Two vehicles stuck on soupy muddy

Monday, March 24th, 2025, at 2:29 p.m. (PT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Oregon. The requester, Josh Sullivan, submitted the following information: “Two vehicles stuck on soupy muddy road roughly 200 yards off a gravel road. 1 Toyota Tacoma TRD off road and one Ford f350 / 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 55-mile radius.

From the group of contacted volunteers we had Shawn Beach taking over the recovery.

We later got some photos we share below and a few tips from Shawn, to help us learn what to do in situations like this one.

From Shawn

I’ve attached a few photos that show the conditions.

Overall, it was the standard Central Oregon muddy desert situation that occurs as the temperatures warm up and snow melts. The first vehicle, a Toyota Tacoma, was out in the area over the weekend while much of the area was frozen and/or under snow and got stuck early afternoon on Sunday during the warming temperatures. The second vehicle, a Ford F250, came onto the scene after dark on Sunday night to aide the first and underestimated the conditions. Neither vehicle had much in the way of recovery equipment except for a tow strap.

offroad recovery in Oregon — Photos by Shawn

I arrived around 11am and a second recovery vehicle soon after that. We put on our mud boots, assessed the scene, got everyone aired down, and went to work. In just over an hour of dirty work we had the stuck vehicles winched back onto an improved road, aired up, and rolling home. Everyone involved stayed patient and positive throughout the whole recovery.

My tip for this one would be that desert mud is very unforgiving and can turn even the best equipped vehicles into not much more than anchors. If you encounter it it’s best to really take a moment to think through what you’re getting into and what your options are for getting out of it.

We want to thank Shawn for an amazing job. He drove over 65 miles each way to help Josh in this offroad recovery in Oregon.

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