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Yup, another solution is to use a short wheelbase vehicle such as a Jeep. @norseman should have taken his Mahindra.

I got out last weekend to the general area I'd been poking about in. Nixed the atv rails-to-trails access point for another decommissioned railway leading into a nice boggy woodland after passing through a bit of blueberry barren. The beaver have dammed up the bridges-turned-culverts and raised the water up to the old rail road grade in places: Passing one of the many interconnected boggy beaver ponds: Another, with fresh lodge renovations: Followed some Bobcat tracks for a while: And in the barrens, a mysteriously appearing set of meadow vole tracks. I looked at these for a while trying to ascertain the critters arrival at this spot. It's not quite the vanishing BF trackway in snow but interesting to speculate an answer. There was no other sign of tracks anywhere, no lightly scuffed versions on crustier snow and no tunnels that the critter crawled up from, must be aliens: I sliced out blocks with my knife surrounding the start point, expecting to see a tunnel, there wasn't one. ( I did fully encircle the entry point after this pic) My only guess is when the snow fell it was about 15 degrees--light and fluffy. The tracks didn't look too old but the temp had risen to 32-33. Maybe the tunnel through fluffy snow had collapsed/compacted with the temperature upswing- IDK. Yeah, unrelated to anything but observation/speculation... but I like doing that.

It was just supposed to be a three hour tour....Glad you made it out ok and only suffered the kicks you gave yourself. One of the tools in the recovery kit that never leaves the Rover is a hi-lift jack. Can be used as a short pull winch (need the accessory kit) with more pulling power (5000lbs) than a Masdam (which is in there too) But the ability to raise the truck up and place rocks/logs under the wheels is awfully handy. Typically a bumper jack, there is a hefty attachment (lift-mate) that would hook right onto the spokes of your rims and lift each wheel out. Inexpensive, sturdy and dangerous if used incorrectly but could be a lifesaver.

Hey All! I've been interested in yeti/sasquatch/bigfoot for many years. Have read every book I could get my hands on from the age of around 13 (in 1970) until now. I have a PhD in biology, have worked as a wildlife professional for many years, and have spent extensive periods of time in the wilderness. Have never seen a sasquatch myself but two colleagues I was working with 20 years ago in old growth forest on the Olympic Peninsula had the crap scared out of them by a classic threatening, territorial type encounter.

Norseman, I saw in another thread that your great-great-grandfather had the first car in Index, WA? So would you ever consider that the real cause of your "trainwreck" might be genetic? Here is a first Flanders automobile around Index (seriously? TWICE?) Could there be something to what folks say about the apple not falling too far from the family tree?:

Being older than virtually everyone here, I know how society was dealing with the Bigfoot phenomenon, before virtually anyone here was born. I also have extensive field experience where I failed to cherry pick the evidence in order to fit a square peg into a round hole. I also have highly sensitive audio recording equipment that I use to record sounds that I don't share with the public. I have hundreds of my own field experiences and also know exactly what the Government has stated publicly before and after Bigfoot became top secret, therefore I already have a sound understanding as to what the Bigfoot are.

A winch and a land anchor is good to have in the summer. Could be a bit tougher in the winter however.

We all err. It's how we handle it that matters. Just glad that you're safe and sound. Back in July, I committed a rookie error while out backpacking and had to have a friend bail me out. With decades of experience I knew better but decided to roll the dice. It came up snake eyes. Sometimes, it happens--but hopefully not too often.

Thanks for fessing up and providing the details that could keep forum members out of that kind of trouble. While experience is a valuable teacher most of us would prefer to learn such lessions from someone else. I often think cell phones cause more harm than good when we get to relay on them too much. Glad you got out safe.

Wow, scary! Glad you made it back in one piece, Norse. Lots of lessons in this one, and I'm not going to preach. It was courageous of you to post. I think you posted it before, but I will post it again for anyone reading this... Stay safe.

Norse, you're a straight shooter, truth-teller, and a born teacher. You were honest enough about your predicament to allow us to learn from your experience how to keep ourselves out of trouble. And being that it's Christmas and all, your story is the best gift to this community that you could have given. Thank you. VERY happy that you made it home safe and sound. I'll bet falling into a real bed felt pretty good, eh?