jtpedersen
Caught the Bug
Came across the picture again... This past October, my wife Kimberly and I were wheeling across Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The western half of UP had seen days of rain, just starting to slacken as we got to the Crystal Falls - Ironwood region (western half).
The trails were all heavily puddled. Twice we had to turn around, find another route. Water holes were sometimes 2-3x wider than the trail. It was like a splish'n'splash event
.
In one moderate-size hole, about 2.5x length of Stitch edge-to-edge, we started tip-toeing across. The bottom leveled out, felt Ok, water about even with the rockers, and we kept going.
About the length of the jeep from the far edge, the front of the jeep just dropped about 2-3'. Water was instantly same height as the the hood.
One of those times where I'm happy I didn't blink. Floored it. Instantly thinking if I stop I'm done. Amazing how time slows down, or your senses heighten, or... I'm thinking about where I'd winch from, winch being underwater a couple feet. Being all on our own a long walk from nowhere. The deep-sucking sound of the intake...must've been a -ton- of water scant inches from intake. Never heard that sound before.
Pushing forward the front starting climbing after just a couple feet, water just -cascading- over the hood...and then...after what seemed like an eternity, but probably only lasted 5 seconds, we were climbing up, out, and safe. Close.
Bless my wife's self-control and staying silent. A distraction would've been costly.
We continued driving on, in and out of rain, for a couple hours before I thought to take this pic. You can just barely see the high-water mark on the hood.
A great story to tell...Fortunately with a happy ending. But if you don't have events like this, you _have_ no stories to tell
The trails were all heavily puddled. Twice we had to turn around, find another route. Water holes were sometimes 2-3x wider than the trail. It was like a splish'n'splash event
.In one moderate-size hole, about 2.5x length of Stitch edge-to-edge, we started tip-toeing across. The bottom leveled out, felt Ok, water about even with the rockers, and we kept going.
About the length of the jeep from the far edge, the front of the jeep just dropped about 2-3'. Water was instantly same height as the the hood.
One of those times where I'm happy I didn't blink. Floored it. Instantly thinking if I stop I'm done. Amazing how time slows down, or your senses heighten, or... I'm thinking about where I'd winch from, winch being underwater a couple feet. Being all on our own a long walk from nowhere. The deep-sucking sound of the intake...must've been a -ton- of water scant inches from intake. Never heard that sound before.
Pushing forward the front starting climbing after just a couple feet, water just -cascading- over the hood...and then...after what seemed like an eternity, but probably only lasted 5 seconds, we were climbing up, out, and safe. Close.
Bless my wife's self-control and staying silent. A distraction would've been costly.
We continued driving on, in and out of rain, for a couple hours before I thought to take this pic. You can just barely see the high-water mark on the hood.
A great story to tell...Fortunately with a happy ending. But if you don't have events like this, you _have_ no stories to tell
