Two vehicles stuck in mud and ruts

Saturday, March 29th, 2025, at 0:38 a.m. (PT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery near the Painted Canyon Reservoir, in Oregon. The requester, Jennifer Lyman, Eric Kearney, submitted the following information: “Two vehicles stuck in mud and ruts. They tried chains and deflating with no luck. They are ok until tomorrow if they need to be there. Chevy truck and Toyota truck. / I’m with the vehicle”

Our administrator, Al Fontan, contacted the requester and verified the contact information provided, GPS location, and current situation before sending the request to local volunteers. In this particular recovery, we contacted volunteers within a 40-mile radius.

From the group of contacted volunteers we had Joshua Alvarado taking over the request, contacting the requester and heading over almost inmediately after the request was released.

A few days later we got a nice note from Joshua and a few cool photos we share down below.

From Joshua

What started off as a perfect day with dry weather quickly took a turn for the worse, as the region’s famously bipolar weather caught these folks by surprise. It began to rain and snow just enough to turn the normally rocky, hard packed terrain into a slippery, snotty mess. Thankfully this couple had a Garmin Inreach and were able to make contact for help.

Both vehicles held up well and only required a little assistance, though we did have to perform a kinetic pull and a winch pull to keep things moving. Some solid knowledge, guidance, and reassurance helped keep everyone calm and focused during the 4 hour trek back to pavement. Slow and steady really won the race here, as the ground became incredibly slick.

The ruts were deep(some over 2ft), the mountain descents were intense with the poor road conditions, and traction was nearly non existent for the entire night. If there’s one thing this experience reinforced, it’s the importance of always carrying recovery gear on any off road trip. It doesn’t matter how short or “safe” the trip seems—expect the unexpected. For example, if the bigger truck hadn’t had chains on the rear tires, things could have gotten a lot more challenging, given the tires it was running.

At the end of the day, everyone made it home safe, and they learned plenty of lessons that will make the next outing even better. Just wanted to pass on these reminders in case you’re planning an adventure of your own! We don’t get a whole lot of pictures due to time constraints and trying to beat another storm that was rolling in, but here’s what we had to show.

We want to thank Joshua for an amazing job. He finished the recovery around 9pm. Closed the request once he got service right around 10:15 pm.

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