SLEEPING PRINCESS RUN AND RESCUE 12/13/15
Report Joan Beck, Phil Strittmatter. Photos Joan Beck and guests, Josh Galyen and Gary Terrelle
We received a call Saturday evening about a stranded Bronco on our adopted trail—the Sleeping Princess. Josh remembered from the kiosk sign that the Bullhead 4 Wheelers took care of the trail so got on the internet and found our number from the website. The Bronco had refused to obey its owner, Josh, and stubbornly went off the narrow road where fortunately a large boulder blocked its progress down into the canyon far below. The Bronco was high-centered! Josh and his buddy Curtis had a long hike out. Phil told him we had a club run the next day asking them to join us where we would assess the situation to see if we could perform a rescue. Josh and Curtis met us at Hwy 68 Sunday, hitched rides with Phil and me and off we went with eleven vehicles total. We had time to run Miller’s Extension and some of us ran Hell’s Half Mile–no problems for anyone.
As we headed toward the white rock for lunch we spotted the Bronco and stopped to evaluate the odds of making a recovery. Everyone was optimistic with a lot of ideas flowing back and forth. We continued up the mountain for a lunch break. While there we made a decision on how we would proceed with the recovery. Doug Ohm took over as leader gratefully accepting ideas from everyone with the final decision being up to Doug. Bob Wishart led the group back down the trail while five of us brought up the rear so we could place rigs in the rescue mode. George West positioned his Jeep on the downhill side of the road for the rescue with Mac Ruiz anchored to him and Phil anchored to Mac. On the uphill side Doug positioned his rig facing George with Joan anchoring Doug. Once the spectator gallery had assembled, the gang went to work climbing up and down rocky hillsides, hauling straps, winch cables and tools—everything was done with safety in mind.
From Phil: Two straps hooked in series around a gargantuan boulder up hill from the recalcitrant “horsie” provided attachment for a snatch block. This in turn was what allowed a nearly straight, rather than a badly angled winch pull to reinstall said Ford onto said road. In addition, another strap was threaded through door windows and over the top and hooked to George’s winch as a high point to prevent a potential rollover. Ready to go. But wait. There was still the big ugly rock that was high-centering Josh’s pride and joy. Out came Mr. High-lift to aid in creative rock ramping under Josh’s rig because the first winching attempt was unsuccessful—nor was the second attempt. Josh came up with the bright idea of removing the big ugly rock. After help from some of the group and digging around the base Josh crawled under the truck, grabbed the frame with his arms and used his legs to shove the monster out of the way—what a struggle. We couldn’t believe he moved that massive thing which probably weighed 600 or 700 pounds! Once that obstacle was removed up came the Bronco. All this was done on a very, very narrow road with the entire operation consuming about 1½ hours. The work team helping out was terrific; safety was checked and double checked throughout the entire rescue. The best part? Nobody injured; no damage to the truck; it was driven out under its own power and Josh had a huge grin on his face. Another happy ending and a feather in our collective caps. Phil.
Josh was very thankful for the rescue. We told him we were happy for the learning opportunity. Every rescue we accomplish has been just that and we’re grateful for the chance to help anyone in trouble on our trail. Josh and Curtis learned a valuable lesson—you never travel alone in the outback!