Tuesday, June 11, 2024, at 4:37 a.m. (ET), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Maine. The requester, Laurie Ellis, submitted the following information: “Bakers Pond Rd, off the Hole in the Wall Road Athens, Maine. I’m having trouble finding the GPS location as there is no service there. We are stuck in about 5 feet of water and have not been able to get it in neutral as far as I can tell. I have done everything we know how. A tow truck can not get down in there. / I’m with the vehicle.“
Our general administrator for the portal, David Mrak, organized this recovery, contacted the requester, and verified the GPS location and situation before sending the request to local volunteers within a 45-mile radius.
From the volunteers contacted, we had two responding, Craig Pushard and Benjamin Jenkins. Craig took it upon himself to contact Laurie and within minutes got ready to meet with her at the scene.
A few days later, Craig sent us some photos and notes to share here.
Note from Craig
Jeep was stuck on an immovable object (rock ledge or log) could not pull it forward. Someone else had tried to wrap the winch line around the bumper instead of using the welded tow points. They cut into the bumper with the winch line and twisted the steel.
Before pulling on any part of this jeep I walked around it feeling for what it was hung up on. Decided that pulling it forward from where it sat would not work. It’d need an upward lift (didn’t have any options for that) or to be pulled backwards and repositioned in the hole to get around the object it was stuck on.
So, I ran the winch extension out to an 8 in-round tree, put a tree saver strap on it, then snatched the block, sending the line to the hitch of the Jeep. Threw wheel chucks under the front tires of the recovery truck and began to pull…. Jeep didn’t move. The tree moved even with the strap at the base of the trunk. It pulled the tree out at the roots. So I got another strap and found a tree that was about 2ft in diameter 20ft away… Ran.. swam.. mucked back to the truck to get more strapping lol from there pulled the jeep out about 4-5ft backwards.
Had to drag the nose of the Jeep towards the driver side of the hole to get around the immovable object then winched it forward while steering it out of the hole.
We appreciate Craig’s job; this was an awesome recovery. Also, we are very thankful for the follow-up text and photos. (Offroad recovery in Maine)
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