreed and replaced it on warranty, even though that had already ended. Thank goodness for documentation of my frequent complaints.

I think it was 2 years ago when my front brakes finally went out on my ‘02 Tacoma while driving home from near Indy Pass. Lasted 16 years since it’s a stick and I don’t tend to use the brakes much on it. So driving home wasn’t a big deal, I just had to keep a bigger following distance to allow for downshifting.

Back when I first started hiking 14ers, I had a pathetic 2WD Tacoma and managed to get it stuck at the American Basin TH on wet grass on a slight incline. Zero traction. Back then, there wasn’t much traffic up there, so I got lucky that a Texan in a rental keep showed up and helped me by pushing the truck off the grass so I could drive out.

Not even a mention of Mosquito Pass with the 3 whacked out dudes with guns, meth, brown liquor and Oreos?

[bergsteigen]

Not even a mention of Mosquito Pass with the 3 whacked out dudes with guns, meth, brown liquor and Oreos?

Had forgotten about that one!

I frequently car camp at trailheads to make ski mountaineering mornings less onerous. But Mosquito Pass is a zone I will think twice about in the future. Was about to ski London with Zach and Rob and thankfully they arrived before the locals showed up bright eyed and bushy tailed, high on meth driving their old SUV, drinking whiskey (?) out of a tumbler. For some reason the driver insisted that we get Oreos. Thankfully Rob stepped up and collected our Oreos, as I’m trying to figure out a way to get out of there, but their vehicle is blocking us in. After the Oreo handout, they turn around, almost get stuck in a snow bank and drive a short way to start their sunrise target practice. Nothing like ascending The Wave couloir to the sounds of gunshots!

Just proves the locals party so hard, they’re still up at it, while I’m putting on my ski boots.

[Will_E]

I camped overnight near treeline in Missouri Gulch in January once. I was too tired the next morning to climb anything, so after wasting all that time and effort I packed up and went back to the trailhead, where I discovered I'd left the dome light on in my car, which killed the battery. Nothing like having to hike out on the road in the cold to get cell service. After hiking a few miles some folks did drive by and picked me up and took me to Leadville, where I called my insurance. Jumping the car didn't work, I had really killed it good, so I needed a tow. My insurance would pay for the I think 148 mile tow to Golden, which was my Honda dealership of choice (since it was within 150 miles specified in the policy, even though technically Colorado Springs was closer; I lived in Boulder at the time), but wouldn't pay for the "offroad" fee to the trailhead. This "offroad" section started something like 4 miles off US 24, and the entire road is 2WD dirt. It's exactly the same quality from the highway all the way to the trailhead. So they'd pay for 144 miles of paved road and 4 miles of dirt road, but not 3.5 miles of dirt road. Those 3.5 miles of dirt cost me something like $350 in towing fees.

TL;DR I hate insurance companies and tow companies.

You took your Supra on a dirt road? In winter?

[SchralpTheGnar]

I came back from a hike on thirsty peak in the Sangres in 1999 and found my car up on 4 blocks, the tires ALL stolen, and the transmission gone as well, there was a band of mountain living gypsies that I THINK were responsible, fortunately I carry 4 spare tires and an extra transmission along with a hydraulic Jack, so it wasn’t that big of a deal, lesson learned though!!

[AndrewLyonsGeibel]

I camped overnight near treeline in Missouri Gulch in January once. I was too tired the next morning to climb anything, so after wasting all that time and effort I packed up and went back to the trailhead, where I discovered I'd left the dome light on in my car, which killed the battery. Nothing like having to hike out on the road in the cold to get cell service. After hiking a few miles some folks did drive by and picked me up and took me to Leadville, where I called my insurance. Jumping the car didn't work, I had really killed it good, so I needed a tow. My insurance would pay for the I think 148 mile tow to Golden, which was my Honda dealership of choice (since it was within 150 miles specified in the policy, even though technically Colorado Springs was closer; I lived in Boulder at the time), but wouldn't pay for the "offroad" fee to the trailhead. This "offroad" section started something like 4 miles off US 24, and the entire road is 2WD dirt. It's exactly the same quality from the highway all the way to the trailhead. So they'd pay for 144 miles of paved road and 4 miles of dirt road, but not 3.5 miles of dirt road. Those 3.5 miles of dirt cost me something like $350 in towing fees.

TL;DR I hate insurance companies and tow companies.

You took your Supra on a dirt road? In winter?

Pretty sure that’s Latin and not a car reference.

I had a dead battery once and a broken windshield once.

[climbingcue]

I carry a booster pack for just that reason. It's a lot less work than bump starting, especially if you're traveling alone.

I've read varying reviews on the booster packs.

Which one do you carry and have you ever had to use it?

This is the one I have and it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-GB40-UltraS ... NrPXRydWU=

[12ersRule]

When I was finishing up a hike on Holy Cross, I felt a sharp pain on the back of my head. Next thing, I knew, I was laying in a bathtub of ice water and the back of my head and mid-section and back were absolutely throbbing. Right in front of me taped to the wall opposite me was a note "Call 911 if you want to live". I called 911 on my cell phone, which was left right next to me. The operator asked me to touch my back, I reached behind myself and felt a long scar down my lower back. After an hour of agony, an ambulance showed up and rushed me to a medical center in Vail. The doctor told me that one off my kidneys had been removed and I was extremely fortunate that more of my organs hadn't been harvested. Needless to say, I haven't been back to HC ever since.