Friday, February 27th, 2026, at 9:51 p.m. (MT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in New Mexico. The requester, Jason Osburn, submitted the following information: “Was looking for dispersed camping on forest road 636 off Sunspot hwy (6563). Went approx 1 to 1.5 miles back and conditions kept getting worse. As I have a camping trailer towing behind me I tried to find the widest spot in the road I could to try to get turned around to go back out. Well that was as bad an idea as me trying to go down this road. Truck and trailer jackknifed on the grade and my truck is stuck in snow and ice. The ice is what’s the bigger problem. The more I tried to work my way out the more I slid towards the downside of the embankment. At this point I’m not sure I can get out. I’ve dug around every tire, shoveled dirt around for traction, everything I can think of. If I could get my front end slid straight I may could drive it out. Not sure what to do / I’m with the vehicle / I can help cover the cost of fuel.”
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 140-mile radius.
From the volunteers we contacted, we got Chris Kennelley marking himself as engaging and taking over the recovery immediately after the ticket was released to volunteers.
Later after the request was completed, Chris sent us a few photos and a quick note we share below.
From Chris
This is what we recovered him with. All in all worked out great. Only pictures I got. He had disconnected from the trailer, snatch blocked off of the tree and pull the front of the truck over and back up onto the road. Pulled the trailer back to where we can get it hitched back on the truck. Stayed there and made sure he was able to get all the way out of the snow packed areas.
We want to express our gratitude to Chris for the swift and excellent work done in this offroad recovery in New Mexico.
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