My step son, Aaron mentioned that he had never been to the top of Santiago peak (the highest point in Orange County which is in the Cleveland National Forest near our house) and Colleen had never been all the way through to the Ortega Highway entrance. So, yesterday (7/20/13) Colleen, Aaron and I decided to take a leisurely drive through the forest. We drove through a light rain on the way up (bizarre for Orange Co CA in July) until we climbed above the clouds. It was a beautiful day up on the mountain. One thing we noticed was that the road has gotten a lot rougher than before and there was a lot of opposing traffic, which made passing a challenge on the narrow trails.
We were almost through to Ortega Highway when we encountered an older F250 parked on the shoulder. It was a very narrow section of trail, but this truck was parked so far off to the side we had no trouble getting by. Very considerate driver!
On closer inspection I noticed that the truck was actually high centered teetering on the berm at the edge of a several hundred foot drop-off. The wheels on the passenger side are about 10 feet off the ground and the only thing holding it from going over the edge is the elderberry bush at the back corner and some loose gravel behind the front tire.
A few miles down the road, we encountered a 16 year old boy walking down the trail. He said the truck was his and he wanted a ride to the Blue Jay campground. He said he went over the edge due to a momentary laps in concentration (I should have asked at what speed). I said I could take him to the campground, but I offered to try to pull him out, so we took him back for a recovery.
Since the F250 out weighs my H3T by a lot, we attached my winch to his trailer hitch with a snatch block and chocked the wheels. I was barely able to budge him, but the front started going further over the side.
About that time a group of 8 vehicles arrived and one of then, a built Jeep, had a winch. We decided to move my truck to the front to try and pull him forward and back onto the road and use the Jeep and a tree to pull the back end on to the road. We pulled him forward until his grille was into the branches of an Oak tree if front of him and we had to stop. We moved the Jeeps line to a different tree to allow him to pull the truck backwards and onto the road while I maintained enough tension to keep the front end from going over the edge. The front of the Jeep was lifting off the ground and dragging up the hill, but we managed to drag him back a few feet. Then we pulled forward again and got him a little further onto the road. After doing the do-se-do with him a few times we got him back on the road.
Then, since I didn't want to ask him to back up a quarter mile, I backed down the trail about half a mile before he could be past. The rescue took about three hours.
We finally got dinner at a Cocos in Mission Viejo at 9:30 and made it home by 11:00 PM. Since I was busy winching, I only took the above picture, but I'll post the ones Aaron took after he sends them to me.
We were almost through to Ortega Highway when we encountered an older F250 parked on the shoulder. It was a very narrow section of trail, but this truck was parked so far off to the side we had no trouble getting by. Very considerate driver!
On closer inspection I noticed that the truck was actually high centered teetering on the berm at the edge of a several hundred foot drop-off. The wheels on the passenger side are about 10 feet off the ground and the only thing holding it from going over the edge is the elderberry bush at the back corner and some loose gravel behind the front tire.
A few miles down the road, we encountered a 16 year old boy walking down the trail. He said the truck was his and he wanted a ride to the Blue Jay campground. He said he went over the edge due to a momentary laps in concentration (I should have asked at what speed). I said I could take him to the campground, but I offered to try to pull him out, so we took him back for a recovery.
Since the F250 out weighs my H3T by a lot, we attached my winch to his trailer hitch with a snatch block and chocked the wheels. I was barely able to budge him, but the front started going further over the side.
About that time a group of 8 vehicles arrived and one of then, a built Jeep, had a winch. We decided to move my truck to the front to try and pull him forward and back onto the road and use the Jeep and a tree to pull the back end on to the road. We pulled him forward until his grille was into the branches of an Oak tree if front of him and we had to stop. We moved the Jeeps line to a different tree to allow him to pull the truck backwards and onto the road while I maintained enough tension to keep the front end from going over the edge. The front of the Jeep was lifting off the ground and dragging up the hill, but we managed to drag him back a few feet. Then we pulled forward again and got him a little further onto the road. After doing the do-se-do with him a few times we got him back on the road.
Then, since I didn't want to ask him to back up a quarter mile, I backed down the trail about half a mile before he could be past. The rescue took about three hours.
We finally got dinner at a Cocos in Mission Viejo at 9:30 and made it home by 11:00 PM. Since I was busy winching, I only took the above picture, but I'll post the ones Aaron took after he sends them to me.
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