Stuck in the bush

If you spend any time driving on Ontario’s back roads or driving in woodland cutovers, it’s almost inevitable you will get stuck. Sometimes you can get out without much effort. Most of the time, however, getting out is not so easy. Occasionally, it even becomes an emergency. Here are a few cautionary tales and some ways I’ve tried to make potential disaster much less likely. Many of the worst situations I’ve been a part of took place decades ago. Back then, I was younger, braver, and a lot bolder than I am today. As it turned out, there were a couple fishing and hunting partners I hung out with of a similar stripe. That’s always when the adventures would start. Bogged down One mega mess I clearly recall happened on a spring steelhead trip. My buddy and I were looking for a fabled waterfall on a river we didn’t know much about. This was pre-GPS and so all we had was a map and some sketchy details from a friend. Apparently, if we drove down a power line, we would come to the fabled falls. We found a very poor road and began driving down it. We were in my buddy's lifted 4X4 with mud tires and were feeling a little over-confident. So, when the donkey path we were on became something closer to a bog, we didn’t get out and check. That was a mistake. The bog took the truck right to the wheel wells. After a futile attempt to back out, it was time to assess. The truck was only going to come out via come-along, which had to be attached to a single tree that was only slightly wider than my leg. After a great deal of effort and prayer, the truck began to move. To this day, I’m not sure how we actually managed to get it out. But we did. We were never that bold again. Between a rock and the fishing hole Another time, I was driving with my father and a friend to fish a local river. There had been a lot of rain and some mega puddles formed on the access road. I’d driven the road many times and felt confident that a little water would not be an issue. However, in one particularly large waterhole, I drove my truck in so deep it was nearly coming in the door. The truck